CALTRiX to boost Cloud Accounting adoption in Malaysia.

CALTRiX, an MDEC-approved provider of technology solutions, aims to increase the adoption of cloud accounting among small and medium enterprises over the next three years.

CALTRiX is a Xero Gold Partner and Xero Certified Advisor that specializes in the retail and e-commerce industries. They also assist other service sectors such as accommodation, hospitality, construction, trades, e-commerce, healthcare, marketing and advertising, consulting firms, and non-governmental organizations. CALTRiX is also an MDEC-approved provider of technology solutions. Alfred Ang, founder and CEO of CAL Cloud Sdn Bhd (CALTRiX), an SMP and leading Xero Gold Partner and Xero Certified Advisor stated that over the next three years, the adoption of cloud accounting by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) will rise exponentially, and they are scaling up to help more Malaysians streamline their workflow. Ang shared this after attending the Xero Asia Roadshow 2021 earlier this month, which was held virtually on International Accountant's Day.

Kevin Fitzgerald, Managing Director of Xero Asia, shared Xero's impressive growth in customer numbers and usage in the region, which had increased exponentially over the previous fiscal year. Fitzgerald also stated that Xero is committed to regional capacity-building programs and is collaborating with governments on Cloud First initiatives. Frost & Sullivan, global research and consulting firm, named Xero the 2021 Asia-Pacific SME Accounting Software Vendor of the Year in its 2021 Best Practices Awards. Collaboration between Xero and the Asia Cloud Computing Association (ACCA) to launch advisor certification programs in Singapore to help the next generation of accounting professionals was announced by Fitzgerald.

One of 577 Coach n Grow grant alumni (Cohort 5) of the Ministry of Finance's Cradle Grant and Proficeo public-private partnership is CALTRiX. Ang added that he founded the company to promote Cloud Accounting to small and medium-sized businesses. A significant challenge for them was dealing with company directors who are resistant to change because they are accustomed to desktop/offline accounting software. Switching to cloud-based solutions like Xero takes about three months as per their experience. He further stated how the Coach n Grow program had helped him to improve his lead generation, business communication, and profitability measurement skills.

The demand for cloud accounting solutions is undeniable, and they are scaling the business to serve the industry, expecting to triple their sales revenue by the end of the fiscal year 2023. He also shared his confidence in the product and market acceptance which can be witnessed by Xero's H1 FY22 performance with operating sales reaching 505.7 million dollars annually. According to Gartner, the Southeast Asia cloud computing market revenue is expected to reach 40.32 billion dollars by 2025 as a result of increased demand for cloud computing among SMEs. Ang was sentimentally inspired by the recently released Budget 2022 announcements. The Digital First Initiative aims to increase the use of cloud computing in the public sector while decreasing physical storage documents, as well as instilling a paperless culture. The budget allotted RM300 million dollars  under the SME Digitisation Grant Scheme and the Automation Grant to support automation and modernization activities, plus an additional RM700 million allocated to improve digital connectivity, thereby facilitating digitalization of SME's and SMP's.

Ang, a 33-year-old accountant comes from a business family, who started his career in a hotel's accounting backroom, then moved on to become a business analyst before launching his first company as a software distributor, leading 500 Malaysian SMEs to adopt accounting software digitization during the GST implementation period beginning in 2015. In 2017, he sold his software company and took a short sabbatical. Cloud accounting piqued his interest because it was one of the fastest-growing sectors in business automation. During his research, he discovered that transitioning to cloud services would necessitate ongoing training and upskilling for company executives. In January 2018, he launched CALTRiX by himself to provide services to businesses looking to transition from time-consuming manual bookkeeping to receiving real-time financial data on an app from their mobile phones. He also shared how many of their clients had provided positive feedback regarding this beautiful user interface as it is intuitive and easy to utilize.

Furthermore, he stated that they also work with accountants and finance departments in manufacturing and trading companies, and one of the Xero features they're excited about is e-invoicing, a new B2B feature that where invoices are not only generated, but also paid for in the cloud, and are distributed software to software intuitively from both the client and supplier sides. Ang also shared how it has the effect of faster payments for SMEs – a critical feature for healthier cash flows. Their firm invited customers to participate in a Clarity Call, during which he learned about their needs, business requirements and comprehend their aches and pains as they were certain on what they can offer. The firm also brought the client on board and collaborated with their team to meet their needs to simplify and consolidate their software requirements, Ang concluded.