After over a decad with with Xero, we've made the switch to Mia Accounting for Voyage Manager's financial operations. This isn't just a routine software change — it reflects a broader shift happening across the SaaS landscape where AI-powered niche solutions are challenging established one-size-fits-all platforms.
Why Did We Move Away from Xero?
Xero served us well initially, but the value equation gradually tilted against us. Annual subscription costs increased significantly without proportional improvements to the features we actually used. More importantly, Xero's broad market approach meant it couldn't address our specific needs as a travel risk management company with complex asset structures and investment portfolios.
The breaking point came when we needed better visibility into our total assets across different categories — something essential for our financial planning but awkward to achieve within Xero's framework. We found ourselves working around the software rather than being supported by it.
What Makes Mia Accounting Different?
Mia Accounting comes from the same team that built Voyage Manager and our parent business Big Evil Company, so there's immediate alignment with how we think about business operations. But beyond that familiarity, Mia Accounting offers capabilities specifically designed for companies like ours.
The total assets view gives us a consolidated picture of our financial position across traditional accounts, investments, and cryptocurrency holdings — all in one dashboard. This matters enormously when you're making strategic decisions about product development or market expansion. The investment management features handle our portfolio tracking without the manual workarounds we'd grown accustomed to with Xero.
Perhaps most importantly, Mia Accounting's crypto handling is native rather than bolted-on. As a technology company, we hold various cryptocurrencies, and managing these within traditional accounting software always felt like fitting square pegs into round holes.
How Does AI Enable Better Niche Solutions?
This switch illustrates something fundamental happening in business software. AI is dramatically reducing the cost of building sophisticated applications, enabling smaller teams to create highly specialised tools that outperform generic solutions in specific use cases.
Where once you needed massive engineering teams to build enterprise-grade accounting software, AI-assisted development allows focused teams to create targeted solutions that serve particular market segments better than broad-brush platforms. Mia Accounting exemplifies this trend — built by a small team but delivering functionality that's precisely aligned with modern business needs.
The result is a more competitive landscape where businesses can choose software that fits their actual workflows rather than adapting their processes to accommodate generic tools. This benefits everyone: companies get better-fitting solutions, and the market becomes more innovative through specialisation.
What Does This Mean for SaaS Buyers?
The lesson for other businesses is to regularly evaluate whether your current tools still serve your needs or if you're paying premium prices for features you don't use while lacking capabilities you actually need. The SaaS market is evolving rapidly, with AI-powered alternatives emerging that might offer better value propositions for specific requirements.
For Voyage Manager, moving to Mia Accounting represents both immediate practical benefits and alignment with our broader technology philosophy. We're getting better functionality at lower cost while supporting innovation in financial software.
This kind of evolution — from monolithic platforms to specialised solutions — is reshaping how businesses think about their software stack. The winners will be those who match tools to needs rather than accepting one-size-fits-all compromises.
If you're curious about this AI-native approach to accounting software, check out Mia Accounting at https://accounting.miabazo.com/ to see how specialised solutions are changing the business software landscape.