A Brief History of a Hot New SaaS Genre … Web Based Financial Project Management Applications
Web-based software applications have allowed businesses to leverage software options that in years past would have required thousands of dollars to deploy across your team’s computers. Take for example, project management software.
Prior to 2006, our options for project management applications were few and expensive. Microsoft Project was the lead player, requiring an investment of well over $800 per install, not including the rigorous learning curve that was required to comprehend the Gantt Charts and creation of connected tasks.
Back in year 2000, when I was dependent on MS Project, we ponied up $8,000 for licenses and training. Back then (I’m sounding my age, but the truth is, this whole tech world is shifting so rapidly, we all sound like our fathers after only 5 years of innovation), it was my only option, and all I really wanted was an optimal method to manage 12 – 30 financial projects, which had various tasks tied to them. We even attempted using shared tasking and calendars from Microsoft Office, to no use.
The advent of web based financial project management
In 2006 the first web based project management application arrived, called BaseCamp. It was brilliant, and so (relatively) simple to utilize, so no training curve was really needed. Fully web-based (we didn’t say ‘cloud’ in 2006), so we didn’t need to ensure that our Window OS was up to date, or that our firewall was properly ported, and it was ridiculously inexpensive! Fifty bucks to manage forty projects with unlimited users and external connections. Fifty dollars a month! Now, many of my tech brethren will say, “you cannot manage a software development project with BaseCamp, and perhaps you can’t, but you could certainly manage thousands of design, business, contracting and other activities with BaseCamp.
What BaseCamp ultimately did was kick open a doorway to other project application developers, allowing them to seed project management applications designed for other industries. Soon we saw FogBugz, Trillo and Pivotal, all focused on the project management application of Agile and Waterfall design. A new era was born, and the birth of a heretofore new form of project management software was ushered in: Financial Project Applications.
Our company, CloudSway, is pioneering this new form of web based financial project management applications, where daily financial tasks are actually included. The question of whom spent $687 at Staples are answered through to-dos, and can be instantly tracked. We believe that a business’s financials are their biggest asset and must be nurtured no less so than the attention that is placed into designing and constructing your custom dream home. CloudSway continues to pioneer the art of sharing sensitive, timely financial data with teams, keeping everyone sharp as to the strengths and weaknesses of the company in a real time collaborative web based financial project management modality.
When BaseCamp exploded onto the Project Management scene in 2006, they did not forsee that they would trigger a revolution, but they did know they were delivering an project management application that was sorely needed in business. CloudSway too has started a revolution, the revolution of web based financial project management of a company’s financials through real time collaboration.
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Scott West is the CEO/founder of Tacoma WA-based CloudSway, the pioneer in next gen web based financial project management applications. Scott founded CloudSway in 2011 and works each day to build customer connections, oversees the strategic workflow of the application and manages the staff.
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