An App Ecosystem to Support Evolved Role of Accountants in Asia

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If you’re an accountant or bookkeeper reading this, chances are you’re a digital advocate for your clients. You’ve helped them streamline their accounting process with Xero, and have delivered results that have freed up their time and improved their insights into their financial status. You may have even found yourself moving into a business advisory role in some organisations.

This September, we announced new tiers to our App Partner Program along with training tools in app advisory. The driving force behind this app ecosystem is to help our accounting partners expand their services from accounting support to strategic business advisory.

By leveraging the app ecosystem, accounting partners will be able to serve as a strategic business advisor to small business clients by recommending them relevant apps that can be integrated with Xero. Our research shows that practices who provide app advisory grow their revenue 60 percent faster than their peers. Their small business clients who use cloud apps grow their revenue 30 percent faster than their competitors who don’t.

The Xero app ecosystem

Here are some tools that can help you become a Xero Professional app advisor.

Xero’s app marketplace

There are 700+ apps that can be integrated with Xero. Our app marketplace will also give you more insights into data flows between Xero and third-party apps, allowing you to stay on top of the process.

Some of our app partners in Asia include A2X, HReasily, PayPal, Sapaad, Shopify, TradeGecko, Unleashed and Workato. These and many more will be joining us at our Roadshow event this month in Hong Kong and Singapore. Check out the full list of exhibitors.

App Playbook Series

Recognising the challenges that accounting partners face when they first move into an advisory role, we have devised a series of downloadable playbooks to help you recommend the right apps to your clients. Below are some advisory playbooks to get you started.

App advisory playbook

Ever since its launch, the app advisory playbook has garnered tons of positive feedback from our accounting partners. It explains the fundamentals of app advisory to guide partners as they move into an advisory role to help their clients reach their business goals.

Cash flow app advisory playbook

The cash flow playbook helps you decide which clients will find value in integrating cash flow apps with their Xero accounts. It provides advice on determining your clients’ app integration needs and a breakdown of areas where you can help improve their cash flow.

Use the cheat sheets provided in this playbook, which describe common client scenarios, and recommend app solutions for increasing efficiency, improving cash flow insights, and implementing cash flow action plans.

Industry-specific playbooks

Understanding that each industry has its own unique needs and pain points, we’ve expanded the series to include industry-specific app advisory playbooks:

Trade and construction app playbook – Recommend apps to sync jobs with Xero, automate database updates using CRM, and manage project budgets
Retail and ecommerce app playbook – Recommend apps to eliminate manual data entry for online payments, or to sync the client’s inventory management system across all their ecommerce channels
Professional services app playbook – Recommend apps to track outgoing cash and automate bill payments

This is just the beginning. We are looking to launch more industry-specific playbooks and content in time to come.

App advisory courses

App advisory can be regarded as a strategic consultancy job that takes time for one to become more seasoned. Reading the playbooks will lay a strong foundation to get you started. However, to truly become more confident in app advisory, we encourage you to check out our App Advisory Courses which you can take at your own pace.

On completing each course, you’ll receive a specialist badge that certifies you as a Xero app advisor. You’ll also be able to display the badge on your website and online profiles once you have three clients tagged in Xero HQ.

Currently available courses cover three areas:

Towards a connected platform

As a Xero partner, you’ve seen firsthand how a move to a cloud-based platform can enhance productivity, visibility and improve a business’ financial health. By helping build a connected platform for your clients, you’re enabling them to transform their companies through digitisation.

Using an ecosystem of apps not only requires a change of mindset, it also takes time and commitment to implement an automated workflow between several apps. This is why small business clients will require strategic app advisory to guide them along this process.

Becoming a full-fledged app advisory partner will help you increase the value you deliver to clients. By providing expanded and ongoing services, your firm will reap more revenue and increase customer loyalty and satisfaction.

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