Last month, Prosperity attended XeroCon in Brisbane. Xero is one of the leading cloud-based accounting and bookkeeping platforms well known for their innovation and progressive thinking. Our team brought back a wealth of knowledge and insight into the recent product announcements, applications to build your app stack, and motivated by keynote speakers.
The key focus of XeroCon was on innovation, continuous improvement and sustainable change management. For businesses to remain competitive, they must strive to keep abreast of change and remain flexible and agile, rather than 'set and forget'. It's imperative that business owners focus on value adding by leveraging technology in their business practices. Technology isn't just changing Prosperity's current practices to be more efficient, it is revolutionising the way we conduct business by influencing our interaction with clients, our internal reporting capabilities, and business decision making.
In wrapping up the conference, Xero's Chief Executive Officer, Steve Vamos said, "Where we started from and where we continue to focus is on innovation. Innovation that drives a change in the way people get their work done. Seamless, Simple and Smart."
Our key takeaways from technology developments focus on reducing friction in processes through:
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Advancements in accounts payable process automation by reading printed invoices and receipts for supplier information, due date, amount, GST, date, and invoice number.
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Cashflow management tools to assist in projecting bank balances based on planned receipts of customer invoices and planned payments of supplier bills.
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Payment services to assist clients in getting paid quicker by linking pay now options in invoices and set up recurring card payments for repeat billing customers.
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Customisable reporting options to suit business reporting needs including divisional reporting.
Our favourite Xero specific product developments are:
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Find and recode - Allowing you to bulk recode journals and transactions from source data.
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Account transaction report - Detailed transnational listing of accounts, including running balances and filtering options.
The cloud has moved so far beyond a strategic advantage and is now a strategic necessity. If you are running a business and haven't adopted cloud-based technology, you are undoubtedly limiting your success and risk being left in today's competitive environment.
To maximise the benefits of evolving business technologies, our Virtual CFO and Bookkeeping offering can assist you in identifying operational improvements by exploring how to transform your finance function. We can bring you up to date with the latest in cloud solutions and assist in transitioning you from your current platform with the help of a dedicated integration team, consultation and training.
To learn more about how we can change your business with advice for today, tomorrow and the future, contact your Prosperity Principal Adviser or
Jessica Cole, Head of Virtual CFO and Bookkeeping Services at
jcole@prosperity.com.au.
