Juha Saarinen: Make software more cloudy to suit small businesses

Upselling to features that won't be used is not the way of the cloud, writes Juha Saarinen. Photo / 123RF

OPINION:

Cloud computing's main drawcard is that you, the customer, can take advantage of the economies of scale that a provider enjoys through setting up giant hyperscale data centres with hugely fast data connections.

This means it's easy to scale up computing and communications resources as your business grows, and the inverse when things slow down.

This is how Amazon Web Services, where you pay for what you consume, works. Store data in the cloud? There's a charge. Process the data? It'll cost. Network traffic in and out of the cloud costs as well, usually.

There are huge amounts of variables with AWS, and it can be difficult to "do cloud" right. Admins used to planning for scaling or the ability to grow with business expansion with local systems can be lured into doing the same in the cloud.

That's an expensive mistake best avoided. The point of the cloud is that you don't need to come up with, or can save on, the big chunks of money required upfront to buy computing infrastructure that needs to be housed somewhere, and managed by skilled staff that are rarer than hens' teeth at the moment.

Correctly done, and the cloud provides an IT solution that's right-sized and tailored to your needs there and then.

Plenty of companies tout their software as a service solution but the question is, do they follow the cloud computing tenet of paying only for what you consume, or are they hawking subscription ware running in a browser?

Not that there's anything wrong with running applications in a browser. It's 2022, and after years and years of being under hack attack, web browser security is pretty solid.

When network constraints allow it, applications run fast in browsers thanks to code optimisations and the powerful computers users have now. What's more, the programs are accessible from almost anywhere.

What many users would like to add to those great benefits is the ability to pick and choose the features that you need at a given point in time, and only pay for those. Accounting software providers, I am looking at you especially.

MYOB recently launched a business management platform that promises not to add to "subscription overwhelm". The accounting software provider says it's a firm believer that businesses should be able to tailor their software to best suit their needs and only pay for what they really need. This is especially so given the current financial pressures businesses face, which means not adding to the "subscription overload".

If that meant you could as a small business (the MYOB offering is aimed at that sector) subscribe to, say, a base plan that covers the cost of storing and safekeeping financial data, and then adding specific features on top, keeping the bean counting lean and mean, that would be amazing.

Unfortunately, that's not how MYOB works. You get to customise the software by adding inventory and payroll modules to the plans and that's it.

No subtraction of features you'll never use. Nor can you add things you need like multi-currency support to the otherwise feature-sufficient lower-cost plans without moving up the ladder, and paying top dollar for an everything-and-the-kitchen-sink package.

Doing it that way probably means more revenue for MYOB, but it grates with small business owners who have to buy a full five-course dinner instead of the cut lunch that would've been more than enough for their needs.

During the first lockdowns, many small business owners had to put everything on hold. Not Xero subscriptions, however, which could not be put on hold.

That's when you grind your teeth as a small business owner, and start casting side-eyes at a spreadsheet application because those monthly subscription charges add up a lot over a year, and they're ongoing.

It's true that admin and business management software saves heaps of time and therefore, money. That said, competition, in accounting software especially, would be great so that there are options that let you consume and pay for only what you need when you require it. Pretty please. It is the way of the cloud.