And more here:
http://www.zdnet.com/xero-execs-play-up-integrations-point-to-vertical-solutions-7000027592/
And the article is all about yet again another infusion of money because these guys can't seem to build an erp system with the money their customers pay them like SOTA, Great Plains and others did.
Most of the money really goes to carpet bombing salespeople and marketing to buy off good press for cloud computing.
Another new problem, try integrating Office 365 with Intact or Netsuite...Nobody can because of the inter communication api's and security. Yet office integrates pretty well with virtually any modern premise ERP system. These cloud vendors will have to acquire the verticals (like Netsuite did for Project Accounting) and then hope people don't notice a different look and feel etc. That is going to severely limit the number of verticals any one cloud vendor can go after.
Intact is already a somewhat vertical playing into software and other high tech companies flush with VC money who in many cases are cloud initiatives themselves and know that they have to buy a cloud accounting system to make the investors and PR team happy. These guys need revenue recognition and subscription billing which Intact has.
However, Intact has alot of exposure here because as the VC money dries up (and the massive Nasdaq decline this week is indicative of what can happen with this bubble) the Intact will be especially affected because many of their customers will go belly up or be bought out leaving them with fewer paying subscribers