INSIGHT: Top 5 tips for Kiwi SMBs

Every day, there are small actions that can make a big difference to the success of SMEs across the country.

But with so much going on in the business daily, how does a business owner prioritise doing the right things?

5Things, a new smart app developed specifically for MYOB’s online accounting solution AccountRight, is designed to help business owners focus on the actions that can make the biggest difference to the efficient running of their business.

According to the company, 5Things reviews data from the business’ accounting software and sends a daily email to the business owner with a list of five things they can do that day to improve their business.

This includes a range of tasks, like paying tax or a bill that is due, bank items needing coding, ordering more supplies, or even contacting a client that has an overdue account.

5Things is an app developed by Half Pine, a company jointly owned by MYOB employees Keran McKenzie and Lucas Eagleton.

McKenzie says as 5Things acquires more users, the data will be available to predict problems before they arise, and provide a benchmarking service to inform an SME’s business strategy.

“The app potentially will give more insight to business activity compared to similar businesses,” McKenzie says.

“The collective, anonymised data could show what similar businesses are doing enabling the business to benchmark against their business strategy.”

McKenzie is MYOB’s API Evangelist & Head of Developer Relations, and he says developing 5Things highlights the level of confidence we have in the MYOB API program.

It also demonstrates MYOB’s transparency and openness with those developers on its platforms, as Mr McKenzie and Mr Eagleton have the same access to information as any other developer in the program.

“We’ve got to keep our developers across the developments in AccountRight and Essentials so that they can ensure their add-ons keep pace,” McKenzie adds.

“One of the key reasons we decided to build this app was to fully experience the process our partners go through and truly ‘drink our own champagne’.”

General Manager for SME Solutions James Scollay says MYOB encourages the entrepreneurial approach from its employees and is extremely supportive of Half Pine.

Scollay says the company recognises that one way to ensure technology talent is retained, is recognising that talented staff will often pursue independent projects.

“We are passionate about fostering talent at MYOB, which is why we are fully supportive of our own employees creating apps that enhance our SME solutions,” he adds.

“Those with the start-up spirit in their DNA are exactly the type of people we want on our team.”