Forum weekly update #95

 

Konichiwa!

 

I’ve enjoyed the past couple of weeks on holidays in Japan. It was great to have a break as 2014 has been a very busy year at MYOB. Many thanks to Suja_P and the rest of the support team for manning the fort.

 

While I was away there was more exciting news from the team, including the announcement that MYOB has surpassed 100,000 online subscribers. This milestone has been achieved less than two years since we launched the AccountRight Live service. We’re also excited that 70 per cent of new clients are now seeing the benefits of online accounting and signing up for a cloud solution.

 

The latest MYOB Business Monitor Report has also been recently released in Australia, while in New Zealand we launched the latest findings in the MYOB Digital Nation Report.

 

In Australia, small to medium enterprises are consolidating the gains of the past 12 months, enjoying one of the highest revenue performances of the last three years. Businesses are also confident about the year ahead, with a third of operators expecting to see revenues increase and 36 per cent reporting more work or sales booked in the next 12 months. Business confidence remains relatively steady.

 

“We are very pleased to see the latest revenue results for Australia’s SMEs continuing to move in the right direction,” says MYOB CEO Tim Reed. “Although the latest Business Monitor reflects that running a small business in the current economic environment is not easy, many local operators are beginning to see their hard work pay dividends.

 

“This survey again reinforces how resilient our SME community is and underscores how important they are to the economy as a whole. It is particularly heartening to see many more businesses looking forward to an improved end to the year, and confident about what 2015 will bring.”

 

Meanwhile across the Tasman, New Zealand’s small to medium enterprises are still divided by the use of the internet and internet technology. Our latest Digital Nation Report has found a marked difference in performance between businesses with an online presence and those without a website or social media site.

 

MYOB Chief Technology Officer, Simon Raik-Allen says over the last five years the survey has consistently demonstrated that online engagement represents a clear advantage for local businesses.

 

“Not only are online businesses enjoying a greater level of increased revenue, local SME operators also report a wide range of direct benefits from being online – from increased leads to heightened customer engagement and a more professional image,” says Simon. “Being online offers a wide range of benefits for business in the digital age.”

 

Here on the Community Forum it’s been another busy week. Over 900 posts have been submitted, including 400 from MYOB staff.

 

Many thanks to those super-helpful community members that have generously shared their knowledge, expertise and wisdom this week. Our top contributors over the past seven days were Dee-Workman, fiona-s, ronatbas, Alan_M and Mike_James. Special mention to Dee-Workman, fiona-s and Geoff_ who had multiple posts marked as solutions.

 

Love your work,

 

Jason Hill

Community Manager