Xerocon San Diego: Communities of Purpose

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Its been a fantastic two days in beautiful San Diego spending time with over 1000 Xero partners at the Americas Xerocon.

We’ve built a strong and growing Xero community across the region and the event was buzzing with accountants and bookkeepers from the US and Canada and from as far afield as Germany and Argentina.

I always come away from this event really energised having spent time with a community that is truly passionate about helping small businesses and the work they do to help them succeed.

The change in the accounting industry brought about by cloud computing and advanced automation is sweeping the world. According to the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, C-suite Executives believe automation is going to have the biggest impact in the next 3-10 years.

Globally, around 20% of all Small Businesses currently use cloud accounting with over 50% in places like Australia and New Zealand, so we have plenty of work to do.

Transferring to the cloud isn’t just about shifting your clients and software online – it’s about reinventing the way you work. And that’s hard. Change is hard, and takes a very human approach and a community of people to make it happen.

At Xero we see it as our role to help….to act as change agents and give our Xero community the confidence to take the leap.

Taking the stress out of the finances, squeezing time out of processes that are necessary, but not differentiating, and making life more enjoyable for the accountants and bookkeepers who serve our customers across the region is what drives us everyday.

Last year, I committed to putting the power of the Xero platform to work for all of the world’s small businesses – ensuring they are armed with the critical advice and technology that increases the odds of business success and growth.

At Xerocon San Diego, Jamie McDonald, co-founder and CEO of Hubdoc has extended his current role to become our Executive General Manager of Product for Xero’s core accounting applications.

He laid out a clear vision for Hubdoc and reinforced the power of Hubdoc’s data automation technology. Our plan is to leverage the power of machine learning and artificial intelligence to bring data automation to the Xero platform.

Craig Walker, Xero’s co-founder, announced a deep partnership between Xero and Stripe to develop new payment experiences that are more seamless and efficient for small business owners and their advisors around the world.

And we were able to announce enhancements to tax tools for both the US and Canada – all available for next year’s tax season.

We also responded to feedback on learning content and systems in Xero Central and we’ve made improvements to things like Learning and the Certification Program.

During the event, Nick Houldsworth explained our vision for the Xero Platform and gave us a sneak peek into the future. Our Xero Platform is what makes us truly unique and as we continue to feed it with content, make more connections and add more partners to the community, it will become even more valuable to us all.

Lastly we welcomed Tony Ward as the new President of the Americas – we are fortunate to have someone of his calibre join our team and I look forward to the strong contribution he’ll make as we take the Xero community in the Americas to the next level.

Xero is fast becoming a global brand and we’re so proud of the contribution all our people and partners make to bringing cloud accounting practices to small businesses all over the world.

We now have over 1.8M subscribers, 1000+ add ons and a growing community of passionate Xeros all connected to our platform. And as Nick said, we are merely scratching the surface of what’s possible.

To all of our partners who joined us at Xero San Diego, thank you. We appreciate your time, energy and look forward to continuing to forge a strong partnership together to help make small businesses across the world more successful.

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