Excellence in software matters for over 30 years
Software-Matters reached the grand age of 30 in March 2024. Sitting here now, in September 2025, we have been reflecting on the past 6 ½ years since we last looked back – which was at our 25-year anniversary.
So, first of all, what has happened for Software-Matters in the last 5 years or so? The short answer is “not much”, in that we have continued to provide bespoke help to businesses here in the UK, across Europe and in the US to create and support systems for running their processes efficiently.
But since our 25th anniversary we have worked for 90 new Microsoft Access customers and completed around 15 new purely Excel projects. These have ranged from simple CRM systems costing £ 375 to a complex, full-blown MRP/ERP system costing £ 96,000 in total, including migration from an old system and on-going support, and everything in between. And most of them continue to work with us, both evolving their systems and for new projects.
One thing we can deduce from those numbers is that Microsoft Access continues to be a brilliant tool for creating pragmatic and user-friendly solutions for businesses. Despite the ever-present rumours of Access’ demise from elsewhere in the IT press, Microsoft continues to develop the product and it remains the leader in its field, with no obvious competitor. It remains as the only relational database package that integrates fully with Microsoft 365, provides a way of creating user-friendly and highly functional solutions with the ability to evolve them cost-effectively.
We have already written in depth about the reasons for the continued success and longevity of Microsoft Access in our articles Microsoft Access - Alive and Kicking and Benefits of using Microsoft Access. And you can read about its many applications by visiting our home page and using the Examples menu to explore further.
So, that’s what’s stayed the same , but what has changed in the landscape in the last 5 years? We reckon the biggest evolution in our area has been the move away from on-premises servers and local area networks since use of the cloud has grown and since people have started to work from home. This has required some change in the sphere of Access, which you can find out more about in Hosting Microsoft Access without a Server and Tips for Working from Home with Microsoft Access and Viewing data out of the office.
You can read our thoughts on our first 25 years of creating systems using Microsoft Access, Excel and SQL Server and in particular on what we believe are our secrets to success.
Don’t forget to check out our other articles and you can find tutorials and tips on our YouTube Channel. We have a couple of new videos in production, so take a moment to subscribe and you will receive a notification when they are published.
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