Ridgely Evers, the original visionary behind QuickBooks, releases a competing Web-Based Business Management System for the "True Small Business"

A long time ago, in a land far, far away, a man named Ridgely Evers went to work for a company called Intuit --- and he built a product called QuickBooks. Fast forward to 2007 and he's formed a start-up company called NetBooks (http://netbooks.com/) and launched a “Software as a Service” that includes sales management, customer relationship management, vendor relationship management, inventory and production management, shipping, bookkeeping, and reporting. The service is reportedly designed to meet the specific needs of what Evers calles the "True Small Business": those 5 million owner-operated, self-funded companies employing half of US workers.

The data is protected in a highly secure hosting facility that features bank-grade security, redundant infrastructure and continuous data backup: a much safer environment for business-critical data than on a local hard drive. It partners with PayCycle, UPS, and VerticalResponse and is priced at $200/month for up to five users plus a bookkeeper and an accountant. Support is included --- customers can choose between quarterly and annual billing AND NetBooks guarantees this price for the duration of the customer relationship.

This is another example of SaaS becoming “mainstream” --- and seems well positioned between QuickBooks Online and NetSuite.

I’ve looked at this product in depth and was pretty impressed. Ridge Evers is a VERY knowledgeable guy. If you give it a try please let me know what you think --- comments open.

gll