Home Smart 100 2014 Mclowd (NSW) — 2014 SMART 100

Mclowd (NSW) — 2014 SMART 100

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This SMART 100 profile and the information it contains is a duplication of content submitted by the applicant during the entry process. As a function of entry, applicants were required to declare that all details are factually correct, do not infringe on another’s intellectual property and are not unlawful, threatening, defamatory, invasive of privacy, obscene, or otherwise objectionable. Some profiles have been edited for reasons of space and clarity.

1. THE BEGINNING

This innovation came to life when…

Mclowd came to life because of the frustrations founder Ashley Porter experienced with the fees being charged for administration of self-managed superannuation funds (SMSF) by traditional professional service and technology providers.

2. WHAT & HOW

The purpose of this innovation is to…

Mclowd is designed to improve retirement outcomes for Australians by reducing the cost of investment management by 70-90% (on a per unit basis).

It does this by…

Mclowd is driving down the cost of investment administration by providing a free SMSF accounting platform, alongside a crowdsourced service marketplace where SMSF Trustees (and other investors) can post finance-related Tasks.

3. PURPOSE & BENEFITS

This innovation improves on what came before because…

Mclowd delivers accounting and tax compliance/investment administration at a cost that is up to 90% less than current funds management models.

Compared to incumbents (who are trying to protect their legacy revenue models/balance sheets) Mclowd has achieved this outcome by extending the economics of cloud computing and crowdsourcing in a transparent and impartial manner.

Its various benefits to the customer/end-user include…

SMSF Trustees (and eventually other investors/asset owners) are benefiting from Mclowd through improved net returns/retirement outcomes, and a more empowered relationship with professional service providers.

4. COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

In the past, this problem was solved by…

The funds management industry is characterised by:

  • Capital intensity
  • Legacy revenue models that are conflicted or based on a percentage of assets (which do not reflect a new, globally-defined marginal cost)

The professional services sector has a similar profile. In Australia this has led to the migration of more than A$500 billion in assets into self-managed super.

Its predecessors/competitors include…

The funds management industry is dominated by large wealth management companies such as AMP, the major banks and software vendors such as BGL, Class Super and Super IQ.

mclowd

5. TARGET MARKET

It is made for…

The initial target market for the accounting software is Australia’s 500,000 self-managed super funds, however as the technology evolves there is no reason why we could not extend the economics of cloud computing to larger APRA-regulated entities, as well SME’s, both in Australia and worldwide.

The target market for the crowdsourcing marketplace is global from day one, as non-SMSF asset owners (such as small to medium enterprises) can also post Tasks and have the crowd do the work for a fraction of the cost of traditional professional services firms.

It is available for sale through…

Both the accounting/investment management technology and services marketplace are all managed online (and hosted on the Amazon Web Services platform).

While separate environments for now, the two will gradually merge into an end-to-end workflow solution.

Our marketing strategy is to…

In the new zero marginal cost economy, software is free, assets have become liabilities and governance has become a source of disruption.

While the product strategy for Mclowd will leverage the Cloud, the marketing strategy will leverage the power of the Crowd.

Marketing success for Mclowd will be based on leveraging the meritocracy which is today’s social media landscape.

Your Turn — VOTE!

The Readers’ Choice Index was created to provide an opportunity for Anthill readers to vote on SMART 100 applications, in one of three ways:

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We’ll use your vote to create the 2014 SMART 100 Readers’ Choice Index.

FINE PRINT
This SMART 100 profile and the information it contains is a duplication of content submitted by the applicant during the entry process. As a function of entry, applicants were required to declare that all details are factually correct, do not infringe on another’s intellectual property and are not unlawful, threatening, defamatory, invasive of privacy, obscene, or otherwise objectionable. Some profiles have been edited for reasons of space and clarity.