From Abacus to Cloud: Thirty Years of Sage, QuickBooks and Xero

I remember working with a young woman, well, it's all relative isn't it, who happened to be higher up the ladder than me as I was a contractor. She told me, in a very superior manner, "Just Google it". That has stuck with me because, in my day, we didn't have Google, but we did spend a lot of time learning our trade.

When I began accounting there was no cloud, there were no computers for that matter. I remember adding up figures on a machine larger than a typewriter, one that you had to pull a handle to make it work, not quite an abacus but it may sound like it. And no, I am not geriatric. It's just a reminder of how far we have come in a short space of time.

Before mice

I recall being sent as a temp by Hays (they used to use me a lot in those days as no-one else understood this new computer stuff) and Sage was the only player in the market. I had mastered Sage, which wasn't difficult in those days, but it was a world away from the simple double-entry paper methods like Kalamazoo that we had been using.

The computer had a mouse and I had absolutely no idea what I was supposed to do with it, apart from evict it. Yet, as we did in those days because sole trader accountants had no point of reference or community, I convinced both myself and the client that I knew exactly what I was doing. It worked and everything went swimmingly.

QuickBooks and Xero

QuickBooks and Xero are children compared to Sage. However, we all know what happens to children; they grow up and become worldly wise. This is exactly what happened. I came across QuickBooks first and hated it, it wasn't a patch on Sage. Then came Xero, quite a while later, and it looked young and inventive.

Over the last ten years the two seem to have been in a head-to-head battle for market share, but the battle has worked for them both. They are both first-class software.

They grow up and become worldly wise.

Now

The playing field looks pretty much level today. But users now won't realise the massive amount of investment and innovation that has happened over the last thirty years, a blink of an eye in the world of technology. I'm glad that I was here to see it and glad that we have three market leaders to choose from.

If you are weighing up QuickBooks, Xero or Sage for your own business, we set up and train on all three. Hermit Business Solutions is a CIMA-qualified cloud accountant in Baildon, working with sole traders and small businesses across Shipley, Bradford, Leeds and the rest of West Yorkshire.