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Events Spotlight

July 8, 2021
Bill Kimball

xerocon south 2017

Stay tuned for more further insights into what this means if you are currently running your practice on Xero HQ. Here at FD Works, it’s no secret that we think Xero online accounting is a brilliant financial platform.

  • Win marketshare first, monestise second appears the core strategy.
  • With nods to six centuries of tradition, the data landscape of the present and the connected, predictive and AI-driven financial and business web of the future.
  • So, I’m always hungry to find out what improvements and advancements these businesses are making.
  • Maybe that’s why 89 percent of partners say they’ll come back.

Xerocon London 2017 is the world’s most beautiful and innovative conference for leaders in cloud accounting. With Xero offering such an open platform, more and more companies are coming to market with products that help businesses do things better, more cost effectively, and at scale. One of the BIG announcements at Xerocon was the launch of Xero Projects. Another integrated app, Projects has been designed with the professional service business or agency in mind. Set time & cost budgets for each stage of the project, track time, expenses, bills and of course invoice from within the app itself. To see our commitment in action, check out our platform’s ecosystem of tools and apps.

What To See And Do At Xerocon Melbourne 2017

Starting with arguably the 8 most common, complementary offerings to Xero in the Practice Management space, makes sense. I get “choice”, but you could argue no one practice needs FUTRLI, Fathom and Spotlight. Three reporting tools, but one incorporations solution with NowInfinity, could be argued as incongruent. In the interest of brevity, here are some of my thoughts on this year’s event and the direction Xero are headed. Select Accept cookies to consent to this use or Manage preferences to make your cookie choices. You can change your cookie choices and withdraw your consent in your settings at any time. The joy of Xerocon is that the software companies use it to preview what they are doing.

It is also expected that a number of Xero Partners from the Philippines is also expected to attend Xerocon Melbourne 2017. The app marketplace of Xero may be growing beyond 600 “ecosystem partners”, BUT interestingly the number showing up at Xerocon is diminishing, despite the rapidly growing audience. Both have evolved their strategies in recent years, but without question, cloud aware accounting firms have made buying decisions that at least considered both offerings. CCH have focused on monetising the practice, not the clients .

xerocon south 2017

Learn why the world is open for small business Take a big-picture look at the world of small business, and see how a global platform can turn trading on its head. It’s official; the Practice Ignition integration into Xero HQ is now live. This is the biggest news to come out of Xerocon South 2017 in Melbourne.

So, Im Off To Xerocon South And This Is Why

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I want you to know that the systems that we use are the most efficient on the market. And that the speed in which we can process your data is the fasted available. If any conference deserves the title of ‘largest technology conference in Australasia,’ Xerocon South does. With over 2,000 attendees from Australia, NZ and Asia and nearly 90 exhibitors, the Brisbane Convention Centre was buzzing. SuiteFiles were fortunate to attend as an exhibitor alongside our partner Abacus Business Solutions – here’s what we loved about Xerocon South.

San Diego played host to the world’s most beautiful and innovative conference for cloud accounting leaders in the Americas. The commercial reality is the relationship with Xero and it’s ecosystem was always going to evolve as the edges and gaps that created opportunity for “add-ons” became areas of direct competition.

There were of course sessions galore , deals done, drinks downed and even a few awards. Brisbane was not only a thrilling new combination of Kiwi, Australia and Asia, it presented the best traits of an industry conference. There was innovation and vision in spades – just check out Rod Drury’s keynote. With nods to six centuries of tradition, the data landscape of the present and the connected, predictive and AI-driven financial and business web of the future. ApprovalMax ApprovalMax is an innovative cloud approval workflow system that enables spend control and optimisation for organisations of all sizes. Amazon Web Services Amazon Web Services provides information technology infrastructure services to businesses in the form of web services.

Justifying their pricing and product strategies (that has seen them build a new product “Quick Books Self Employed”), on the growing #GigEconomy opportunity. Win marketshare first, monestise second appears the core strategy. If there is one big takeaway from Xerocon 2017, it appears to me that the strategies of the two big players, Xero and Intuit, are diverging. Accounting firms across Australia, particularly those of any size, sold on the idea of cloud, really have had limited options as far as modern, cloud Practice Management solutions. Conversely, I get it, you have to start somewhere with new ecosystems.

Now that our team is 32 strong, I’m so proud of the contribution made across product, marketing, finance and the customer-facing support and training, customer success and sales. Each part of our business collaborates and interacts across timezones and territories on a shared purpose. London played host to the world’s most beautiful and innovative conference for cloud accounting leaders in the UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa.

xerocon south 2017

Forecast your cash with accuracy and make business decisions with confidence. Don’t forget to swing by our stand for a rubber duck and a chat about how Float can help you help your clients. One thing Xero do well is inspire about what is possible and help you to dream a little bigger about how workflows could be improved.

New To Xero?

I’ll get to see the beta versions; have a play and provide feedback. So, for us to stay ahead of the curve and to maintain our knowledge, we need to keep on learning. Attending a major accountancy conference such as Xerocon is a fantastic and fun way for me to achieve this. I believe that it’s not good enough for us to select a handful of software options and then close ourselves off to opportunities until they are old and outdated. You’ll know yourself from your own life and business that technology moves so quickly.

The continued ignorance of the mid-market players (e.g. NetSuite) to core SMB usability and functionality like bank feeds, makes them primed for competition from the SMB players. My maths says NetSuite have a CLTV of ~$800k, compared with Xero currently ~$2k. Moving the needle, even by a little, towards the NetSuite number, has massive bottom line benefits for Xero. But if I were Chris Teeling and Rod Drury and driving Xero’s strategy, I’d also revisit their micro business offering. Keep to one platform play, but build out a mobile first, light-weight offering, that offers a growth path by adding modules over time.

Choose how to group and organise the details, and create useful lists and views. If you’ve already got clients in Xero Practice Manager, you can sync them with Xero HQ. IT industry veteran Steve Vamos urged us to put people first in business and reminded us that technology amplifies human disruption—not the other way round.

A Magical Time At Xerocon

Things that were mind blowing just a few years ago can be mainstream today. Next up Rod announced the new features, always a bit of nervous time for an add-on just in case Xero has decided to build your features into its core, PHEW no CRM features so we’re all good. Exciting growth number announced by Rod Drury, we’re proud to be among the 600 verified apps. We started our week with a presentation to the Xero direct sales team at their head office in Melbourne. It was awesome to get a chance to showcase the progress we’ve made directly to the team who are talking to SMBs all day everyday.

If you need help connecting your account or you want to come and celebrate this EPIC milestone with us. Please drop by the Practice Ignition stand at Xerocon South and give us a huge high five, chest bump, hug, or whatever best allows you to express your excitement with the team. Xero HQ brings all your client contacts together on one single client list – even those who aren’t using Xero.

So, I’m always hungry to find out what improvements and advancements these businesses are making. This is why I am so excited to hear from the thought leaders in Melbourne. Australia and New Zealand are ahead of the UK in the cloud space, so it will be an amazing opportunity for me to hear directly from their leading accountancy and bookkeeping businesses and discover what is working for them right now. We’re a cloud technology company, which means we spend most days behind a computer in our office. But every so often we get a chance to leave our monitors behind to attend an event like Xerocon. This will be a real game changer for Xero partners using the Practice Ignition platform. Simply click on the Apps tab from within Practice Ignition tick the Xero HQ option and follow the prompts to connect your account.

There are three things that Xero do really well – build great software, build enthusiastic communities, and build industry vision. From CEO, Rod Drury’s keynote to practical sessions with community members like Growthwise, Xero are future-focused and community driven.

Xero have focused on monetising the client, not the practice (charging for client files/solutions, not the practice management offerings). Opening up the Xero HQ API and working closely with ecosystem partners to build messaging back into Xero HQ, is a great move. Sholto from Digital First has written a great detailed explanation on this if you would like to know more about the “Modular Practice Concept”. 10 years ago, when Xero started, the conditions were prime for market entry. I want to ensure that your information is always safe and it is always secure. I would never use your business as a guinea pig for something untested just because the software looks pretty or I’m offered a good price. It’s important to me that you trust that Fresh Financials are the experts in our field.