30th June, 2022
Another year over, but what have we done? This EOFY, we’re looking back at some of the major new products, features and added value we’ve delivered in the past 12 months.
Whether you’re a freelancer, business decision maker, accountant or bookkeeper, 30 June represents a great time to reflect on the year that’s been.
For MYOB, it’s been a period of accelerating change as we ramp up our ability to enhance existing products while releasing new ones to market.
Today, I want to take the time to summarise a few big highlights that have occurred throughout the year, with an aim of giving shape to the incredible amount of work that’s been committed throughout our networks. That is, the amazing work that’s being done by the people developing MYOB products, but also the people using them – you.
Mid-2021 marked a period of ongoing uncertainty amid rolling lockdowns and ramping vaccine rollouts, and for many that uncertainly continued through to the end of the calendar year.
Our accounting and bookkeeping partners told us that the entire pandemic period introduced higher expectations than ever on the part of the advisor, as they worked overtime to glean and digest information coming from the Government and the ATO regarding business support mechanisms and various tax schemes.
At the same time, we at MYOB have been building our own capabilities in education and training, with new content arriving in MYOB Academy on a monthly, and sometimes weekly basis.
More recently, we delivered Partner Education releases for MYOB Business, MYOB Payroll and MYOB Payments in Australia, making it easier for accountants and bookkeepers to upskill in our products and prove their certification to prospective customers. Find out more about certifications in the MYOB Partner Program here.
And working with our education partners, we’ve had over 10,000 university students across from more than 50 institutions using MYOB Business as part of their studies, preparing them for their careers in business.
In a similar vein, we’ve also just opened registrations to our MYOB Digital Challenge, inviting uni students from around Australia and New Zealand to present a novel tech solution to a common business problem for their chance to share in $8,500.
MYOB has doubled down on offering product-centric updates to our audiences through a combination of owned and sponsored events, giving you a wide variety of different channels and opportunities to get the information you need, where and when you want.
These events include our quarterly MYOB Showcase, the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers (ICB) summit and the Accounting Business Expo (ABE).
As has been noted in our coverage of these events, the live shows such as the ICB summit and ABE have all had a truly electric atmosphere, with attendees clearly excited to get back in the same room as their peers in the spirit of togetherness and shared learning.
It’s in this vein that I’d also like to mention some of our other industry partnerships, which add value to accountants, bookkeepers and business clients with targeted learning opportunities and membership benefits. These include our sponsorships of the Australian Bookkeepers Network, First Class Financial Group, the Accounting and Tax Institute of New Zealand, the Institute of Certified New Zealand Bookkeepers and the New Zealand Qualified Bookkeepers Association.
And, speaking of our valued accounting and bookkeeping partners, we also hosted our annual Partner Awards late in 2021 in a virtual event. You can find out details of all the winners of those awards right here (and don’t forget to nominate when this year’s awards come around).
Of course, all of these communications and events wouldn’t mean much if we had nothing to crow about! Fortunately, mid-2021 saw the launch of our new product suite for small businesses: MYOB Business.
This major new launch was followed by the introduction of recurring payments via MYOB Direct Debit for small and medium businesses, as well as the expansion of MYOB Advanced Business following a partnership between Procore Technologies and MYOB. This latter announcement sees the introduction of enhanced project management features for construction added to the MYOB Advanced Business platform.
Beyond these big product changes, we also added a number of other features to MYOB’s core capabilities, such as the new Loans and Finance hub, which makes it easier than ever for our small and medium business customers to access working capital when they need it most. We also introduced a new partnership with Amaka to deliver better integrations between MYOB and various eCommerce platforms, as well as Tall Emu for Customer Relationship Management and Flare for employee onboarding benefits.
All of this means there’s even more to love about MYOB’s solutions, no matter your business size or industry sector.
In order to deliver as much value through our products as possible, we’re always looking for more ways to help MYOB users what’s on offer.
That’s why you may have noticed multiple different competitions appearing in various forms and channels, ramping up particularly through the EOFY period. These included a partner referral competition giving away $3000 each month to a lucky referrer, random prize draws for completing our MYOB Business certification and Payroll certification and even a $2000 David Jones voucher up for grabs over the course of ABE.
When it comes to compliance and end of financial year processing, we also updated our EOFY hub for businesses and launched one for accountants and bookkeepers, as well as releasing our STP2 functionality, to make tax time easier for both businesses and their advisors alike.
For those who’ve been paying attention in the media, you may have seen another side to MYOB on the TV, with our sponsorship of Channel Nine’s Celebrity Apprentice giving our General Manager of SME, Emma Fawcett and opportunity to take centre stage in judging a contestant challenge.
If you think the above seems like a lot, you might be shocked to learn just how much I’ve glossed over in order to provide just the highlights.
You might also be shocked to learn how much we have in store for the next 12 months into 2023, so be sure to stay tuned for further updates and announcements to come.
Are you an accountant and bookkeeper looking to acquire the latest tools and techniques to help run your business and add value for your clients? Joining the MYOB Partner Program will put more knowledge at your fingertips, as well as the opportunity to unlock discounts for both you and your clientele. Find out more today.