Firms no longer need servers to run Handisoft.
Sage has signed an agreement with national IT company OBT to sell “private cloud” deployments of taxation and accounting practice management software Handisoft.
The private cloud or hosted service ran from OBT’s Sydney and Melbourne data centres and would let an accounting firm use the Handisoft software without having to buy and own servers. The service included hardware and operating system maintenance upgrades, security support such as firewall, antivirus and backup maintenance, and remote and mobile access.
OBT was selling other hosted software services alongside Handisoft such as email platform Microsoft Exchange, the Microsoft Office productivity suite and communications tool Microsoft Lync.
The deal came soon after the launch of APS Private Cloud, a hosted service for Reckon’s practice management software. Reckon announced August 7 it had 14 clients, mostly mid-sized accounting firms, using the private cloud service by the end of June.
“We’re now able to offer clients the opportunity to eliminate the pain and cost of maintaining an on premise IT platform which is typically a time consuming pursuit,” said Gary Weisz, national sales and marketing manager, Sage HandiSoft, in a press release.
“Firms can now have a single technology partner that relieves the burden IT can present to a business and focus on running their business and managing compliance rather than on co-ordinating their technology requirements,” said Shane Muller, OBT’s managing director, in the release.