Xero Gold Partner CALTRiX scales up Cloud Accounting adoption in Malaysia

PETALING JAYA, MALAYSIA – Media OutReach – 13
December 2021 – Cloud accounting
adoption by Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs) will grow exponentially over
the next three years and we’re scaling up to help more Malaysians streamline
their workflow, says Alfred Ang, founder and CEO of CAL Cloud Sdn Bhd (CALTRiX),
a Small & Medium Practice (SMP) and leading Xero Gold Partner and Xero
Certified Advisor specialising in retail & ecommerce industries.

Ang shared this after attending the
Xero Asia Roadshow 2021 held virtually on International Accountant’s Day
earlier this month. Xero Asia’s Managing Director Kevin Fitzgerald shared
Xero’s impressive growth in customer numbers and usage in the region,
increasing exponentially over the previous financial year.  Fitzgerald added that Xero is committed to
capacity building programs across the region and is working with governments on
Cloud First initiatives. Xero was named the 2021 Asia-Pacific SME Accounting
Software Vendor of the Year by global research and consulting firm, Frost &
Sullivan, 2021 Best Practices Awards. Fitzgerald announced Xero’s partnership
with Asia Cloud Computing Association (ACCA) to launch advisor certification
programs in Singapore to boost the next generation of accounting professionals.

CALTRiX is one of 577 Coach n Grow grant
alumni (Cohort 5) of the public-private partnership between the Ministry of
Finance’s Cradle Grant and Proficeo. “I started the company to promote Cloud
Accounting to SMEs. A big challenge for us is company directors who are
averse to change as they are used to desktop/offline accounting software. In our years of experience, switching to cloud-based solutions like Xero takes
approximately three-months. The Coach n Grow program has sharpened my skills in
generating leads, business communication and using business metrics to measure
profitability. It’s undeniable that the demand for cloud accounting solutions
will increase and we are scaling our business to serve the industry and expect
to triple our sales revenue by the end of financial year 2023. My confidence in
the product and market acceptance is reflected by Xero’s H1 FY22 performance
with operating revenue climbing 23% year on year to US$505.7 million,” said
Ang.

The cloud computing market revenue in
Southeast Asia is estimated to reach US$40.32 billion by 2025 as a result of an
increased demand for cloud computing among SMEs according to a Gartner forecast.

Ang’s sentiments were inspired from
the recent Budget 2022 announcements. The Digital First Programme aims to
increase cloud computing use in the public sector, reducing physical storage of
documents and inculcating a paperless culture. The budget earmarked RM300
million allocated under SME Digitisation Grant Scheme and Automation Grant to
support automation and modernisation activities, plus another RM700 million
allocated to enhance digital connectivity which will facilitate digitalisation
of SMPs and SMEs.

The 33 year-old accountant comes from
a family of entrepreneurs. Ang started his career in the accounting backroom of
a hotel, then turned business analyst before starting his first business as a
software distributor and led 500 SMEs in Malaysia to adopt accounting software
digitisation during the GST implementation period from 2015.

“I sold my software business in 2017
and took a short sabbatical. I was interested in cloud accounting, as it was
one of the fastest growing sectors in business automation. In my research, I
learned that company executives would require constant training and upskilling
when transitioning onto cloud services. I started CALTRiX
alone in January 2018 to provide services to companies looking to switch from
tedious manual bookkeeping to having real-time financial information right from
an app on their mobile phone! Our clients have given positive testimonials about
the beautiful user interface because it is intuitive and easy to use,” he
shared.

“We work with accountants and finance
departments of manufacturing and trading enterprises and one of the Xero
features they’re excited about is e-invoicing, a new B2B feature where invoices
are not only generated but also paid on the cloud, distributed intuitively from
software to software on both the client’s and supplier’s side. This results in
faster payments for SMEs – an important feature for healthier cash flows,” Ang
added.

“One thing I have learned is to not
hardsell. We initiate customers on a Clarity Call, where we learn about their
business needs and understand their pains. Once we’re confident we can serve
their needs, we’ll bring the client onboard and work with their team to
streamline and consolidate their software needs.” said Ang.