Cloud Accounting Update

Accounting software for small to medium businesses is at a crossroad with full cloud products like Xero, Saasu, Netsuite and JCurve establishing themselves in the Australian market over the past few years. They are all growing fast. But are they right for your business?

These vendors offer “full” cloud solutions that work on an internet browser on almost any device. Xero in particular has enjoyed immense success and it will be interesting to see if they and the other market players can continue to swiftly make up ground on MYOB’s market dominance.

In contrast to the other vendors, MYOB have chosen a “hybrid” cloud strategy for their popular product “AccountRight”. Think of it like Apple’s “itunes” for accounting software - with a local installation of the application on your computer, but data storage and management in the cloud as an option. Whilst potentially leaving you with some of the old hassles like dealing with software upgrades, data versioning issues and local computer installations, the option of working offline or collaboratively online may provide users with some of the benefits of both worlds.

Missed the cloud technology article? Click here to catch up.