As you probably know by now, in addition to MYOB Greentree software on which Verde has built its name, we’ve added MYOB Advanced to our solutions portfolio. It’s an ideal new tool in the box and we consider it one of the benefits to have flowed from the MYOB/Greentree acquisition.
Let’s look, then, at what MYOB Advanced can do for your business. That starts with its positioning and for that, we’ll take a step back to look at the software’s origins (this is important because it speaks to the maturity of the platform).
Advanced began life as Acumatica, an American cloud ERP solution first developed all the way back in 2008. As you’ll appreciate, cloud wasn’t a big deal back then. In fact, it was considered ‘bleeding edge’. At that time, if you went cloud, your peers might rightly wonder if you had rocks in your head.
But times have changed, massively. Now the opposite applies: for the mid-market, at which Advanced is squarely targeted, if you DIDN’T go cloud, you might rightly face questions about whether it’s igneous or sedimentary or metamorphous clogging your skull. After all, why bother with capex and lengthy implementations when cloud means one low monthly payment and a matter of weeks to better business software.
When it was introduced locally, MYOB essentially optimised Acumatica for the New Zealand and Australian markets – and it’s done a good job of it, too. Introduced in 2015, there are already more than 400 implementations across ANZ. For an enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution, that’s astounding growth.
Which brings us to some nuts and bolts. As a mid-sized company, that is, one with 20 or more employees and a turnover of $5-million or more, ERP will make a difference to your business. If you’re struggling with growth, if you’re finding keeping track of things is increasingly difficult or even impossible, if you’re stuck with an accounting package bolstered with spreadsheets and several external and unconnected applications, you really need to consider something more sophisticated and integrated.
In our experience, one of the best ways to improve operations and work towards better business is through ERP software. With the right integrated ERP solution, your business can improve operations, meet compliance requirements more easily, work to best practice standards, retain business knowledge, and even improve the way you plan. The software can automate multiple tasks, drive out (literal) paperwork and provide visibility across operations from a single location – and from any device, including your mobile handset.
What makes Advanced particularly attractive to the mid-market, is that all of this is accessible for a monthly fee of a couple of hundred dollars.
In the (not so long ago) old days, you’d be looking at tens of thousands to get a system like this purchased, configured and implemented on dedicated (read expensive) hardware.
These days, you don’t need any capex. No new servers and storage. Just an internet connection and your existing devices.
By eliminating spreadsheets and workarounds, by integrating manufacturing with the warehouse and logistics and tying it all to the general ledger, ERP will make a difference for your business.
But just how much difference it makes is also up to you; investing in training and truly committing to the system is a crucial component of maximising the value you get from it.
Typical benefits include:
- Operations: An effective, integrated system gives you certainty around the integrity of your business data, financial management and business processes. Reduce errors, and have complete visibility and control with an easily accessed, central source of real-time data.
- Regulatory compliance: ERP lets you build HR regulations, Health and Safety and any other industry specific standards into the software, so you maintain compliance – and you can prove it. You’ll keep your business up to standard and keep your staff safe
- Working to best-practice standards: Building operational intelligence into your systems and processes lets you maintain these standards - and means that anyone buying the business will be able to maintain the same standards in future.
- Retaining business knowledge: ERP lets you retain internal process knowledge, so it’s not lost when staff leave. And with everything documented and mapped, everything you need to train new staff is at your fingertips.
- Governance: To make good business decisions, you need good data. With an effective ERP system, you’ll have access to accurate, timely data that you can rely on. You’ll know the where, what, and how of every aspect of your business at any one time.
The only question which remains, if you do indeed find yourself faced with the challenges of a growing business, is if MYOB Advanced is right for you.
Contact us and we’ll be happy to provide an assessment.
