Xero Add-ons Reflect a Robust, Global Ecosystem
One of my favorite things about Xero is its add-on community. Pundits talk about how Xero doesn’t do this or doesn’t do that. They want a software that’s everything to everybody (or at least more things to more people). Sure, many midsized businesses need more out of their
Xero Add-ons
Xero was designed from the ground up, with an open application programming interface (API) infrastructure to make it relatively easy for developers to create other software that talks to Xero and connects the data seamlessly. Basically, once the connection is made, you don’t have to do a thing. There are no exports and imports, no formatting or pushing of buttons to get data to move between Xero and the add-on product. Because of this, well over 300 add-on partners have built some pretty neat tools for small businesses in a variety of categories, including:
- Billing and expenses
- Customer relationship
management (CRM) - Ecommerce
- Inventory
- Point of sale (POS)
- Payroll and
human resources - Time tracking
- Payments
- Reporting
These add-on products are designed to fill a void or to meet a need for various types of small businesses, allowing users to pick the best match for different parts of their accounting systems.
A Global Ecosystem
A week doesn’t go by that I don’t hear from a software company in New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom, or Canada that wants us (Harshman Phillips & Company) to try its software or wants to expand to the U.S. market. The thing about Xero’s ecosystem is that it’s truly global. And that’s the vision of Rod Drury, Xero’s founder. Because Xero started in New Zealand in 2006 and first expanded to Australia, many of the long-standing (if you can call Xero long-standing) add-on partners were founded there. It’s not easy making the shift from being a software company Down Under to cracking the U.S. market (just ask Xero); yet slowly but surely, since 2011, it has been happening. Other companies, such as Spotlight Reporting, Fathom, AffinityLive, and Receipt Bank, saw the huge market potential in the United States, which was just too good to pass up. Many of these companies were already connected to
Benefits for Accountants
So what’s in this for you? Well, how about creating workflow solutions and efficiencies for your clients. How about YOU working more effectively and efficiently and getting better realization from the work you do. We recently created a grid of all our clients with the Xero add-on partners they use. I was surprised to see that in our collective client base, almost 50 add-ons are being implemented. Granted, we don’t use or support that many, but our clients do. They’re using them effectively to help run their businesses.
Our next mission is to figure out how many add-ons the average Xero client is using. My guess is that we’ll see numbers in the three to five range. The best part for us is that we can have several truly integrated workflow solutions for different kinds of businesses, so when they do come to us, we can basically offer them their back office “in a box.” For some, that may be Xero, ZenPayroll, Bill.com, and Expensify. For others, it might be Xero, ADP, Shopify, TradeGecko, and Receipt Bank. The point is, there are awesome tools available for every business, and they’re relatively easy for us to piece together due to the way they’re constructed. There are some advisors out there who are excellent at reviewing and testing the add-ons for each function by providing comparisons with features and limitations.
We’re pleased to be part of the global Xero ecosystem and have been fortunate to see our business grow in connection with what’s been happening with Xero. It’s still early in the game and not too late for you to be part of the solution. Your clients and prospects will thank you.