Reckon secures SaaS future with new deal

Aussie software distributor Reckon is now formally able to host the accounting software suite Quickbooks online after inking a deal with Quicken suite owner, Intuit.

Announced to the Australian Stock Exchange today, the deal makes formal agreements made via email communications between the two companies over the past year, which stated that hosting the Quickbooks software online was acceptable, and brings together several other contract addendums exchanged between the two companies. Under the arrangement, Reckon will continue to distribute the desktop version of Quicken and Quickbooks within Australia, as well as host the software-as-a-service version of the Quickbooks suite.

Reckon chief executive officer (CEO) Clive Rabie said that Reckon's team of 16 in-house developers are given the international version of the software code and localise it to make it relevant for the Australian market. To do so, he said, requires close control over every aspect of the build.

"We feel that it is essential that we maintain full control over localisation and hosting requirements for online products to ensure they remain specifically relevant to Australian and New Zealand businesses," Rabie said in a release to the Australian Stock Exchange.

Because of this, the product will be hosted on Reckon servers, rather than through a cloud deployment, Rabie told ZDNet Australia.

"To take an international product and localise it to the level we do, is very difficult, we need close control over the code," he said.

The initial contract between Reckon and Intuit is valid for five years, and has an renewal clause in place which automatically grants three-year extensions once the contract expires.