Following on from my thoughts on what’s in store for the year ahead, I’d like to share with you some of our early results for 2012.

So far, we’re on course in January to reach the highest number of new customers, the most accountant and bookkeeper signups, and the highest number of trials for a single month. To illustrate, we passed the 1,000 new customers mark just 11 days into the new year!

New employees

In addition to customers, we’re also adding heavily to the number of employees working at e-conomic.

Over the past couple of months alone, we’ve welcomed 8 new people on board, and we will be adding at least 5 more during the next month. By the end of Q1, we should be more than 100 people working at e-conomic, up from 70 at the start of 2011.

We’re far from done after that, however. As you can see from our list of available jobs at e-conomic, we aim to continue our employee growth at this rate for quite some time – provided, of course, that we’re able to find qualified and dedicated people.

Ambitions for the year

Taking the year as a whole, I expect us to reach a customer growth rate of 35-40%, meaning that close to 60,000 customers will be using e-conomic by the end of 2012.

In terms of geographical expansion, our hope is to include 2-3 new countries as e-conomic markets, and preferably at least one country outside Europe.

Reaching these goals for 2012 will mean that we are well on our way to accomplish our stated mission goals.

A warm welcome

Let me finish by extending a warm welcome to both the new customers and the new employees that have joined us recently, and thanking our longtime clients who trust e-conomic with their accounting every day.

I look forward to seeing what this year will bring – and taking the journey with even more of you!

Managers who allow their employees to use their own mobile devices for work will most likely see increased productivity and more innovation from their employees.

Perhaps even more important, they will provide flexibility for their most valuable employees who may simply find another place to work if they feel obstructed from using their preferred devices.

Higher productivity

Research conducted by the internet-based market research firm YouGov shows that productivity increases if employees are allowed to use their own mobile devices for work. Now that more and more software is available in the cloud, the choice of end-user device is less crucial, the research deduced.

YouGov sampled 700 companies in Germany, France and the UK and found that 11% of employees who use their own smartphones or tablets were 30% more productive than their counterparts while a third of respondents said their workers’ productivity increased by at least 10%.

Preferred devices

Further results from the survey revealed that 61% of employees said it made their life easier if they could use the same device for both business and personal use. Also, around 50% claimed that their device was more flexible and functional than their employer’s alternative.

As a manager, you may doubt whether your employees’ devices are really better than the ones you present them with. But in any case, the important thing for you to keep in mind is that your employees will become more productive and innovative when they are using the devices they feel most comfortable and positive with.

Active push

Finally, the survey also found that 45% of staff already use their own devices for work which indicates that employees are pushing actively to be allowed to choose their own devices.

And with competition for the best IT workers more fierce than ever before, it would really be a shame to lose out on people because of this.

First off, let me wish you a Happy New Year – and add that if I knew exactly what’s in store for 2012, I would hurry down to the stock market right now!

Keeping costs down

One thing that is pretty certain, however, is that the strained global economy will continue to keep everyone focused on keeping costs down. Businesses need to be constantly aware that their customers will want value for every dollar spent.

Providing easily accessible Internet-based business applications at a low price – like we and others do – should be a recipe for maintaining growth under these circumstances, allowing clients to keep costs low and making it easy for startup companies to get started.

I think we will see many software providers – ourselves included – focusing on ease-of-use in the way they design their products, support new customers and market themselves.

Fun marketing

Speaking of marketing, another focus area for many businesses in the year ahead will be generating publicity and knowledge of their products and brand without spending tons of money on full-blown marketing campaigns.

At e-conomic, we are doing this by insisting that bookkeeping and accounting systems can be fun and entertaining.

We have launched a number of initiatives featuring ‘the e-conomic man’ (pictured at his desk, to the right), and we are using social media like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to reach out to our customers in new and fun ways.

As our latest social media initiative, we have started to create YouTube videos specifically to help developers make apps that connect e-conomic with other systems.

So, sit back and enjoy as we prepare to make 2012 as easy and fun for you as possible!

As 2011 is drawing to a close, let me wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year – and let me share with you some of the great things that happened at e-conomic this year.

Many more customers

In 2011, more than 10,000 new companies chose to do their accounting using e-conomic, taking our total beyond 40,000 customers!

We also continued our expansion into Europe, with Finland as the latest addition to the list of countries we’re present in, and further growth and expansion in all e-conomic countries.

New initiatives

We’ve launched a lot of new features this year, such as the e-conomic app for Android which allows our Android users to do keep track of products and customer, scan documents and create, book and send invoices while they are on the move – all using the e-conomic app on their smartphone.

And speaking of apps, we’ve launched a brand new Apps section on our website featuring lots of applications connecting e-conomic with other systems – web shops, reporting tools, CRM systems, you name it – with the purpose of making things easier and faster for our customers.

Improved product and support

This year also saw the release of Tab Finance, an additional tab in our accounting system that represents a much faster and more flexible way of entering data into journals.

And that is of course in addition to the continuous stream of large and small e-conomic system enhancements and updates – more than 150 so far this year!

You can now also chat with us at e-conomic – and we’ve added even more YouTube help videos and e-copedia articles to supplement our regular phone support.

We’ve also instigated a lot of social media initiatives to reach out to our customers proactively, including our Facebook Fan of the Month competition and Friday videos from the office.

Notice something in the background? That’s ‘the e-conomic man’ – a frequent visitor on our social media.

A big thank you to our customers

I’d like to welcome all of our new customers, and also thank all of our loyal customers who have been with us for a long time. I look forward to collaborating with all of you next year and making your e-conomic experience as great and fun as possible.

Tip: Check out my next blog post, which will be about my expectations and focus areas for 2012.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Recently, I’ve been interviewed by some of the major Danish newspapers on the problems that growth companies face when trying to get credit from their banks. You can find the articles from Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten and Berlingske Tidende here (links in Danish).

I’d also like to share with you my views expressed in my own terms – below you can read a translated version of my comments published in Berlingske Tidende (link in Danish):

No go, banks are telling us apologetically, when we meet with them full of expectations and plans for how we wish to develop our business over the coming years. A business which in 10 years has become extremely profitable through massive growth, with more than 40,000 customers and expansion into 10 countries.

We present them with all circumstantial information so no questions can remain about our solidity. As our latest achievement, we have received a Gazelle award and been named Most Profitable Gazelle in the Copenhagen region.

Additionally, we are among the 5% of Danish companies that have obtained an AAA credit rating. Vækstfonden (the Danish state investment fund) has provided a guarantee of DKK 10 million based on their evaluation of our company. This means that Vækstfonden will cover 75% of any losses suffered by banks who lend us money.

It’s an uphill struggle trying to impress banks. The message coming from them is that we are a sound company – yet our credit is down by 50% from 2008. Take it or leave it. To obtain credit, you need to be able to provide production or physical stock as collateral. Our company provides a web-based accounting solution, meaning that we are as far from physical production as you can get.

Astoundingly, despite our thousands of customers domestically and in foreign markets, we are not in the same category as companies that possess a physical stock or real estate. And, one might ask, how much security does real estate offer anyway, with real estate prices spiralling downwards and now at the same level as in 2003/2004?

Also, why don’t banks educate their staff on the differences between knowledge-based and production-based companies so they can align their banking products with business realities?

Everyone agrees that knowledge-based companies, not production-based companies, are necessary for Denmark to thrive in the future.

Perhaps the government should play a more active role in this, driving the process forward when wariness is holding us back? If we really want sustainable companies that create growth and jobs, one solution is for the government to act as a bank and lend money to companies through Finansiel Stabilitet A/S (state-owned financial institution).

The government could also empower Vækstfonden to force banks to lend the money vouched for by Vækstfonden. If Vækstfonden has no real authority or use, it should be removed from the national budget.

Let’s get a debate going on this. Perhaps it’s just wishful thinking, but things would be a lot easier if the business world and the banking world had the same view on the basic facts and the same vision for the future.

Unleash the growth potential

As a final note to this blog post, let me just add that fortunately our company is seeing massive growth, has a strong cash flow and can go a long way without the full support of a bank. From this privileged position, I feel obligated to speak out on what I consider a critical issue, in the hope that this will eventually help improving conditions for the many hard-working companies with great growth potential that hold the key to future growth in Denmark.

Cloud computing has been a hot topic in 2011 – and all indicators suggest it will remain so for at least the entire next decade, with the global cloud computing market expected to grow from approx. 30.4 billion euro this year to 180 billion euro in 2020.

Keeping the timeframe to just the next year, I’d like to offer my top 5 predictions for what will be some of the major trends for cloud computing in 2012.

1. Security stops being an obstruction for switching to cloud computing.

With cloud computing businesses having spent much time and effort explaining and convincing customers about the high security of their data storage setup, the time has finally come for a general agreement among users that cloud computing is safe and doesn’t compromise their data.

2. The PC is still the most important client device for cloud computing.

Tablets, notebooks, smartphones and other devices that are handy when on the move are prerequisites for one of the major benefits of cloud computing, namely the ability to access information wherever you are.

However, they still account for a relatively small percentage of client usage for business-related activities, meaning that the PC remains the primary and most important cloud client for the foreseeable future.

3. Consumers convince businesses that cloud computing is the way forward.

Cloud storage solutions such as Apple’s iCloud make average consumers comfortable with the cloud. This acceptance and familiarity on part of consumers is instrumental in convincing businesses that the cloud computing model is worth investigating and employing.

4. File-based models of collaboration give way to cloud-based models.

For purposes of collaboration, especially business-related, cloud-based services like Dropbox make it much easier to collaborate when multiple people are working on and need access to the same content.

5. People with high IT cloud computing skills are difficult to find.

Even though unemployment is rising in Denmark, it is increasingly difficult to find people with the required skills for developing and coding within the cloud computing framework. Here at e-conomic, we are constantly on the lookout for people with these kinds of skills – go to our Jobs section to find out more.

So, that’s my thoughts on what 2012 might hold for cloud computing. One thing is for sure – great and exciting things are in store for all of us in the cloud computing business!

Christmas is around the corner. This year we have decided to use the capabilities afforded to us by being a SaaS provider to deliver something truly special to our customers:

New improvements to the e-conomic system – released and delivered every day from December 1 to December 24!

Daily releases

Starting today, a new feature will be made available to our customers on a daily basis.

When you go to the e-conomic login page, you will see an explanation of today’s new feature, with links to further information in our e-copedia.

After you have logged on to the e-conomic system, the new feature will be automatically available for you to use.

Think about it – updates to the basic application code released every day!

Automatically available

And what’s even more impressive is that all these system updates entail absolutely no extra work for you as a user. You don’t have to run application updates, restart your system or even your computer. And you don’t need to contact technical support when your system doesn’t work correctly after an update.

Instead, an updated version of our system is automatically available in your browser whenever you log on.

Opportunities from cloud computing

Of course, this ‘Christmas Calendar’ model with daily releases is another example of the many opportunities provided by cloud computing. Unlike traditional software providers, we can make major application changes without worrying about creating issues or extra workloads for our users.

On the contrary, we can give our customers something extra to help them with their accounting – free of charge and readily available.

On our website, you can see the full list of new features delivered in December, updated every day with the latest improvements.

With so many small and medium businesses using e-conomic, it’s essential for us here at e-conomic to know as much as possible about the priorities, concerns and wishes of businesses when doing their accounting. This applies not only to us as their accounting system provider, but also to their accountants.

That’s why we have recently done a survey asking business owners what they would most of all like their accountants to do better.

The most common answer? Higher availability.

Moving accounting online

A mobile world

As one of the business owners said: “I’m on the move all the time and rely on my smartphone and netbook– it would help if more accountants did the same rather than relying on face to face meetings.  I haven’t got the time – or appetite for that really”.

There is no getting around it: The world is now mobile. It has already become completely natural to us to work on the move and have all data available around the clock.

For accountants, this means that their clients are now increasingly expecting them to communicate and interact using modern technology – and to use this technology to be more easily available.

More advice and fixed fees

Another popular request from small and medium businesses was for more general business advice from accountants. “While I accept that my accountant has to do the number crunching and get that absolutely right – it would also be useful to have them as  a sounding board when I am thinking of ways  in which to grow and improve the business,” said one business owner.

Fixed fees rather than billable hours was also high on the list of frequent replies. And in the category for miscellaneous issues were answers like “Getting a decent bottle of wine at Christmas rather than cheap plonk” and “It would be nice if they spelled my name correctly on correspondence!”

Cloud-computing for accountants

At e-conomic, we have of course been stressing the benefits of online accounting – not only for clients, but also for accountants – for a long time. By using a cloud-based accounting system, accountants can fully exploit and market online accounting in their pursuit of more efficiency and a more dynamic customer approach.

As an accountant you can use a system like ours to interact much more closely and quickly with your clients since you both have access to the same data and can make real-time changes that are immediately visible to all parties.

So, instead of insisting on face to face meetings, you can use an online accounting system to look at the same screen as your clients – allowing you to save time and make your clients happy.

Last week, I was interviewed in the Danish business media about my experience with banks and obtaining loans as a growth company.

Here, I described our paradoxical situation: We can present excellent results over the past years in terms of both growth and profitability (hence our newly-awarded title as Most Profitable Gazelle in the Copenhagen region), our number of customers is increasing rapidly, and we have a well-proven business case – yet, our credit in the bank has gone down by 50% over the past three years.

The explanation from the bank? Everything about our company looks fine, except that we don’t have a physical stock or real estate to offer as collateral.

Flawed argument

This is a flawed argument on at least two grounds:

First, no matter how well software companies like us perform we will by definition never be able to meet this requirement, yet no-one will dispute that software companies can be very profitable businesses nonetheless (in fact, the general consensus is that IT and other knowledge industries is one of the main opportunities for growth in Denmark).

And second, as the financial recession of the past years has made it very clear, physical collateral such as real estate really doesn’t constitute the security that the bank sector still seem to think it does.

Identifying sustainable businesses

 A bit cheekily, but also seriously, I would suggest that bank staff with decision-making responsibilities become better educated and equipped at identifying and supporting sustainable businesses. In fact, they could start by simply taking a look at other authorities’ evaluation of growth companies.

In our case, we can point to an AAA credit rating, held by only 5% of companies in Denmark.

Furthermore, we have a DKK 10 million guarantee from Vækstfonden (the Danish state investment fund) in place, based on their evaluation of the conditions and sustainability of our company.

This guarantee means that Vækstfonden will cover 75% of losses from our loan, thus minimizing the risk that banks will run.

Change the system

Yet these factors have not been enough to convince banks to even maintain our credit level. For the bank sector, the overriding concern is to cut down costs and reduce losses, to a large extent as a way of meeting the demands of the government’s Bank Packages.

So, if the government really wants to ensure that sustainable growth companies can thrive, the system needs to be changed.

How to move forward

The way I see it, what is required is for the government to play a more active role in helping growth companies.

One way to do this is for the state to act as a bank proper and lend money to companies through Finansiel Stability A/S (state-owned financial institution).

Another way is by actively forcing banks to accept guarantees from Vækstfonden so that companies can use these as vouchers that enable them to obtain a bank loan with the full amount from the guarantee.

If you have any other ideas or suggestions for how to improve this situation, please let me know by leaving a comment.

As I shared with you recently, e-conomic has been selected as a ‘Gazelle’ company based on our excellent growth and turnover performance, which includes doubling our turnover in just three years.

Most Profitable Gazelle

Now, we have received further recognition as we’ve been named ‘Most Profitable Gazelle 2011′ for the Copenhagen region. I was presented with this additional honor at Dagbladet Børsen’s Gazelle conference earlier today.

Being presented with the ‘Most Profitable Gazelle’ award

Growth despite obstacles

I’m very proud of this acknowledgement as one of Denmark’s premier growth companies. Despite a marked lack of understanding on the part of banks and financial institutions of how we’re going to ensure future growth in Denmark, e-conomic has been able to generate massive growth during the financial downturn.

To me, our success is all down to the dedicated, skilled and committed people working at e-conomic. And my list of employees has grown significantly longer over the past years. When I started in 2008, 35 people were employed at e-conomic – a figure that will soon exceed 85!

Increasing the number of people at e-conomic

Hope for small and medium businesses

So, it is still possible to create growth and jobs in Denmark in spite of the recession, and in spite of the difficult conditions that banks provide for companies like ours.

And hopefully, success stories like e-conomic can serve as an eye-opener to financial institutions showing that it makes sense to invest in small and medium businesses with the right business case, market potential and people in place.

Tribute to our clients

Finally, I’d like to thank our clients – most of them small and medium businesses facing the same challenges as us. Our growth would of course not be possible without the loyal support that we have from a great number of these businesses. So, a big thank you is in order to all our clients.