QSP Plc, a UK company that has cornered a niche in high-end financial and accounting software, from where it hopes ward off the threat of enterprise resource planning software giants Baan and SAP AG, has moved into outsourcing, initially offering to take over the management of its own products in the UK only. QSP, which reaps nearly 60% of its revenue from the UK, 25% from Australia and New Zealand and 15% from the US, will offer two outsourcing options; Gold or Platinum. Customers that choose the Gold package will keep their – typically Unix – box that runs the financial application on its own premises, while QPS manages and maintains the financial software from a distance. The Platinum scheme, for which QPS has no customers as yet, will involve transferring everything to QPS’ site in Gateshead in the UK, to which the company will have a fiber link for access. QSP plans to start offering outsourcing services in Australia and New Zealand early next year and hopes to make this new area the source of 5% of its revenues within the next two to three years. The company, however, has no plans as yet to attempt to breach the US financial applications outsourcing market, where it has already faced a harder slog winning sales for its financial software applications than it expected. Aiming at the largest accounts, QSP has had difficulty convincing US companies to acquire its high-end applications without reference sites and has had to compete against a well-ensconced competitor in the shape of financial applications specialist Walker. One possible means of gaining a foothold in the US market is combining forces with a company such as PeopleSoft to win contracts away from the likes of SAP AG. PeopleSoft’s strengths lie in human resources applications, from which it originally grew, but it has not acquired the same muscle in the financial applications it also offers as part of its ERP package. In order to win a contract against SAP with the Australian customs department in Australia PeopleSoft teamed with QSP and it is possible the companies may work together again – this time in the US. In the meantime, however, QSP is ramping up its sales force in the US and hopes that the idea of componentization touted by ERP companies may give the UK company a helping hand. QSP would like to see customers upgrading elements of their ERP application suites in stages, rather than upgrading the entire suite, which will give the company the opportunity to sell its financial software as an alternative to applications contained in an ERP suite.
