IRD shut down myIR last week for the “final” software upgrade of its four-year business transformation journey. The system was scheduled to be up and running by Thursday morning, 28 October 2021. Surprisingly, it became available early on Wednesday afternoon 27 October 2021.
I needed to update a client’s bank account detail once myIR was available, so I jumped online to do that small and simple task which should only take a couple of seconds…
New myIR is different!
The myIR log on was the same but the home screen and navigation quite different. I’m not a “manual reader” by nature so decided to wing it and just figure it out… but 20 minutes later I was muttering that the new system was awful, and definitely not as good as the previous one which I was familiar with.
Tail between my legs I watched a couple of short IRD webinars explaining how to navigate the new system, which enabled me to quickly do what I had set out to do in the first place. The new system is easy once you know how to navigate it!
This experience reminded me of transitioning decades ago from Word Perfect to Microsoft Word, and from Lotus 123 to Microsoft Excel – it was a frustrating until I learnt the new software.
Watch the IRD webinars / Read about the changes
To prepare for myIR check out the following links:
- Changes to myIR
- October 2021 changes for businesses and employers:
- October 2021 changes for individuals and families:
Key points and learnings
- Change is frustrating – we must relearn tasks and ways of doing things
- Technology is never static – keep up or become obsolete
- Technology becomes cleaner, simpler, more user friendly and accessible
- “Reading the manual”, or in this case watching the webinars, is an investment that saves time.
“Proper preparation prevents poor performance.”
Stephen Keague