Advisor-powered recommendations: a smarter way to advise

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Sometimes a human touch truly does beat a machine’s algorithm. Xero’s advisor partners are specialists who understand their clients needs. As of today, they can put that specialisation to work simpler than ever.

With the launch of Xero’s advisor-powered recommendations feature, advisors can now select a range of recommended apps to appear in their clients’ Xero account. We believe this will help small businesses have a more thorough understanding of what’s happening within their business. It will also give accountants and bookkeepers more information to help those businesses do what they do best.

Why now?

Over the past 12 months, the Xero ecosystem team has been steadily improving the app marketplace experience. In 2018, we launched HQ recommendations. In 2019, we delivered a ground up redesign, improved searchability and added functionality for our app partners.

We’re finding the best ways for everyone in Xero’s community to make the most of our platform ecosystem. The launch of advisor-powered recommendations is the latest in a long line of great additions to the app marketplace.

Why human?

Putting the power into the hands of the specialists is important to us. Sometimes decision-making is about more than machines interpreting data. There are pieces of information that algorithms don’t have access to. Advisors can now curate a list of solutions for small businesses, playing a more active role for clients thanks to the cloud.

Think of a spectrum of trust – many humans trust humans more than a machine’s decision-making. The specialist knowledge of advisors is trusted even more so.

We’re not the only platform to think this way – you may have read something similar in the entertainment industry with HBO using ‘human recommendations’ on its streaming platform to combat Netflix’s algorithm.

Why this will help?

This puts small businesses in touch with their most trusted advisors in a more seamless way. Xero’s research shows small businesses are more hungry than ever for advisor expertise, with 27% of clients willing to pay for app advice. That’s up from just 9% in 2018. As innovation within Xero’s ecosystem continues and app partners delivering more options than ever before, advisors can help cut through the noise to find the perfect add-on for their clients.

For more information, please visit Xero Central.

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