SERENIC LAUNCHES NAVIGATOR 4.0: Financial management software provider Serenic Corp. has unveiled Version 4.0 of its flagship Serenic Navigator product for nonprofits.
The enhanced offering features a redesigned menu pane (graphical user interface) that mirrors Microsoft Outlook's menu system, thus easing navigation, as well as the addition of industry-specific applications, including time-and-effort reporting, integrated fundraising/donor management, and utility billing. The latest version also provides advanced Web services and XML support, which allows for the rapid deployment of Microsoft .Net portal applications for non-accounting users using Microsoft's Sharepoint services.
PAISLEY CONSULTING, SMARTPROS PARTNER IN E-LEARNING CENTER: Paisley Consulting, a provider of business accountability software, and SmartPros Ltd., a developer of continuing education programs, have partnered to launch The Collaborative Assurance & Risk Design - or Card - e-learning center.
The Card e-learning center was built to assist Paisley customers and the public meet the requirements of such regulations as Sarbanes-Oxley and Basel II. SmartPros will host the classes at education.smartpros.com.
For customers wanting to further their accounting software skills, technology classes are being offered in how to better use Focus, the company's control assurance software, and Risk Navigator, its enterprise risk management solution. The online classes are available for both the first two modules of both applications, and cost between $75 and $150.
Under the methodology sessions for the public are sessions on risk and control assessment, COSO enterprise risk management, and three on Sarbanes-Oxley compliance for Sections 302 and 404 of the act. The methodology classes range from $75 to $150. Companies can also pre-pay for hours of training and receive some discounts on the expense. For example, 500 to 700 hours of training costs $50 an hour, whereas 1,000 to 1,500 hours of training costs $40 an hour.
There is also a Basel II compliance module about to be rolled out for banks, and an overview for the assurance strategies class was due out in April. All the courses available now offer continuing professional education credit towards CPA certification, up to two credits.
INTACCT AND REALPAGE SEAL INTEGRATION PACT: Intacct Corp., a provider of online financial software, and RealPage, a supplier of on-demand software and services for property management companies, revealed a $3 million, multi-year agreement to integrate Intacct's ERP On Demand application into RealPage's OneSite property management package. Intacct's financial software will mesh with OneSite's other applications that provide online leasing, renting and managing of apartments, including applicant screening, comprehensive facilities maintenance, purchasing and expense controls, accounting, and online rent payment.
RealPage, a Texas-based company, claims more than 200,000 apartment communities nationwide as OneSite clients.
The company also offers two additional online property management products in the suite: CrossFire, a marketing system that automates capturing and entering leads; and YieldStar, an asset management system.
The RealPage suite, with Intacct's ERP On Demand, is priced at $3,050 for the initiation fee, with $2.40 per apartment unit per month every month after that. To use the RealPage OneSite part of the suite alone, the initial fee is $750 and then $750 each subsequent year.
DATA STORAGE MARKET EXPECTED TO GROW: The data storage market in midsized enterprises is projected to grow by 35 percent in 2005, according to information technology researcher and consultancy Info-Tech Research Group.
Meanwhile, spending on data storage will outpace spending on servers, telephony and even security software, according to the results of a poll of more than 1,400 IT decision makers. Info-Tech said that storage area networks are currently the hottest segment of the storage market, and it expects them to grow roughly 40 percent within midsized enterprises in 2005.
IT decision-makers participating in the survey cited regulatory pressures such as Sarbanes-Oxley and HIPAA, continuity planning, and the popularity of multimedia as drivers of data storage growth.
