However these changes could produce powerful benefits if implemented correctly. A pop-up alert box could warn you of the problem and offer a link to the vendor s web site which instantly quotes you lower insurance rates for the same coverage you are currently receiving. A similar alert may monitor your interest rates and offer refinancing alternatives to you. Other alerts may instantly hotlink you to an employee leasing options, co-marketing opportunities, or sources for discounted supplies. Web-based accounting systems will also impact the accounting software consultant and reseller community as well because this model circumvents the traditional reseller channel to offer product directly to the consumer.
Many vendors are concerned and are taking steps to preserve reseller profits.
For example, when Great Plains first launched its hosting solution in 1997, resellers were larger left out of the resulting revenue stream and as a result, resellers had no incentive to promote the web-based solution. Still, the implementation and training aspects of an installation engagement has always generated the lion s share of the reseller s fees. Web-based systems do not appear to pose much of a threat to this source of revenue. Reminder - You should confirm the information contained in this web site with another source before relying on that data. Products change, prices change, new software bugs are found everyday.