PC Magazine just gave Peachtree Accounting 2007 their Editors’ Choice award. Am I happy? Absolutely.
People who know me will know that I came to Sage Software in 2005 to lead the effort to redesign Peachtree Accounting’s user interface. The product, a small business financial management application that predates it’s 800-pound gorilla competitor QuickBooks, has never really been designed with any appreciable amount of user input. Throughout 2005, I and my very capable team of designers and researchers worked with over 150 users, using various methods, to redesign Peachtree’s navigation system, nomenclature, main screens and workflow.
The biggest challenge was striking the appropriate balance between what new users undoubtedly needed, and what the install base needed. As I’m sure you can imagine, people who’ve spent the time and energy learning a complex product do NOT like to have the rug pulled out from under them. So we not only paid attention to new designs; we attended to supporting existing methods of accomplishing tasks as well.
We still have a ways to go; this is a multi-year redesign. But to see the industry recognize our accomplishment is quite gratifying. Props to Matt Wallens, Stephanie Brawner, Darren Hauck, Cassandra Swint, and Amanda Nance for their contribution to this effort.
Click here to read the Peachtree Premium Accounting 2007 review by PC Magazine.
technorati tags:Peachtree, accounting, QuickBooks, software, financial
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