MYOB has appointed a new lead for its New Zealand SME division, as the company looks to drive success in the market.

Ingrid Cronin-Knight steps in the NZ head of SME Business, tasked with championing the New Zealand operation and lead service and sale delivery to small and medium business customers and the accounting partners that support them.

“MYOB has more than two decades' experience working alongside New Zealand small businesses,” says Cronin-Knight.

“In that time it has transformed its products and operations to deliver customers the latest innovative cloud-accounting, payroll and business management solutions that enable businesses to succeed,” she explains.

“I'm excited about joining a company whose products are central to the operations of a huge number of SMEs right around New Zealand,” adds Cronin-Knight.

Cronin-Knight says she is determined to see MYOB win in the New Zealand SME market.

MYOB New Zealand general manager James Scollay says she will lead a team that is dedicated to helping small businesses realise the benefits of innovative cloud-based business management services, as well as developing and nurturing strategic relationships with key customers and influencers including government, financial institutions, corporates, partners and media in New Zealand.

“We're really excited about Ingrid's appointment,” says Scollay.

“She's totally focused on championing SMEs in New Zealand. MYOB's accounting software products are used by more small businesses in this country than any other provider and we are the largest provider of payroll products to SMEs, but there is opportunity to do even more,” he explains.

Scollay says MYOB is seeing accelerating take up of cloud-accounting software by small businesses.

“Last year MYOB achieved 46% year-on-year growth of online users and we expect the number of businesses in New Zealand using these services to continue to increase,” he explains.

“Ingrid's job is simple. Position MYOB as the preferred cloud-accounting provider for New Zealand SMEs and ensure our customer service is ahead of the competition,” Scollay states.

Cronin-Knight comes to MYOB from the telecommunications industry, most recently as head of Change and Business Technology for Chorus where she managed the technology and business transformation programme following its demerger from Telecom (now Spark). Prior to that, she held various roles in Telecom's enterprise division.

“I'm looking forward to taking on a new challenge,” she says.

“There aren't too many businesses out there that have totally transformed their products and services to meet the age of digital disruption.

“MYOB has been able to completely renew its product suit and now offers price competitive and feature rich cloud accounting functionality to its customers,” Cronin-Knight adds.

“I'm looking forward to highlight the opportunities for SME owners in New Zealand to better track and manage the financial operation of their business through innovative cloud-accounting software solutions, so they can achieve even greater success,” she says.