Star Business Solutions chief executive, Trish Hall
Melbourne-based business and accounting software vendor MYOB has acquired its Diamond partner Star Business Solutions as part of its Australia and New Zealand enterprise growth strategy.
Star Business Solutions, also headquartered in Victoria, was founded in 1991 and purchased by Trish and Norman Hall 16 years ago.
The reseller specialises in business management and accounting software solutions, and also has an in-house team of programmers and developers offering customisable software options.
The acquisition of Star Business Solutions is anticipated to bolster MYOB’s direct sales and service channel for enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions, bringing decades of global software market experience, including customisation and implementation of Greentree, MYOB’s on-premise ERP solution.
MYOB general manager for enterprise Kim Clarke said Greentree customers would be a key beneficiary of the acquisition.
“Combining forces with our largest Greentree partner and developer will bring new focus and attention to delivering best-in-class experiences for our customers,” Clarke said.
“Star Business Solutions has been one of MYOB’s top performing enterprise partners for many years.
“Their success is testament to the dedication owners Trish and Norman Hall have invested into their business and their people, and we couldn’t go past the opportunity to work together to realise our vision for the market.”
The acquisition will see Star Business Solutions’ Advanced specialists join MYOB to enhance its direct channel function, with Trish Hall joining MYOB to oversee the management of all Greentree customers serviced directly by MYOB.
Hall said she saw the power of what could be done for customers by working together with MYOB and came up with a proposition for both organisations to invest in. All 30 staff will be joining MYOB in the process.
“The success of our customers has always been at the core of our approach – we recognise their goals and we’re passionate about helping them to achieve them,” Hall said. “We could see there was a strong alignment with MYOB on this mission, so it made sense to us to try to join forces and provide our customers with access to the best platforms, product experience and support moving forward.
“We have been a family-owned business and our people are particularly important to us. This change means our employees will also have access to fantastic career opportunities and can really kick goals as they develop their skills in a thriving and exciting industry.”
Clarke said Hall and her team brought a wealth of experience across Greentree and MYOB Advanced and will be instrumental in shaping a new enhanced Greentree experience within MYOB, covering sales and support, customisations and product development.
“We’re looking forward to working as one team – not only to support more businesses with their ERP needs, but to deliver a model which creates the most compelling customer experience for Australian and New Zealand mid-market businesses,” Clarke said.
The latest acquisition is in line with MYOB’s direct sales and service channel strategy for ERP mid-market customers, announced in May.
Two months later, this was followed through with the dual acquisitions of enterprise solution partners Axsys and Exobiz.
At the time, Clarke said the acquisitions brought a wealth of skills and experience in the delivery of enterprise solutions across Australia and New Zealand and will be vital in enabling its growth ambitions in the segment.
“Their deep market knowledge, proven sales and support capabilities, and strong client relationships will help us shape a robust direct sales and support channel enabling our future growth,” Clarke said.
“We are looking forward to working together to build this new channel, extending our reach in the market and supporting more customers as they make the transition to the cloud.”
As a result of the MYOB acquisition, Axsys' IT arm was spun out to create a new Hobart-based managed services provider Compago Technologies.
