He noted the company has released the Onvio Platform, Document, Client Center, Time and Billing, and Workpaper modules.
Onvio is designed to provide a suite in which applications draw from a common database. "You only need to enter a client in one space," he said. Jagst also said that the interface of Onvio follows the path taken by developers of consumer applications—pages have a lot of white space.
"What we want to have is a clean, very understandable interface," he commented.
Jagst said users, grown accustomed to an integrated desktop suite, may hold back on purchasing Onvio because all modules are not available. That includes UltraTax, with the launch date of an Onvio tax product not yet public.
However, Jon Baron, managing director, of the professional segment, of Thomson's Tax & Accounting business, said Onvio modules are backwardly compatible to those in the desktop CS Professional Suite.
"UltraTax is very tightly integrated with Document in Onvio," Baron said.
Meanwhile, Baron outlined the company's plan to expand Onivo outside the United States. It has just been launched in Australia and components are available in Argentina and the United Kingdom. Plans also call for a possible entry into Canada next year, with Brazil to follow at some point.
"We are focusing on some areas where we have very large user base," he said. Baron noted there because there are differences in the accounting market, Thomson is building on software companies it has acquired in the last few years in the target countries.