Over 5,600 professionals participated in the selection of 20 companies as offering the best satisfaction through using their software. Covering 19 categories in accounting, finance, HR and customer management some of the small players performed surprisingly well.

This year's awards are all over but for some of the hangovers. Interestingly the best newcomer award went to an old Finance Week participant, Adaptive Planning [1], the on-demand performance management and analytics developer. Only recently it launched a Recession Survival Kit [2].

But it was not the only suspense that was lifted when this year's Software Satisfaction Awards were handed out at a ceremony in London on Thursday night. "This is the third annual Software Satisfaction Awards dinner - and I'm really proud to see that we have created an annual gathering where the industry can come together as one to celebrate its collective achievements," technology editor John Stokdyk told the 300-plus audience.

Winners
Small business accounting - KashFlow
Mid-range business accounting - Access Dimensions
Enterprise accounting - PS Financials
Payroll - MoneySoft Payroll Manager
Web-based accounting - Liquid Accounts
Tax software - TaxCalc 2008
Practice management - DRIVE from Relate Software
Paperless office - Rapport from Practice Net
Business intelligence/CPM - SAP Business Objects
Accounting & finance reseller of the year - Profile Technology Services

Even though the votes were more than double last year's total, the accounting-related categories saw significant increases in satisfaction scores. "This is an impressive achievement in tough economic times," said Stokdyk. "Let's see if the industry can continue this trend into 2009."

Several Accounting & Finance categories featured repeat victories for last year's winners, including Access Dimensions in the mid-range accounting category, PS Financials for enterprise accounting and MoneySoft Payroll Manager for payroll. Last year's web-based accounting winner KashFlow trumped the big guns of Sage 50, QuickBooks and MYOB to carry off the small business accounting prize, but was pipped to this year's web accounting prize by Liquid Accounts.

Newcomer of the year

This new category was suggested by BASDA to accommodate new entrants to the market who would struggle to meet 5% market share threshold to make it on to the category shortlists. Judged by John Stokdyk, BASDA director-general Jairo Rojas and MyCustomer.com's Stuart Lauchlan, the award was based both product innovation and marketing strategies and the judges also consulted the survey results for evidence to back the case of each nominee.

There were some very credible contenders, including Access Accounting's new Carbon Accounting module, and 12pay, which only narrowly missed out on the main prize in the Payroll software category. All the accounting software as a service nominees - e-conomic, Liquid Accounts, Pearl Office and Xero - had strong claims, but the Newcomer of the Year for 2008 occupies a category all by itself - the on-demand performance management and analytics developer Adaptive Planning.

NetSuite emerged as the big winner in the CRM section, snapping up awards in both the mid-range software and enterprise software categories.

"We wouldn't get this recognition if it wasn't for being able to satisfy the customers with the product we deliver," said Craig Sullivan, vice president of international products at NetSuite.

The haul was particularly satisfying for NetSuite after witnessing its rival Salesforce.com walk away with a brace of awards at last year's ceremony. NetSuite's triumph in the enterprise software category also sent out a message to those who still dismiss SaaS as a model for the smaller end of the business spectrum.

"This is the right time for [the SaaS] concept to really demonstrate what it can do in the market," suggested Sullivan. "It's a blossoming market with the economic downturn we're seeing around the globe. Businesses are looking for ways to cut costs, increase efficiency and increase their ability to achieve customer satisfaction, and software as a service - and particularly our product as a business suite delivered as a service - is a key component to allowing businesses to achieve these objectives."

BASDA's Theo van Dort Award to the person who has done the most to foster collaboration within the industry went to the European Commission's John Doyle for his efforts to get software developers to work on monitoring, reporting and management tools for carbon emissions.

More coverage will follow in the days to come and a brochure setting out the results in each category will be available shortly from the Sofware Satisfaction Awards website.