MYOB Exo: Background and History

ERP software developed in Australia and New Zealand by MYOB Ltd.

MYOB Ltd is the largest software company in the Australian and New Zealand region. It is also the leading brand of business software for small and medium-sized businesses. MYOB designs software for compliance and compatibility with the functional requirements for the Australian and New Zealand business environment.

Software for Small Business and Accountants in Practice

MYOB has been the leading Australian brand of software for small business and accounting practices for many years.  These software packages include:

Software for Medium-Sized Business

In addition, MYOB is also produces the most popular business software for medium-sized business. MYOB refers to this category of software as being suitable for “Bigger Business” organisations. The term “Bigger Business” really means medium-sized business.

What is the difference between software for “Small Business” compared with “Bigger Business”?

The boundaries between software for “Small Business” and “Medium-Sized” or “Bigger” business are somewhat arbitrary.  In essence, the “Bigger Business” range of software is designed for organisations that have outgrown their “Small Business” Software.

History of MYOB Exo

MYOB Exo was originally developed in New Zealand in 1998 under the brand name “Exonet”.  During that late 1990 era there were many businesses that were concerned about the year 2000 coming soon and the risk of software that would have problems with the “Y2K bug”.  Therefore, the Exonet software was renamed “Exonet 2000” to clearly indicate that the software was designed to operate without any problems as the clock turned over into 2000 and beyond into the 21^st Century.

Exonet was designed to include the following features:

• Flexible – able to be easily customised.
• Integrate with other software packages e.g. report designers, spreadsheets.
• Strong multi-user functionality.
• Multi-currency.
• Multi-company.
• Microsoft SQL Server Database
• Able to cater for large volumes of data transactions and history retention
• Customisable screens, able to add customer-specific additional fields and reports
• Microsoft Windows Interface

The timing of the launch of Exonet 2000 was perfect due to the strong demand for new software by organisations who had decided their old business software was not compatible with Y2K or otherwise presented too great a risk, moving into the 21^st century.  Therefore Exonet 2000 rapidly became extremely popular in the New Zealand marketplace.

During this period Exonet gained Venture Capital investment to accelerate software development. The company also expanded into the Australian and Singapore markets.

Exonet transitions to Solution 6 ownership and then in 2004 into MYOB ownership

During this period Exonet software was taken over by Solution 6 which, at that time, was a large Australian accounting software company.   After a serious of venture capital injections and new investors recognising the advanced technology and opportunity for Exonet to success, the next step was for Exonet to be acquired by MYOB Ltd.

Exonet was a division of the Solution 6 software company which, in 2004 was taken over by MYOB Ltd, which therefore became the owner of Exonet.  MYOB rebranded the Exonet software as MYOB Exo.

MYOB launches “MYOB Exo”

In 2004 MYOB launched MYOB Exo, implementing the software using a similar business model to what had proven successful with the small-business software e.g. MYOB AccountRight, MYOB Premier and MYOB Essentials.

After two years MYOB changed the business model by appointing authorised partners to sell and implement MYOB Exo.

During the initial phase of MYOB Exo as a division within the MYOB family it became evident that the direct-sell and direct-support method that had proven successful for MYOB’s range of small business software, was not appropriate for MYOB Exo.

Small business software is easy and simply to deploy, with its functionality being fairly standardised and being mainly limited to accounting functions.

Software such as MYOB Exo that is designed for medium-sized businesses is a different concept to small-business software. MYOB Exo is designed to provide business operational workflow management, and accounting functions are just one component of the MYOB Exo system.  MYOB Exo is capable of being heavily customised to meet the functional requirements of an individual business.

Therefore MYOB made the decision to appoint experienced business software implementation specialists to sell, implement and support the MYOB Exo range of software.

Communicat has been a specialist organisation implementing business systems since 1989.  Based on our experience we were well aware of the potential benefits that MYOB Exo could provide for medium-sized businesses in Australia and New Zealand. Once MYOB recognised the need for the MYOB Exo software to be implemented software implementation specialists, discussions commenced between MYOB and Communicat.

Today, Communicat is one of Australia’s leading implementers of MYOB Exo software.  We have clients in all Australian States, Singapore and New Zealand.

MYOB Exo is superb success story and a brilliant example of Australian and New Zealand Innovation, Technology and Ingenuity.

MYOB Exo and MYOB Advanced

We are often asked “which is better – MYOB Exo or MYOB Advanced”.

There is no simple answer to this question.

MYOB Exo is the most popular software for medium-sized business in the Australian and New Zealand marketplace, with an extensive body of functionality and compatible functions available.  MYOB Exo is available for on-premise deployment as well as private-cloud deployment.

MYOB Advanced was launched in early 2015.  The system embodies advanced technology and has a different set of functions compared to MYOB Exo.  MYOB Advanced is only available in a cloud deployment model.

Both MYOB Exo and MYOB Advanced have their pros and cons, but it really depends on the functionality and features that your business needs.  Communicat provide a free advisory service to review your requirements and advise you which system offers the most benefits relative to your needs.

MYOB EXO V06.2