MYOB pumped more than AU$100 million into research and development over the past three years, in a bid to build its cloud-based services portfolio and expand into the large enterprise end of the market.

Leon Spencer for ZD Net writes: MYOB revealed today that it has pumped more than AU$100 million into research and development (R&D) over the past three years — with AU$40 million of that sum spent just this financial year — in a bid to grow its cloud-based services.

The accounting and book-keeping financial software provider, which released its half-yearly financial report (PDF) today, also revealed that it had taken on more than 100 new employees over the past 12 months.

However, the company's investment in new products, new staff, and R&D saw its operating expenses increase by 11 percent for the six months ending June 2014.

MYOB chief executive officer Tim Reed said that the investment in R&D and new talent has seen the company record double-digit growth in its cloud and mobile solutions business.

"With a AU$40 million investment in R&D this financial year, we have continued to expand our cloud offerings to meet the evolving needs of small and medium businesses," Reed said in a statement. "In the first half, we introduced innovative mobile solutions such as MYOB PayDirect — a category-first for credit card payments on smartphone — while the MYOB OnTheGo app is enabling greater mobility for businesses. [snip].  The article continues @ ZD Net, click here to continue reading....