Exciting updates from XeroCon 2018

In early September 2018 two of us went to XeroCon in Brisbane to learn about the new tips and tricks of using Xero to make it a better experience to our Xero clients. During the 3 intensive but fun days, we learned new ways to do things to improve business in general, such as ways to reduce the number of days for an invoice to be paid, new ways of using the Xero mobile app and more…

A summary of a handful of the new features that will be implemented are:

Complete revamp of Xero mobile app

– you will soon be able to view reports such as Profit & Loss account on your mobile app. Currently  you need to log on to the desktop version of Xero to run the reports and see how the business goes. With the improved Xero mobile app business owners can see how well their businesses perform on the go.

– revamp of the invoicing module – Xero is moving towards a “code free accounting” meaning that Xero will take care of where the transaction be coded to so you don’t have to worry about it, making it easier and faster for you to prepare and email invoices out to customers – and get paid faster too with their new payment services (see below)!

(iOS app users) ability to attach files directly from cloud storage and ability to use AirPrint – huge improvement for those who would like to attach photos to invoices and print out invoices to non-Xero clients.

Updates to Xero Business

Email to bills – for those who keep track of bills on Xero, you have the option to email the PDF bills to Xero where it will create a draft bill to be approved. Xero is improving on this by using machine learning to extract information out of the bills and pre-fill them onto the bills – so you don’t have to!

new API to allow all banks to integrate with Xero – we expect this will mean a simpler process in setting up bank feeds on Xero with any bank account.

automatic bank rules reconciliation – a great time saver for those who set bank rules to help reconcile their transactions – instead of clicking OK on each transaction, soon you will be able to reconcile it all in just one single click!

– ability to preview invoice on both desktop and mobile version prior to sending them out

– Xero has partnered with Go Cardless to provide payment services through their invoices – this is similar to current payment services like Stripe and Paypal.