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Xerocon 2019 – Russell’s Views

Our MAAT Accountant Russ packed his bags for two days and headed down to London for the annual accounting conference Xerocon 2019. Continue reading to find out what he thought to the event.

What a fantastic couple of days down in London for Xerocon 2019. An event, that is most probably the biggest Accountancy Tech conference in the world.

I had the pleasure of meeting and shaking the hand of Steve Vamos, CEO at Xero. We spoke about his vision for the future of Xero and the tech industry. Whilst going on to say, ‘at Xero we truly are committed to making the lives of small and medium size businesses easier. So they can concentrate on doing what they know best. Their business.’ Investments will be made, making AI and machine learning more intelligent, building better products and partnering with more app developers to build a wider app ecosystem. All whilst, acquiring other companies to seamlessly integrate their product into Xero.

Xerocon had something to suit everyone, with many talks throughout both days. Xero app partners had the opportunity to network whilst even taking advantage of the chill out zones. To sit, reflect and proceed on what has been learnt during Xerocon.

Here are a few of my favourite updates coming to Xero in the near future:

Business Snapshot

Providing users with a brief overview of the profit generated to date, balance sheets and total cash balance. The new dashboard gives a breakdown of how the above is made up. Assisting businesses with ensuring credit terms are being stuck to, whilst generating a better understanding of the debts that need chasing. Plus, giving an overview of the time it takes to pay suppliers.

Short-term Cashflow

This dashboard will provide a 30 day summary, predicting the cash that businesses will have. Allowing for quicker planning.

Go Cardless

The system will have a more direct integration with Xero, allowing you to set up a direct debit mandate directly from the invoice screen within Xero. Within the next few months, Xero will add the ability to collect an invoice amount over installments. Adding a payment service to your invoicing, will see payments being received on average 15 days faster.

Transferwise Partnership

Partnering with Transferwise, together Xero have built a payment service. Making bulk supplier statements come directly from Xero. Rather than downloading a BACS payment, then uploading it to your bank. It will now be a case of clicking the suppliers you wish to pay, and the money being transferred straight from your bank.

Xero has also introduced a few subtle, but exciting features:

Overdue Amounts

Once a new sales invoice has been created, if you hover over the customer name a box will show any amounts owing. If amounts are overdue, it’ll remind you to send a statement.

Single Sign On

Xero have built a single sign on for some app partners with more being added over time. Very much like Google’s or Facebook’s sign in, you will not need multiple accounts, meaning you can take advantage of Xero’s two-factor authentication for additional security.

I would like to finish off by mentioning an inspirational talk from Brad Burton. Who reminded me, although everyone wishes to succeed and give their all. Every once in a while, you need to step back and take time for yourself. Don’t try to grow your business too fast, a happier business person makes a happier business. You can always make more money, however you will never have more life. Do you have a Yankee Candle sat on your shelf? What are you waiting for, go light it!

We will be highlighting more features around cloud software, discussing Xero’s latest releases as and when they roll out.