KUALA LUMPUR: Financio, a wholly-owned entity within Asian Business Software Solutions Sdn Bhd (ABSS) has signed a strategic agreement with Microsoft to empower micro small medium enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia and accelerate their digital transformation journey.
As part of this partnership, Microsoft will offer Office 365 as a complimentary service for Financio’s current customers to enhance competitiveness and modernise their business operations.
The free cloud-based automated accounting software is designed for start-ups, small business owners and non-accountants, and it will be the first freemium accounting application in Malaysia that has adopted Microsoft cloud services.
Financio provides companies access to a secure solution that tracks business finances effortlessly by leveraging Microsoft’s cloud solutions.
Microenterprises will be able to migrate their accounting portfolio to a more secure, stable and agile cloud platform with an uptime of 99.5 per cent.
ABSS chief executive officer Paul Conway said through Financio, businesses can leverage accounting technology to boost productivity, drive collaboration and stay on top of their finances.
“This partnership comes from a shared interest to empower micro SMEs to operate business critical actions anytime, anywhere through a device and realising the benefits of accessing data on the go. Companies that are processing information offline should now be looking to do this online,” he said in a statement today.
Currently, Financio is helping small businesses save over 384,000-man hours a year and powering more than 4,500 small businesses across Malaysia.
“We are aiming to increase this number to 125,000 by March 2018, and our partnership with Microsoft will play a crucial role in achieving this target,” Conway added.
With Financio, users can track sales, purchases and miscellaneous transactions through a simplified dashboard, and automatically generate financial reports and tax records or forward transactions to recipients via email and inventory tracking.
Through ‘Financio Connect’, businesses can also collaborate seamlessly and share documents on the platform. Start-ups and micro SMEs can expect to save at least 100-man hours and RM2,000 a year by moving from spreadsheets to accounting automation, the statement added.
Microsoft Malaysia managing director K Raman said Microsoft technology has helped transform the way people work, learn, play and communicate, since its presence in Malaysia over 25 years.
“A large proportion of new technology adoption and use in Malaysia will be driven by SMEs, as they account for over 97 per cent of business establishments. We have been their trusted partners in this journey and our collaboration with Financio is a step further in this direction,” he said.
SME Corporation Malaysia chief executive officer Datuk Dr. Hafsah Hashim, meanwhile, said managing cashflow and keeping a close eye on finances is a core part of running a business.
“In fact, accounting for startups is so important that many businesses with great products fail each year just because they don’t get a handle on their finances. We believe that SMEs in Malaysia will now be able focus on growing their businesses intelligently,” she said.