Firstly congratulations to the GreatSoft team on the proposed sale to MYOB - you create a business ultimately to sell a business. Secondly, is this a white flag from both parties being hoisted? Regardless of the fact, this merger, takeover whatever is with the ACCC and yet again we are faced with another potential 12 months+ of disruption in the market.
The irony of all of this hasn't escaped me: from cancelling the Sol6 Sth Africa licence after they (MYOB) bought Solution6 in the early 2000s, to now buying back the company the team in Sth Africa subsequently created the quote: "Revenge is sweet but not fattening" by Spike Milligan springs to mind, or 'You only get one Alan Bond' a-la Kerry Packer.
I have had some very upset firms contact me in the past few days, many of them cancelling projects. Questions to be answered:
- The future of the MYOB R&D teams in Melbourne & Sydney if this acquisition does go through - will they be retained for the Practice Management side, or is GreatSoft now the platform going forward?
- What is the future of the much-touted 'Connected Practice' - as it now appears to be dis-Connected? From what I have seen, MYOBs strategy is now all GreatSoft based
- What will happen with the Xero tax integration? Will they still keep access to the API?
- Where does this then leave Xero as they have been promoting GreatSoft in lieu of XPM to larger firms?
- Will firms trust software vendors into the future? I’m reminded of the expression: “There are two things I don’t like about him: his face”
I've been through mergers where rival sales teams now have to be 'friends' - it doesn't work; you have to sort this fast. Will GreatSoft still be selling the solutions as ‘‘ReckonAPS in the cloud’’ as they have been rather than MYOB in the cloud…? (low blow Fitzy)
No doubt a lot more to come on this one but they both seem confident enough to do joint calls with clients - oh to have been a fly on the wall.
If you need some assistance, with what to do next, sing out via this link
Alan
