Turning farming into a tech business
Data is becoming as important as daylight in the farming business says accounting software provider MYOB. “Although data doesn’t make the grass grow. It’s certainly important for running the business,” says MYOB New Zealand General Manager Carolyn Luey.
The tech company has been working alongside New Zealand’s rural businesses for more than two decades now. During that time, it has seen the growing importance of technology across the agricultural, aquacultural, horticultural, and primary industry sectors. “The amount of technology that goes into all kinds of farming is incredible. From advanced automated milking sheds, to using on-farm internet-of-things sensors and drones to manage nutrient applications, to the importance of biological sciences to breeding – a range of trends are turning farming into a tech business. “That’s why MYOB is focused on giving rural based businesses the next generation of tech tools to help them achieve greater levels of productivity and profitability. Our software solutions are there to simplify business management, so rural business owners can focus on the things that matter. MYOB is the largest provider of accounting software services to the rural sector, although many of its customers are still using older desktop versions. The tech giant is currently rolling out several upgrades to shift its customers to modern cloud-based online versions.
“Moving our customers to the cloud will mean they can work seamlessly with their accountant on running the operation. It streamlines compliance and transaction processing, meaning accountants and business owners can focus on the activities that drive profitability,” says Carolyn Luey. MYOB is also introducing new functionality that allows tracking of specific on-farm quantities such as changes in stock levels, amount of milk sold, weight of grain and wool produced - allowing farmers to get a deeper understanding of their business performance.
“The new functionality allows accountants to capture quantities for reporting obligations for their farming clients, ensure GST is reported correctly as well as allowing information to be effortlessly shared between accountant and client.” Dannevirke accountants MCI and Associates were quick to adopt the new technology for their rural-based clients. Principal Neil Ivamy says working with his clients in the cloud allows for more “When you’re working in the cloud, everyone is working off the same page. ur clients can call up and query a transaction. We can instantly see in real time what they’re seeing and provide them advice on the spot.
“The other positive thing about MYOB’s technology is the way it takes the pain out of providing value-added services for more of our clients.
“In the past we could spend hours analysing data to provide deep insights into how a business is going, meaning only our bigger clients could afford the service. MYOB now gives us the ability to interrogate that data instantaneously, meaning we can provide higher-value consulting services to clients of all sizes.”
Ivamy says advances in artificial intelligence will allow even greater insights to be gleaned from a client’s data, something MYOB is already rolling out to its accounting partners.
“Using good quality information to better manage compliance and transaction processing means we can focus on the things that deliver more value to a client, like providing trend identification and strategies for improving their operation.” Carolyn Luey agrees and says the future will be about creating ever-closer collaborative relationships between accountants and their rural clients. “MYOB is focused on providing the technological solutions that help businesses succeed. We want to play our part in helping turn farms into tech-enabled businesses.”