Want to relive Xerocon Auckland or wish you were there?

May 8, 2015

Want to relive Xerocon Auckland or wish you were there? This post is for you!

Every year Xero lifts the bar with Xerocon and this year didn’t disappoint. When you tell most people you’ve been to an accounting conference they look at you like you’ve just arrived back from planet boring – but there’s a real buzz in the air and a sense that Xero has “taken a dusty old profession and made it cool” – in the words of Greg Sheehan, Rightway CEO (winners of Xero national practice of the year). We talked to accountants at all stages of the Xero adoption curve, from those that have only just completed a cold turkey shift of all of their customers to Xero to those that have been 100% Xero for years and are on the bleeding edge of innovation in accounting advisory services.

Xero took the opportunity to build excitement about upcoming features and here’s some of the ones that caught our attention. Xero announced their vision to eliminate paper receipts in New Zealand by partnering with Paymark, who process the majority of transactions. Then there’s the partnership with Microsoft to integrate their office 365 product with Xero’s practice studio.

A real highlight for us was showing Xero CEO, Rod Drury and Chief Product Officer Angus Norton the soon to be released Rocketspark picture editor. It was also great to connect with other key members of Xero’s product teams from New Zealand and Australia. It’s this collaboration between Xero’s team and the add-on partners that makes for such a strong add-on ecosystem.

We often get asked why Xero is the only accounting software we integrate our ecommerce tools with. The answer is a combination of many things. Xero is more attractive for us as software developers but we believe it’s also the better choice for our clients. We also use Xero ourselves in both our NZ and UK companies so we know what we’re recommending and it keeps getting better. It’s nice to know that according to Xero NZ Managing Director Victoria Crone, Xero customers (51%) are more likely to trust their accountants than non Xero customers (27%).