Secure, scalable, cloud based.
Wiise is scalable, modern ERP software built on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.
PLATFORM COMPARISON
Both support finance, inventory and operations for mid-market Australian and New Zealand businesses, whether Exo runs on your own server or a hosted one. Here's where they differ.
HAVE YOU OUTGROWN EXO?
MYOB Exo has been a reliable ERP for mid-market ANZ businesses for many years. Plenty of those businesses have already moved it off-site, into AWS, Azure or a partner's private cloud. But hosting Exo doesn't change what it is: a client-server application your team reaches through a remote desktop window. The limits that show up as you scale are the same wherever the server sits.
Moving Exo to the cloud solves where it runs. Moving to Wiise changes how your team works. Businesses start evaluating alternatives when:
Payroll needs replacing now that MYOB has retired Exo Payroll
Maintenance costs start to add up, surfacing questions about long-term value
Reporting, approvals and data clean-up still run through exported spreadsheets and email chains
SYSTEM STRUCTURE + WHO MAINTAINS IT
Both systems can record an invoice. Wiise then connects, automates and reports on it in real time, where Exo leaves your team to bridge the gaps with spreadsheets and add-ons. Underneath, the difference is who keeps it all running.
WHERE THEY DIVERGE
Five places the two platforms pull apart
Who manages the servers — you, or the platform? This is the question that separates Exo and Wiise more than any feature list.
Runs on infrastructure you own. That means a Windows Server, Microsoft SQL Server (Express edition isn't viable beyond a single user), and a specific database collation setting that must be configured correctly for the system to function. Because the system is typically customised for each business, ongoing support tends to run through a specific implementation partner or a small number of internally skilled staff — which can make it harder to find support, upskill new team members, or switch providers without disruption. Remote or offsite access typically means standing up Remote Desktop Services, or paying for MYOB's ExoHosted service to bridge the gap.
Hosting Exo in AWS or Azure moves those servers off-site, but someone still sizes, patches and pays for them — it changes who owns the hardware bill, not what the system can do.
Runs on Microsoft's Australian Azure infrastructure, secured with encryption and multi-factor authentication, and certified against ISO 27001 and ISO 27017. There's no server to size, patch, or back up — that's handled as part of the platform.
What happens when it's time to upgrade?
Upgrades are planned events. They typically involve testing, scheduled downtime, and a real risk that customisations or integrations built up over time won't carry cleanly into the new version. IT teams often need to allocate dedicated time for this work outside normal operations. The longer a business stays on an older version with more customisation layered on top, the more disruptive that eventual transition tends to be.
Still moves to new versions over time, but as part of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central's continuous update model rather than a major upgrade project — no scheduled downtime, no separate implementation cycle. Each update brings new features and compliance changes with it, so functionality keeps moving forward, unlike a system where staying on an older version also means missing out on what's new.
Can your team access the system from anywhere?
Built for on-site or VPN-connected use. Field teams, remote staff or multi-site businesses need additional infrastructure (RDS, ExoHosted) to get browser-like access.
Accessed natively through a browser, on desktop or mobile, from any location — no VPN or remote desktop layer required. The Wiise Warehouse OnTime app extends this to floor and field operations for picking, packing and stock updates.
Will it still be fast when you're twice the size? As transaction volumes, users and entities grow, does the platform keep up or start to slow down?
Performance is bounded by the server it runs on. As data, history and concurrent users build up, keeping speed means going back to the infrastructure — more RAM and CPU, faster storage, SQL Server tuning, and more RDS session capacity for remote staff. Growth becomes a hardware project with its own budget and lead time.
Runs on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central — cloud infrastructure built to scale with you. Growing your volumes doesn't mean re-sizing a server in your comms room, so speed holds up as the business gets bigger.
The gap isn't just where the system runs — it's what it can do once you're in it.
Does your ERP work inside the tools your team already lives in — or does data have to be exported to get there?
Getting data in and out usually means static CSV exports, ODBC connections or report builders sitting outside the system. Spreadsheets become the working copy, and changes are keyed back in by hand. Approvals run through email chains or custom triggers, and reporting relies on Clarity layouts or third-party tools.
Wiise works natively with Microsoft 365. Open a list in Excel, update hundreds of rows with the formulas you already use, and publish the changes straight back with full validation. In Outlook, staff see a customer's balance and history beside their email and can raise a quote without opening Wiise. Approvals can run through Teams and Power Automate, and live Power BI reports sit on each user's home screen.
Here's a normal day on Wiise — anonymised production telemetry from Microsoft, across live Business Central businesses. Whether you're processing a hundred transactions a day or half a million, Wiise scales to match.
BUILT-IN INTELLIGENCE
Microsoft Copilot is built into Wiise and improves with every update, with no separate AI project to run. Exo has no equivalent in its core product.
Bank reconciliation: Copilot matches statement lines to open invoices and ledger entries, even when reference text is messy or cut short
Plain-English questions: ask which customers have overdue invoices over $10,000, without building a report or waiting on a consultant.
Sales line suggestions: Copilot drafts sales order lines based on a customer's order history.
Late payment prediction: flags receivables likely to be paid late, so credit control can act early.
COST STRUCTURE
MYOB Exo uses a modular pricing model, where businesses buy the modules they need, licensed per user, with implementation, support and maintenance quoted separately. On top of this sits an annual licence fee (ALF) that funds ongoing development and compliance updates. Because Exo is a customised, on-premise deployment, even smaller implementations are typically quoted at 100+ hours of consulting work.
Wiise is priced as a per-user cloud subscription:
There's no separate annual licence fee, no cancellation charge, and pricing includes ongoing updates. See full Wiise pricing →
Independent research found Wiise customers see:
MOVING FROM MYOB EXO TO WIISE
Migration complexity depends on how customised the current Exo environment is. Talking it through usually covers:
SEE HOW WIISE WORKS
Whether Exo runs on your own server or a hosted one, talk to the
Wiise team about what a move to cloud ERP would look like.
MYOB Exo is an on-premise ERP system. It runs on a Windows server with Microsoft SQL Server, either on the business's own hardware or hosted in AWS, Azure or a partner's private cloud. MYOB also offers ExoHosted for remote access. In every case the core system is a client-server application, not a cloud-native SaaS platform.
MYOB Exo is an on-premise ERP requiring owned or privately hosted server infrastructure, manual upgrade cycles, and VPN or Remote Desktop Services for remote access.
Wiise is a cloud-native ERP built on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, accessed via browser from anywhere, with infrastructure, security and upgrades managed as part of the subscription.
No. Hosting Exo in AWS, Azure or a private cloud moves the server off-site, but the software is unchanged. Users still reach it through Remote Desktop Services or Citrix, upgrades are still planned projects, and it doesn't gain native Microsoft 365 integration or built-in AI. A cloud-native ERP like Wiise runs in the browser, updates continuously, and has Copilot and Microsoft 365 built in.
Yes. Businesses running MYOB Exo evaluate Wiise when they want to move off on-premise infrastructure, reduce IT overhead from server management and manual upgrades, or need better remote and multi-site access than Exo's on-premise architecture supports.
MYOB Exo uses modular, per-user licensing plus a separate annual licence fee (ALF), with implementation and support quoted separately — typically requiring 100+ hours of consulting even for smaller deployments.
Wiise is priced as an all-inclusive per-user subscription starting at $158 AUD/month for a Full User on the Business plan, with no separate annual licence fee.
Yes, but not natively. MYOB Exo requires a VPN connection, Remote Desktop Services (RDS) on a Windows Server, or MYOB's ExoHosted add-on to provide remote access. This differs from cloud-native platforms like Wiise, which are accessed directly through a browser without additional infrastructure.
Implementation timelines depend on the complexity of the current Exo environment, including how customised it is and how many systems are connected to it. Wiise implementations typically span 6–9 months when working with an accredited ERP implementation partner.
MYOB positions MYOB Advanced/Acumatica as Exo's cloud successor, but moving to it still means a full reimplementation — the same scale of project as moving to any other platform. Since Exo customers face that transition either way, many use the opportunity to evaluate alternatives like Wiise rather than assuming MYOB's own cloud product is the default path.
MYOB retired Exo Payroll (Exo Employer Services) in November 2025. Pay runs can no longer be processed in it, and it no longer receives tax rate and threshold updates. MYOB Exo Business, the ERP, has not been given an end-of-life date. Wiise includes native Australian and New Zealand payroll with Single Touch Payroll compliance.
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