What makes a real cloud accounting product?
I love Xero – no two ways about it is fantastic accounting software. The best thing about it – it is truly cloud based. A new client comes along needs me to work on their file. They invite me in, I login, all done. Easy peasy.
Unfortunately I still have clients on MYOB. Don’t get me wrong I love these clients, I just don’t like their software choice.
To access a clients MYOB file I have had to jump through many hoops. Download the software, make sure it is the right version, restore the backup the client has given me or login to live accounts and connect to their file or…tear my hair out and swear a lot. It’s not easy, straightforward or clean. As pointed out by a colleague on twitter David Rynne from Real Time Accounting to MYOB:
“Backing up and rolling over MYOB accountright live. This ain’t cloud accounting, this is friction.” @RealTimeAccing
And there’s the rub. True cloud based software should eliminate these frictions. There should be no need to backup and roll over. The data should be truly live and continuous. The ability to share and collaborate should be a simple process.
MYOB you just don’t get it. You’ve taken a clunky desktop product and tried to put it in the cloud without actually looking at what cloud software needs to do.
