Simplicity doesn't mean isolation
While looking for specialized hosted solutions for our clients, I came upon FreshBooks. This is a small focused application designed for time tracking and invocing. They do one thing and do it well. Their pricing model is superb and simple (while still allowing customization for the control-freak set). They even have a usable free version very suitable for the boutique consultant that has two or three clients they regulary invoice on a time basis.
All said, great company, and a great product. If you need something like it, use it.
Of course, since this is not a paid ad, I will go into what this really is about:
The "Web 2.0" (gosh, I really dislike that term... Then again I still call AJAX... DHTML! ;) was a great movement towards solution development. It broke the focus on total solutions that tried to be everything to everybody and ended up being barely useful for barely anyone.
But an inherent problem of all of these solutions is the lack of interoperability. They solved the problem of generalist focus on specialized needs, but completely forgot that no matter how specialized, people never use a single tool for their productivity: no solution is an island.
For example, we use a tool called Wufoo for some of our customer input needs.
It is very easy to setup, integrates well into the Squarespace CRM we use for this website, and delivers real value to our company. However, it only sends emails and doesn't even have an ecosystem around it to turn the inputed data into usable form. This isolation is frustating: a great solution becomes less attractive just because it doesn't interoperate easily.
Some companies are approaching this problem creatively:
For example Salesforce.com and Google both strive to develop ecosystems around their platforms, seeing themselves as data repository and interface providers to a whole range of development efforts. These are great ways to approach this inherent problem, and are a step in the right direction.
However, they also have their own set of inherent issues, which I will dicuss at a later date...
Carlos R. - Lead Developer
Carlos R.
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Reader Comments (3)
The current practice to support interoperability is to create APIs--interfaces into our system that other systems can talk to directly. FreshBooks has an API, described at http://developers.freshbooks.com. We're building it out rapidly. We really want to do a good job supporting other folks who want to hook into us or build on top of us. Contact us if you want to know more.
We definitely like the way you have offered ways to export data but is there a clear path for us to be able to have real interactions with other systems?
I have been thinking a lot lately about how solutions fit in with small business when it comes to collecting a set of discrete tools (the 37signals moto) vs. an already integrated solution ala NetSuite.
I think the answer to this is becoming clearer - the smaller the company the more integrated a solution they need. Small companies simply do not have the resources to integrate anything.
So while the "Web2.0" movement will create a lot of great discreet tools - I think what is really lacking is an integrated interface into the various tools small business needs.
We don't think small business has the desire, understanding-of-risk or internal resources to integrate any systems - let alone maintain the glue they create for it all. If they could they would live their lives in Quickbooks, Salesforce or Peachtree.
So what we think is missing is a unified platform for all these tools to hang off of.
Maybe this missing link in the value proposition nirvana of SaaS/Web2.0/ITaaS is something like Microsoft's Live initiative or Salesforce. But I definitely don't think the answer is for each small business to have a Rails guy on staff to sew things together.
This is why I think solutions for small business need to be better at creating ways to be integrated into a grander platform and stop thinking that they will be part of a toolkit of many many solutions that then need to be carefully balanced into value.
We'll see how things pan out - just thinking out loud here.