Welcome to the Mclowd Community Newsletter.
The implication seems to be that if 13CABS can do it, anyone can provide the service without a licence,” said Professor Allan Fels, former head of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and now member of the Uber global advisory board.
This would also seemingly cut the value of licences to zero.
Taxi industry puts unlicensed cabs on road as Uber bites into old business model, The Age Dec 17th 2016
Introduction
There was a time – not so long ago – when a new market entrant would appear with a better / cheaper mousetrap, and seek to establish a beachhead within an existing ‘playing field’.
Today disruption is often more transformational than incremental. Uber has triggered widespread disruption of the taxi industry not by hanging out a shingle within the existing value chain, but by establishing an entirely new playing field.
As the above article illustrates, the Victorian taxi regulator (and incumbent vendors) have now effectively thrown in the towel, abandoning the field on which they have played for decades, and accepting a new, decentralised, capital-light reality where:
- Consumers are at the centre of the value chain
- Governance is delivered at scale through transparency (Uber drivers whose feedback rating falls below 4.6 out of 5 are immediately disqualified from participation in the network)
SMSF Accounting Update
Mclowd has now enabled online lodgement of the SMSF tax return via our Partner LodgeIT (integration with the Xero Tax engine will follow shortly).
This is a turning point in the Mclowd journey, and we will now ramp up engagement with the hundreds of SMSF practitioners who have registered with Mclowd (as well as the thousands who haven’t).
Regardless of channel a fee of just $5.50 per lodgement is payable.
Other recent deliverables include:
- The ability to record income against a receivable
- CGT and Losses Reports
- Improvements to the presentation of unit trusts and hybrids
While access to the core software will always be free, larger practices migrating to Mclowd will also soon have the ability to enable automated monthly billing (covering data feeds, lodgement and other relevant third party integrations).
Introductory Webinar
For the benefit of new users and those considering migration, a free Introductory Webinar will be held at 1:30pm AEDT on Thursday 30th March.
Mclowd Marketplace
Trustee user Mark Passfield has been managing his SMSF on Mclowd since early 2016.
A few months ago he approached his existing accountant to see if they were interested in collaborating with him in a new, trustee-centric workflow.
In this instance the firm declined to participate, so Mark went to the Mclowd Marketplace and quickly found an SMSF practitioner who:
- Lives close by
- Is familiar with Mclowd’s free SMSF accounting software
- Has the requisite capabilities and registrations
Effectively the administration of the Passfield Superannuation Fund has now been migrated to a new “SMSF playing field”, and as a consequence annualised costs have fallen by 50% (which interestingly is exactly the same per-unit price deflation delivered by Uber).
Postscript
Taxi licenses are now worthless because they are a stranded asset.
They are akin to a goalpost on a playing field which no one uses anymore.
As the ‘uberisation’ of the economy gathers pace, this scenario will become commonplace, and no more so than in the asset management industry.
Regards
Ashley Porter
Managing Director
Mclowd Pty Ltd