Comments on: On the Sale of MYOB Again. Bain’s Strategy–Acquisition of Australasian Cloud Players?

By: NZ information technology – week ending August 26

NZ information technology – week ending August 26 — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 03:01:44 +0000

[...] Kepes looks at Bain Capital‘s MYOB buy and says the company could acquire further companies to build a rounded-out [...]

By: Chris H

Chris H — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 19:43:56 +0000

For MYOB it is more about keeping their traditional consultant and client base satisfied then it is about any real business need for an offline/online model. Unfortunately MYOB haven’t delivered on their new product after years of promises. The fact that they have no plans for release of an API for 3rd party integration indicates that they have either been given bad advice or they are stuggling to produce a credible and stable offline/online solution, resorting to cranking up ODBC support in aworld where integration is everything. Drury is correct in saying product development has stalled badly since the Archer ownership.
So in one corner you have the traditionalists who are suspicious of there data being ‘out there’ and in the other you have Xero customers who don’t harbour the same fear.
If nothing else changes, surely online accounting will prevail.MYOB have the cushion of a huge customer list but that will erode fast if they don’t pick up their game.

By: Ben Kepes

Ben Kepes — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 18:11:32 +0000

Tim – until we see a product in the wild it’s probably to early to comment – and obviously I’m a little conflicted. I will say that there is some validity to a software + services model that syncs data between desktop and cloud…

By: Tim

Tim — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 04:00:26 +0000

Hm. So, is MYOB’s azure sync strategy flawed because they were not listening to their consultants or what?

By: Ben Kepes

Ben Kepes — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 05:34:56 +0000

John, thanks for the post. As someone who has spent time consulting to MYOB about their cloud strategy, I can assure you I’m well up with the play about the direction they’re going. My analysis still holds.

By: John Woodbridge

John Woodbridge — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 01:09:41 +0000

I suggest that this article is written in ignorance of MYOB’s cloud strategy and progress towards that, whereas one would assume that Bain’s purchase decision is made in the full light of that knowledge. If I were Mike Chisholm, I wouldn’t be waiting for the phone to ring, I’d be wondering what MYOB are up to.

By: Ben Kepes

Ben Kepes — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 21:43:23 +0000

I’d be stoked for Smartpayroll if that happened…

By: Phil

Phil — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 19:29:36 +0000

Hi Ben, would you add Smartpayroll to that list? MYOB needs one of those too.
Cheers