Monday, September 29, 2014

MYOB, Xero in fight for clients

Michael Masterman for Accountants Daily writes: Competition between software giants Xero and MYOB is increasing with both companies reporting significant uptake in new customers, including businesses switching software providers.

In announcing it will indefinitely extend its free MYOB-to-Xero conversion service, Xero claimed small businesses are switching to their product "in droves".
The Jet Convert service, which allows MYOB customers to move their accounting ledgers to Xero, was first offered in April this year. Since then, thousands of customers have used the service to join Xero’s fast-growing base of more than 147,000 Australian customers.
“We’ve been incredibly happy with the uptake of the conversion service offered by Jet Convert, but also with the rapid acceleration in customer growth this year” said Chris Ridd, managing director of Xero Australia. 
In a survey of new Xero customers who joined since September 2013, 67 per cent of those who responded said they had switched from a rival product, including MYOB.
Tim Reed, chief executive of MYOB, told AccountantsDaily said this isn’t reflected in his firm’s usage rates.
“We don’t see the corresponding decrease in usage that would indicate that those customers are coming from us.”
Mr Reed also said MYOB is itself seeing an increase in clients converting from other software providers.
He said this competition is a good thing for both accountants and the businesses they advise.
“I think this is a really dynamic time in the market and I think there is a lot of innovation taking place and we are really thrilled and excited to be a big part of that innovation.”
“We are investing close to $45 million per calendar year in our R&D and we are very excited about the support that we are getting from accountants across the country,” Mr Reed added.
MYOB announced last week it now has over 100,000 online subscription holders.

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