Forum posters unimpressed with explanation.
MYOB CEO Tim Reed was forced to defend the results of a survey in his first public comments in an MYOB forum last week where he sought to address concerns about a rocky software release.
The forum thread, titled “Is MYOB in Safe Hands”, questioned whether MYOB had followed standard software testing procedures with AccountRight 2011 given the number of bugs and performance issues forum users were experiencing.
Reed admitted that “we as a company aren’t satisfied” with the latest version of AccountRight, “and that goes for me too”. He also said that the scope of the beta testing was insufficient. Reed then claimed that criticisms of the product should be placed in context as most of the 12,000 clients using AccountRight 2011 were happy with the software.
“We survey our clients every week and the vast majority are very happy with AccountRight 2011. In fact, just 2 weeks ago, the recommendation rate for AccountRight 2011 hit the same level as v19.6,” said Reed. “There are other clients who perhaps use AccountRight differently to you, who are very happy, happier than they were on v19.6.”
Commenters reacted in disbelief that approval ratings were so high for the latest software given the volume and intensity of criticism on the forums.
“I too am shocked by the satisfied number of users of AR2011, like to know where they are and speak with them,” wrote Tania Turale of Craytan Business Solutions, a Tasmanian bookkeeping service.
An MYOB employee later clarified that the survey Reed had referred to was an evaluation survey for customers that had contacted MYOB customer support and not a general satisfaction survey for AccountRight 2011.
“We ask a range of questions that are mostly centred around their technical support experience, however the final question in the survey asks the client how likely are they to recommend MYOB products and services,” an MYOB employee with the forum name Barry said.
Commenters attacked the quoting of the support survey as irrelevant and dishonest given that they only represented AccountRight 2011 users who had chosen to call support and not those who had found solutions to their problems on the MYOB forums or asked their accountant for help.
“The sampling used for your survey appears to be flawed. Perhaps you should ask a reputable survey company to do a large sample on satisfaction with the new release – I doubt that you will find the “vast majority” as satisfied as you think,” wrote Clive Williams, an MYOB certified consultant.