Compared with Foreign cloud software
Imported cloud software is often genuinely better engineered, better documented and better supported than anything built locally. It was also designed for a country with reliable power, fast internet and different tax law, and those three assumptions are where the cost lands.
Side by side
| What matters | With MjFour | Foreign cloud software |
|---|---|---|
| When the connection drops | The point of sale bills entirely offline and syncs in order on reconnect. | A cloud till stops being a till; sales go on paper to be typed in later. |
| FBR digital invoicing | Built in, with the invoice number and QR printed on the receipt. | Usually a third-party connector, if one exists for your version. |
| Payroll statute | FBR salary slabs, EOBI, provident fund, gratuity, and PESSI/SESSI applied per establishment. | Another country’s payroll rules, with local statute handled by hand. |
| Provincial sales tax on services | PRA, SRB, KPRA and BRA supported alongside federal sales tax per item. | Typically modelled as a single tax rate. |
| Printed documents in Urdu | Urdu and English throughout the interface and on printed documents. | Interface translation at best; printed layouts usually stay Latin. |
| What you pay | Priced in rupees, with no dollar exposure and no exit fee. | Priced in dollars, so the rupee cost moves with the exchange rate. |
When Foreign cloud software is the better choice
If you operate across several countries, consolidate in a foreign currency, or need a deep ecosystem of third-party integrations, an international platform is the right answer and we will tell you so. The same is true if your requirement is a specialism we do not cover, we would rather lose the sale than fit you into the wrong system.
See all productsIn practice
What switching actually involves.
The three assumptions that travel badly
Imported software is often better engineered and better documented than anything built locally. The problem is not quality, it is that three assumptions are baked in so deep they are rarely configurable.
Reliable connectivity. A cloud till is a browser tab. When the line drops it stops being a till, and the shop goes to paper.
A single tax authority. Most international products model one sales tax rate. Pakistan has federal sales tax on goods and four provincial authorities levying it on services, plus exempt and zero-rated treatments that cannot be averaged.
Someone else's labour law. EOBI, provident fund with employer match, gratuity accrual and provincial social security by establishment are not settings in a payroll product built for another country. They become spreadsheets beside it, which is where the audit trail ends.
What the exchange rate does to a dollar subscription
A price quoted in dollars is a price that changes without anyone deciding to change it. For a business earning in rupees that is a cost line that moves for reasons unconnected to its own trading, and it moves in one direction more often than the other.
Where an international platform is the right answer
If you operate across several countries, consolidate in a foreign currency, or depend on a deep ecosystem of third-party integrations, buy the international product. We will tell you that on the call. The same applies if your requirement is a specialism we do not cover.
What we are not claiming
We are not claiming to be more capable. We are claiming to be built for the conditions and the statute here, priced in rupees, and supported in your own time zone by people who can be reached on WhatsApp. For a business trading only in Pakistan those are the axes that matter; for one trading across borders they may not be.
Terms
Terms used on this page
Plain definitions of the words a buyer here actually searches for.
- Dollar exposure
- A cost denominated in a foreign currency, so the amount payable in rupees changes with the exchange rate without any decision being taken.
- Connector
- A third-party integration bridging a product to a local requirement such as FBR invoicing, licensed and maintained separately from both.
- Blended tax rate
- Applying one average rate across a basket, which misreports exempt and zero-rated goods and is the usual consequence of a single-rate tax model.
- Data residency
- Where your data is physically stored and under which jurisdiction, a question worth asking of any cloud vendor and answering specifically.
Questions people ask before they buy
Twenty minutes, your own data, no slides.
Bring a month of your own sales, a payslip you argue about, or last term’s fee sheet. We will show you what it looks like in MjFour.