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For a long time, SBT Accounting Systems has put most of its attention on its technology. But now, the San Rafael, California-based accounting software vendor is directing its energy into a new focus-its valueadded reseller channel.
The shift became obvious when William Mills was appointed SBT's president and chief operating officer last August. Mills hopes to bring into the company much of his front-line experience, which includes fifteen years as one of SBT's top VARs.
"SBT didn't understand its VAR market or what really makes its VARs tick because it didn't have the same day-today experience," he says. "But when these VARs tell me something that we need to do in a program, I can emphathize with them because I've been there."
One immediate change is Mills' strategic emphasis on the manufacturing and distribution market. "We already have at least 10,000 implementations that are designed around these two areas, we just didn't recognize that (they are) our strengths," Mills explains.
Already, the new approach has yielded results: SBT's 1997 year-end software sales figures jumped 90 percent over the previous year, and the company's January 1998 software sales were 83 percent higher than during the previous January. The company does not disclose revenue. The growth, according to Mills, was due in part to market acceptance of SBT's recent release of SBT Pro Series 5. Oi.
Expanded Services
Another obvious change is the opening of the East Coast...