It was Valentine’s Day yesterday (in case you wondered why you were in trouble today) although love was not the main reason why over 200 accountants and bookkeepers gathered at Four Points Sheraton, Sydney....The Xero Roadshow had come to town.
After receiving our name badges other Xero goodies and a coffee we headed into the main room to take our seats and quietly unwrap and devour the chocolate heart that the Xero team had lovingly placed on every table....apologies to the woman who arrived late next to me who didn't get one.
Wayne Schmidt, Xero National Sales Manager and owner of the shiniest shoes I have ever seen, kicked off the day in his usual charismatic and infectious style with an introduction on Xero and what lay in store for the day ahead.
After a brief break Joel Hanna, National Training Specialist and Xero Jedi Knight, ran through some of the processes involved in converting customers from MYOB into Xero amongst other Jedi like tips and tricks...the force is strong with this one.
Lunch came and I caught up with the guys from Fathom, one of the events sponsors. Usually, the mention of analysis and reporting tools doesn’t really get blood pumping, however, one look at this new add on for Xero and I realise this is something completely different. At last someone has come along and actually ‘designed’ a reporting and analysis tool that is easy to understand for the even most financially illiterate and also looks totally awesome...good work guys.
In the afternoon there were more helpful tips from Xero Jedi Knight, Joel Hanna, on the general use and configuration of Xero...the force is strong with this one.
After another chocolate heart and more coffee, Chris Ridd, Managing Director of Xero Aus, touched on some of the new Xero features to come this year including:
- Ability to import and export budgets
- Integrated payroll
- Xero personal bank feeds
- Report packs (closed and full release)
- Android app
- Purchase Orders
- Tax code updates
It’s going to be an exciting year for Xero and users of Xero!
Stuart Mcleod, General Payroll Manager and Founder of Paycyle, then took us through the introduction of Payroll to Xero. A huge win for Xero, as this is one of the features that was felt as missing in the Xero offering. Stuart explained that as well as getting it’s own button on Xero it will also include the following features:
- Xero style reports
- Super and tax liability in money going out
- Leave liability included in balance sheet
- PAYG liability hooked to BAS reporting
- Time sheets for employees
- Expenses syncing as reimbursements
This is great news for users of Xero, congrats to Stuart and the team. We look forward to it’s implementation in April!
Wayne then wrapped up the day with a summary of how we are now living through a new evolution of computing, coming from the first industrial computers, then to PC’s and now The Cloud. He’s right, computing has come along way and when he harked back to past computing practices and software such as Wordperfect and Lotus123, I’m glad it has.
Don’t be left behind, if you haven’t already moved your business to the cloud, then maybe 2012 is the year to do so. Exciting times are ahead!
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