Andy Lark, Insightly, Xero Chatbot: What you missed at 2016 Xerocon South

Assurance Dashboard which allows for accountants and bookkeepers to check who logged on and off when, and what they did.

Android Finger Print Scanner to log in with one touch instead of a username and password.

Tracking Category Reporting creates customised columns in financial reports based on tracking categories.

Office 365 now integrates with Xero to show what correspondents have been sent to clients.

Better PayPal Integration including better pop up window and auto generation of the ‘spend money’ entry for PayPal’s fee.

Copy Feature to use when copying chart of accounts, bank rules and contacts from one client to another.

One of the biggest announcements was the upcoming Xero Chatbot, ‘Hey Xero’. ‘Hey Xero’ connects through your Facebook Messenger App and allow you to access you information, send client reminder, email invoices, all from the comfort of your mobile device. A recent Xero survey of over 1,200 small business owners collated that over 83% of respondents now use social media, text, online chat or mobile messaging as ways to communicate with their customers. 43% of respondents said they used text to stay in touch with their accountant. Want to learn more about ‘Hey Xero’? Click here to read what Xero has to say.Xerocon South finished up with the Xero Gala Awards Dinner. This year’s winners included;

100% Xero Award 2016
Morrows Pty Ltd (AU)
Noone Plus (NZ)

AU and NZ Accounting Partners of the Year 2016
Consolidat8 Pty Ltd (AU)

BDO Northland (NZ)

AU and NZ Bookkeeping Partners of the Year 2016
Digit Books (AU)

GoFi8ure (NZ)

Emerging App Partner of the Year 2016
Insightly

App Partner of the Year 2016
Spotlight Reporting (Check out our blog about them!)

Industry-Specific App Partner of the Year 2016
Figured

Inaugural MVP of Asia – Most Valued Partner of the Year 2016 for Asia
Futurebooks

Congratulations to all award recipients!If you haven’t already, go watch Xero Chief Marketing Officer, Andy Lark keynote presentation. In his presentation he talks about the ‘New Network Platform’ and how it can help small businesses rapidly expand their networks. Some key notes include;

• Your next clients will meet you on their mobile phone first
• Firms that write 16 or more blogs a month generate 3.5x more leads than those who don’t
• Work with bankers as they can provide you with clients as they help businesses start up and they need accountants
• Peak bank reconciliation time is 7:15am
• Banking and accounting are changing from dedicated tasks to on-the-fly, time-shifted tasks

One of the main topics of conversation was Artificial Intelligence (AI). Xero is looking to integrate AI to do all the bank reconciliation coding for clients. This is one less thing business owners will have to do and offers convenience and time-saving. As many business users are currently coding their accounts incorrectly, and accountants have to go use the ‘find & recode’ tool to fix, AI will make this process obsolete and streamline the productivity of both business and accountant. AI will learn to correctly code accounts and accountants will then be required to verify and check if it is being done correctly. This technology is a massive shift in eliminating coding, which has wasted millions of hours of small business’ time.

What does the platform mean for your business?

Watch Andy’s presentation here.