This is a strange time for us at IGG Software. In the past, people have picked iBank because they wanted something different than Quicken, something made for the Mac, something that we think is better. But for every person looking for a change, there were many people who were content staying with Quicken. It had worked for them for years, so why switch? Well now, with the release of Lion coming up, Quicken 2007 for Mac is ending as a viable piece of software.
For those of you who are being forced to make some tough choices, I am sorry. There are many of you who have used Quicken on the Mac for longer than you have had your jobs, longer than your children are old, and longer than your marriage. Some of you are from a generation that grew up on Quicken and know nothing else. For most software, you use it to do many one-time jobs: write a paper, give a presentation, or send an email. Once each job is done you start off with a new task and a new set of data. If you did not like the way Microsoft Word did the layout for your last document, you can try Pages for your next one – and even switch back and forth. Financial management software is not like that. It is software that you use to do one job (maybe more if you have a business) for many years.
So as you are looking at your alternatives to Quicken, whether you were happy with it or not, I would encourage you to think not just about what the software does today but what the company that makes it is like.
At IGG Software, we believe in one thing: if we provide great products and services we will have happy customers. This core belief drives everything we do. And this is how we do it:
- We structured the company so that there are no outside investors. This means that when we are choosing our priorities, the only people we are answerable to are our customers. This allows us to do things like provide free technical support even before people buy our products.
- We believe that to provide great products and services over the long term, we need to have that expertise in-house. We do not outsource development, support, marketing, or any critical areas.
- We eat our own dog food. All of IGG Software’s day-to-day finances are run through iBank, and tracking time for payroll is done with iBiz. This allows all levels of the company to be aware of the strength and weaknesses of our products.
- We believe that your data is just that: your data. It lives on your hard drive to be accessed by you. We do not collect any data without your express permission, and that data is only used to fulfill whatever service you have asked for. We do not want to make money by selling you (your data and behavior) to other people. We don’t even mass-market our new products to our own customers.
- We believe that the best ideas are sparked from our customers. We have lots of ways for people to give us feedback: through support, user forums, product reviews, Twitter or Facebook. Internally we keep a tally of what people are talking about as far as features, questions and support issues. We use this feedback constantly as we prioritize the work to be done.
- We want happy, engaged employees. Our telecommuting work environment enables us to hire the best people we can find regardless of where in the country they want to live.
- We want to create and use great products. As such, we have always been Mac developers at heart. Apple has been a great partner and although we do not always agree with everything they do, we share a belief that the end-to-end customer experience is the key to making great products. We are very excited about the future of the Mac and iOS and we want to be a part of it.
- We are in this for the long haul. We do not want to push a sale today if those methods will cost us two in the future. IGG Software has been around for eight years, and every year it has been both profitable and cash flow positive. As other companies and competitors have had to shut their doors during the recession, we have grown the number of people we employ by 400%.
That is who we are.
Finally, if you do choose to use iBank, remember that we are not the same as Quicken. iBank is its own product, and it does some things differently. But we’re not inflexible about it; let us know what you do like about iBank and let us know how we can improve it.
Again, I am sorry that many of you are being forced to make tough choices. I hope that whatever choice you make will help you manage your finances now and well into the future.
Thanks,
James
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