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Changing the game - real world examples of how

Changing the Game Real world examples of how a Xero app stack can improve business

@LimeCloudLtd / @LimePaula

Paula Byers, Founder & Director,

LimeCloud

Having started and run several businesses for more than 26 years, increasingly in tech & business systems for the last 15 years. Moving into the cloud 5 years ago precipitated the re-brand to LimeCloud in 2016. A SFEDI accredited Business Mentor, local Chamber of Commerce Director & Enterprise Nation Advisor Member; she is passionate about supporting business and not-for-profits to develop using creative and innovative cloud tech.

Can using cloud tools really benefit business, or is just pie in the sky? Is a Xero app stack really able to deliver tangible results, or is it just hype? And does it make the tea as well? Paula Byers offers some business experiences of how a Xero app stack has transformed businesses...

Everything changes in

business: not least on the compliance side with legislation and tax rules constantly evolving, just take GDPR and Making Tax Digital as two imminent examples. With the onus on the business owner, having the right software in place is increasingly vital to ensuring compliance. There are a number of reasons why Xero is a good choice, but seeing how Xero are at the forefront of change is key, along with the ability to connect to the largest range of Apps that feature in their Marketplace. Indeed, if an App doesn’t integrate with Xero, these days it makes us seriously question why not.

Business Longevity

Business survival rates published in Xero’s Make or Break Report last year show those who use their software have a much greater chance of survival than the national average. The effect becomes more apparent as you move through the timeframe, as seen in the chart in figure 1 showing the Office for National Statistics figures against those of Xero. At three years the differential is 91% of Xero users still trading against a 58% national average, but by 5 years this differential has increased further, with 88% of Xero users compared to an industry average of just 41%.

With better visibility of finances and improved organisation, using Xero helps to build and grow more a resilient business. We have seen this with a number of clients, not least a not-for-profit who had the opportunity to grow their organisation with grant revenue for project delivery. Previously managing their micro organisation in Excel, they transferred to Xero to offer the accountability required of their finances to be eligible for the grant opportunities, along with WorkflowMax to manage the increased number of projects and staff the grant funding afforded them. This secured the future of the organisation, going from delivering micro projects to operating at a regional level delivering projects to benefit the environment and community.

Ready Cash

Making sure you are on top of your income is important; ensuring invoices are raised and paid on time should be fundamental in any business. A firm we worked with had an overdraft in excess of £150k due to poor organisation of their sales ledger. After the implementation of Xero, they streamlined their process for raising invoices efficiently and chasing their debtors effectively, which reduced their overdraft down to less than £30k in just over 6 months.

Xero’s own figures show the reduction of debtor days by over 2 weeks through connecting payment services such as GoCardless, Stripe or PayPal, along with the use of Xero’s automatic invoice reminders or debtor management apps such as Chaser.

Another not-for-profit organisation had fairly onerous and repetitive compliance-based workflows, due to outdated software and a requirement for transparency in approval of staff expenses. With their new Xero app stack, they are able to utilise single point data entry, with a full audit trail of the approvals process so that the staff are reimbursed accurately and on time. This has saved them over £50k on their bottom line on a turnover of £1m – that’s quite a sum available for re-investment in the organisation to do more good.

Organisational Agility

Once you have the data, it enables you to do so much with it. An architectural firm we worked with reported their data in a certain many ways, not least the codeless way using tracking categories in accounting Xero have been Xero which was relevant to their developing using AI to analyse PI insurance. The parameters all data entered over many millions of changed on their proposal form due transactions processed in Xero. This to market forces and they needed is part of their constant drive to find to categorise their data differently. ways to assist non-financial people run their business more effectively. A quick phone call to establish how they needed to report the Paperless Eutopia? data, a little work changing the setup of their data and the magic Remember when computers were of the Find and Recode command hailed as the dawn of the paperless in Xero. Hey presto! In less office? Is it just me than 30 minutes new or does it seem like reports gave them “Innovation will paper tripled or information in the keep you going. To quadrupled in the format required soar you need to intervening years! to ensure their change the game.” However, the use renewal proposal of cloud does was completed Michael Kouly, President & finally have the on time to obtain CEO at Cambridge Inst of Global Leadership ability to deliver this. a competitive Document storage renewal. This could have in Xero and other apps, taken hours, or even been as well as many synching impossible with some software with cloud storage such as Drive, or manual records, which would Dropbox, box, OneDrive etc., means have resulted in an increased the possibility has become a reality premium based on a simple lack of for many clients we work with. information. Data extraction tools like Receipt With Big Data now behind small Bank, Datamolino, Hubdoc and business, they have an opportunity along with tools like Docusign, Go to use it to their benefit in so Proposal et al., all make the paper less eutopia and more reality. Documents are created or images stored at source, so retaining paper is no longer required.

Not just hype

These are just a few examples, there are lots more demonstrating how Xero app stacks transform small businesses that we could fill this issue and many others.

Suffice to say it’s not just talk and if the Xero app stack isn’t delivering results for your business, then take a closer look and talk to the experts about using it more effectively. Ok, maybe it doesn’t quite make the tea as well (yet!), but it could help you find more time to put your feet up for a tea break...

Fig. 1

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