MYOB CEO Greg Ellis explains how OG fintech transformed to keep customers on the digital edge

For over 30 years, MYOB has shaped and shaken the small business sector.

As one of Australia’s first technology unicorns, we led the charge to help businesses digitize their processes and improve their finances. When we first started, loading our software onto desktop computers—via CD-ROM—helped many business owners take the first step away from physical paper documents, even before programs like Excel were widely available.

More than three decades later, the business technology landscape is almost unrecognizable from when we started. Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) operate in a rapidly changing environment, where business owners are expected to have knowledge and visibility of every critical workflow in their business, and every minute counts.

Challenges come from all directions – from natural disasters and a global pandemic to interest rate increases and cost-of-living pressures.

Now more than ever, business owners must maximize every opportunity to increase efficiency, productivity and return on investment.

We know that digitization helps. Highly digitally engaged companies earn 60% more revenue per employee and grow 28% faster than companies with poor digital engagement.

So investing in digital tools and processes makes a lot of sense for startups and SMEs in 2023, but with an abundance of solutions available, how can businesses streamline their technology approach? This was the question we asked ourselves in our own business development.

A boost for business

To help small and medium-sized businesses access the digital tools they need, we provided the federal government with the evidence base for a digital tax incentive to help cover the costs, culminating in the Small Business Technology Boost announced for nearly 12 months ago in the May 2022 budget.

MYOB CEO Greg Ellis

We know that one of the main barriers to digital adoption is cost, but a key effect of having these solutions is money saved. Australian SMEs make up the largest employer in the country, generating more than $700 billion to the economy, so finding every way to help them will have a significant impact on our GDP.

To that end, we are continuing our call for the federal government to legislate the Technology Investment Pledge, which will mean small businesses can deduct an additional 20% of their business digitization spend, opening the door for more SMEs to benefit from productivity-increasing the benefits of digital operations.

Companies are facing a tough year

In 2023, it is almost certain that geopolitical pressures will continue to affect local businesses. In addition to inflation and interest rates, taxes will rise and labor and skills shortages will continue, putting further pressure on Australia’s vital SME community.

Businesses must adapt as they navigate tough market conditions. So far, Australian businesses have proved resilient, particularly in the face of the unpredictable waves of the past three years. In fact, our latest SME Success Report found Australian SMEs are 12% more resilient after facing pandemic-related challenges.

But while Australian businesses may have had the resilience to survive this far, they do not have the luxury of wasting time, money or resources on ineffective approaches to business management. They need to stay laser-focused on the challenges ahead and ensure they have the tools to help them succeed.

An evolution for our digital world

Intelligent, data-driven solutions will lead the way in this next technology chapter, which is why MYOB is taking a next-generation approach to Software as a Service (SaaS). We go beyond the software plus add-on model, to provide the combined power of rich integration with the flexibility of single point solutions.

In response to the rapidly changing SMB environment, we made the strategic decision to expand from accounting software to a robust business management platform that addresses the core workflows of today’s SMBs. These workflows include supply chain, project management, employee relations, finance and of course accounting and tax.

We have drastically changed our product offering to solve the problems facing modern businesses, including financial services to speed up payments and increase cash flow; solutions that did not exist a few years ago.

This means that people running small businesses don’t need multiple subscriptions with different providers, and seek support and clarification from a variety of different sources.

They don’t need to subscribe and pay for features in the software they don’t use.

And they don’t want the headache of multiple platforms that don’t talk to each other, or the need to train new people on a wide range of digital tools for business efficiency.

We have simplified our offering but expanded the breadth of services we offer, providing customers with an efficient, cost-effective solution that addresses their key workflows, to drive efficiency and productivity.

Growing one of the oldest technology companies in the country will always be a challenge, but with a world-class business management platform launched and ready for sole traders up to those with 1,000 employees, we are ready to help businesses unlock their potential.

Gone are the days of online business solutions operating in silos, paper-based systems and CD-ROMs. It’s time for a more holistic approach to small business operations so that SMB entrepreneurs can focus on business success and growth, ultimately growing our national economy.

And with SMEs contributing more than half of the country’s GDP, we cannot afford for them to fall behind.