E-Commerce Solution for Smaller Companies.

For small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) looking for an e-commerce system, ACCPAC International Inc. has just introduced ACCPAC Online, which is an application service provider and e-business resource center. Companies using it, says ACCPAC, gain "a fast, affordable and easily understandable path to enter the digital economy" and "can buy and sell on the Web with complete integration to the back office."

Executives at the Pleasanton, California-based company, a subsidiary of giant Computer Associates, say the solutions they are providing were once available only to large enterprises with deep pockets. "SMEs are having real challenges moving to E-business, and a lot of that relates to affordability," says president and CEO David Hood. "Large organizations can readily integrate to the back office. These smaller companies all want to be in the e-business arena, but they need solutions that are not really there now. They can't spend to customize, and they need adaptability."

Hood says that ACCPAC Online is the product of 18 months' research and is "anchored and managed" by Unicenter, TNG, CA's infrastructure for enterprise and e-business management. He calls it "the plumbing that keeps everything alive." Visitors to www.accpaconline.com have access to hosted applications and e-business enabling solutions, as well as to an online e-business toolkit and an online marketplace.

ACCPAC has more than a half-million clients, Hood says, among them large corporations like Air Canada, Compaq and Exxon Mobil. He believes that long-term, hosting will solve the needs of half of the companies doing e-commerce. However, now only 1 percent of companies are using hosted solutions.

"At the very small end, you will see some benefits, with a very simple system," but the largest group of adopters will likely be "in the middle market, which has sophisticated needs but not the necessary resources," Hood says.

ACCPAC has also announced the expansion of its ACCPAC eAdvantage Suite[TM], a comprehensive suite of e-business solutions. The expanded solution set -- including ACCPAC eProcurernent integration, ACCPAC eTransact[TM], and ACCPAC iConnect[TM]--gives SMEs the ability to buy and sell on the Web, and empowers employees on the Web through extensive integration with ACCPAC business management solutions.