Abtrac Version 6 is here

Posted on by

To all our valued clients

We are pleased to formally announce that we now have a Cloud based version of Abtrac – Version 6. It is on line and looking good.

To run Abtrac V6 you don’t need a Windows server, nor even a PC. Abtrac V6 will run on anything, from anywhere, as long as it has a web browser and an internet connection.

Why are we going to the cloud?

Every day, more and more of everyone’s routine activities are being conducted online. People routinely use the internet while on the road, on client visits, on the bus or train, on their iPad or tablet eating breakfast or watching TV.

At work, people now routinely use the internet when conducting business, querying information, updating clients, banking, licensing, booking, researching, designing and innovating. At home they do the same, connecting with family and friends, keeping up with world events, shopping, reading and learning. It’s all done through computers, smartphones, tablets and other internet-capable devices. And it’s easy.

In particular this year 2014 is a water-shed year for technology. This year, more people will buy smart mobile devices than PCs and Macs combined. The PC is far from dead. But as you are already aware, many people now expect to be able to do more and more work away from their desk, free from the LAN, and often without the desktop PC or Mac. The internet is replacing your ethernet.

At Abtrac we ignore this shift at our peril. So we’re changing Abtrac into a software package that runs across all technology platforms. All you need is a browser.

However, please note:

  1. It’s important that you know we will be maintaining the current instance of Abtrac V5.xx for a period of more than two years, into 2017. Between now and then we will have been in touch to let you try Version 6 before you decide to change to it. Anytime from June onwards we will be pleased to discuss your upgrade.
  2. Cost-wise, you’ll pay nothing more to have us migrate you to Version 6. We will cover it with your usual monthly service fee.Also, you’ll understand that the pricing and licensing structure is different, being cloud based. Some of you will have marginal increases and many will have decreases. In the case of increases the directors have decided to not charge any existing client more than the current Version 5 fee scale (if you make the change to Version6 between now and May 1st 2016) for the first 12 months of your Abtrac Version 6 experience. After that time we will review your licensing and fee agreement.
  3. Any interfaces to accounting systems such as MYOB, Quickbooks/Reckon, Xero, Sage, Moneyworks etc. will remain in Abtrac V6 as they are in V5. In the cloud there are also other ways of integrating some of these packages with Abtrac which we’re working on right now.
  4. There are some constraints that could mean you cannot immediately migrate to the Abtrac V6 cloud.One is timing. We cannot migrate everyone all at once. We will schedule the migrations over many months.If you have had customisations to your instance of Abtrac V5 we will commit to bring as many as possible into V6. Depending on the extent of your customisations you might have to wait some time to upgrade. In some cases we will not bring over all customisations. We will review each case individually and discuss with you what you need vis-à-vis what we can do. Once migrated to V6, you cannot go back to V5.
  5. Being newer technology, we’re doing things differently in Version 6. Some things we couldn’t do at all in V5, it being a desktop based environment. We’ve addressed all the popularly used areas within Abtrac, all of which are in this first release. More functionalities are to be added. We will be rolling out improvements every month as we grow and enhance Abtrac V6.

There will be more communications over the next few months about progress. These will be posted to our support web site http://support.abtrac.com and we will also be sending them via our newsletters.

Meantime feel free to call or email support@abtrac.com with your questions or to express your interest in upgrading.

We will be pleased to respond.

Abtrac KB# 2029