HubOne kills the IT guy with $200 Office 365, Xero bundle

Australian cloud provider HubOne has launched a self-proclaimed "revolution" for the accounting sector, with a $200 per user per month "no lock-in contract" subscription service that includes an array of Microsoft and Xero software.

"We want to bring the cloud to customers who don't have much capital but want the latest technology," founder and CTO Nick Beaugeard told CRN.

The HubOne subscription product packages Office 365 E3, Windows Intune, Xero Practice Manager, HubOne Modern Practice Suite, Xero Workpapers, Xero Ledger, CPA content templates for Xero, document migration, support and consultancy for $200 per user per month excluding GST.

"There's no need to ever upgrade software again," said Beaugeard. "The need for the IT guy is gone."

There is a one-off $5000 fee per organisation "to partially cover implementation services and project management" and the product is currently only available to practices with fewer than 25 users.

"For the same project some customers pay over $227 per month with $18,000-20,000 upfront," Beaugeard told CRN. "So it's a big deal."

When asked if customers would not have to pay the $5000 fee again if they departed and returned, Beaugeard confirmed that would be the case on most occasions.

"Ordinarily, they'd be fine," he said. "But if they change platforms significantly, then we'll treat on a case-by-case basis."

"We would happily support any customers who come back after going to another provider."

Beaugeard said that HubOne had spent more than two-and-a-half years in the accounting sector, rolling out the same suite of software to over 200 firms.

"We got really good at it and that's what's allowed us to reduce the upfront cost," he said. "We'll make back some of the upfront subsidy through the monthly fee, but that depends on how well we deliver."

"It's up to us to make the customer happy, so that they stay and we make the money back."

The subscription offering was trialled for the past year with 25 clients. Beaugeard said a mix of new and existing clients participated in the pilot.

"The new people were more pleased than the existing customers though. The old customers wondered why they were paying more for their traditional service."