Tag Archives: MYOB

July 21, 2011 Posted in Business 5 Comments

Xero Buys Paycycle and Clarifies US Market Entry

By Ben Kepes

At its AGM today, Xero announced a number of things, one of which was the acquisition of Australian payroll provider Paycycle in a deal worth $1.5M. When Xero launched they went on record as saying that payroll was outside of what they considered core functionality – this position was in

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July 4, 2011 Posted in Business 6 Comments

Some Xero Analysis

By Ben Kepes

A month or so ago I was asked to provide some comment for the Natonal Business Review to go with Xero’s full year financial report. I was positive but with reservations and comments. In response to my comments, Xero CEO Rod Drury made some ad hominem comments about me and

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March 25, 2011 Posted in Business 5 Comments

On SaaS Pricing, Functionality and Risk Aversion

By Ben Kepes

Lots of SaaS accounting news at the moment – from Saasu, Xero and MYOB. Firstly Australian SaaS accounting vendor Saasu (more on them here) recently announced a change to its pricing. Already one of the most economically priced offerings in the marketplace (and I use those words purposely to differentiate

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November 24, 2010 Posted in Business 4 Comments

Downwards Price Pressure, Saasu Drops Prices but is Zero the New Destination?

By Ben Kepes

Disclosure – I’ve worked with a number of different accounting software vendors, for full information see my disclosure page. In any industry where large numbers of sellers exist, economics force prices downwards – it’s an undeniable economic fact that many a high school student has heard in the context of

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October 29, 2010 Posted in Business 1 Comment

DataGroup Eases the SaaS Barrier to Adoption

By Ben Kepes

One of the barriers to more widespread adoption of SaaS accounting applications is the high degree to which accounting applications are “sticky”. In other words, the high level of workflow that gets built into application use over time, combined with the difficulty of migrating from one application to another, created

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July 22, 2010 Posted in Business 5 Comments

Xero Annual Report – Quick Analysis

By Ben Kepes

At the Xero AGM today both CEO Rod Drury and Chairman Phil Norman addressed the audience and gave  roundup of annual performance. Some quick points to note: Customer count now over 22000 (see graph below). Note the steepness of the growth curve has flattened somewhat – it’s still heading in

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February 12, 2009 Posted in Business, Efficiency, IT, New business, New Zealand, SaaS 2 Comments

Another Local Payroll Entrant

By Ben Kepes

Awhile ago I wrote about iPayroll, a local SaaS payroll provider. New to the scene comes Flexitime, another payroll option. Whereas iPayroll is an official IRD intermediary, meaning that they can act as a company’s proxy when dealing with the IRD, Flexitime is a standalone service which means companies will

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November 19, 2008 Posted in Business, IT, SaaS, Strategy, The Cloud 10 Comments

MYOB on the block

By Ben Kepes

Interesting to read that suitors are coming from far and wide for MYOB. Guinness Peat Group is supporting a takeover for the business in which it already holds a 13.6% stake. It has joined in with another three investors who jointly hold 34% of the company to form a united

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September 2, 2008 Posted in Business, Design, IT, SaaS, Strategy, The Cloud 2 Comments

Starting to own a vertical

By Ben Kepes

It was really interesting to hear that the largest supplier of accounting applications in Australasia, MYOB, has been on the acquisition trail. MYOB has bought the second largest Australian ISP, SmartyHost, for AUD7mil. This follows their acquisition earlier in the year of the Perth based ISP Illisys. So what is

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August 9, 2008 Posted in Business, Efficiency, Governance, IT, SaaS, Strategy Leave a comment

Something is rotten in the state of MY-OB

By Ben Kepes

Or maybe anyway. News today that MYOB have taken the surprise decision to dis-establish their MD positions in New Zealand, Australia and Asia. Regular users will recall that MYOB introduced a first edition of an on-demand accounting system, a release that I was fairly dismissive of. The defective on-demand head

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The Author

Ben Kepes is an analyst, an entrepreneur, a commentator and a business adviser. His business interests include a diverse range of industries from manufacturing to property to technology. As a technology commentator he has a broad presence both in the traditional media and extensively online. Ben covers the convergance of technology, mobile, ubiquity and agility, all enabled by the Cloud. His areas of interest extend to enterprise software, software integration, financial/accounting software, platforms and infrastructure as well as articulating technology simply for everyday users. More on Ben

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