In 2006, Xero was founded in New Zealand with two key objectives in mind. First, to help small business owners effectively run their businesses with better tools, information, and connections. Second, to help advisors give those business owners the right advice, at the right time, based on accurate and up-to-date information.
Fast forward nearly 20 years later, Xero continues to offer a cloud software solution that allows small business owners to work smarter, faster, and more efficiently. The result is giving you back time to spend with your family, friends, and allowing you to grow your business. However, you might be wondering whether your company is too small or new to start using cloud-based software. It’s a concern we hear all the time but the truth is, it’s never too early, especially with Xero. We designed our platform to be easy-to-understand and accessible no matter how new your business is or what level of experience you have with cloud software. With that in mind, let’s discuss some of the key benefits that Xero provides.
1. Flexibility
Since Xero is a cloud accounting software, you can access your data and manage your business anytime, anywhere, on any device. We offer a traditional web browser app and a mobile app as well, whether you’re working in an office or on-the-go.
Xero also lets you have an unlimited number of users per subscription at no extra cost. This means you can invite your staff, bookkeeper, and accountant into Xero and have full control over their level of access. Small business owners that are connected to advisors are more likely to be successful in the long-term, and having access to real-time data across an unlimited set of users is a big part of that.
2. Security
Whenever you’re working with financial data, security is always top-of-mind. One of the benefits of working in the cloud is that your data is always protected. Never again do you have to worry about losing a hard drive or your computer breaking and losing all of that sensitive data.
At Xero, we’re committed to using data responsibly. We have an obligation to collect, manage and use customer data in a responsible way to benefit small business owners, their advisors and their community. We’ve also formed the Xero Responsible Data Use Advisory Council, a group of passionate people from our community of small businesses, accountants and bookkeepers, and partners, as well as industry experts dedicated to keeping our customers informed.
Along with these initiatives, Xero backs up your data multiple times per day and keeps it secure so that it’s always available to you. We release updates automatically so that you have access to the latest features and security improvements the next time you log in.
Xero also uses tools like multi-factor authentication (MFA) to keep your data safe. In simple terms, MFA is an additional level of security that’s applied when logging into your account. Instead of just entering your email and password, you’ll have a second layer to enter a code sent to a device of your choice to ensure that you, and only you, have access to your data.
3. Efficiency
Now more than ever, time is a precious resource. This is especially true if you’re a small business owner. That’s why Xero is built on tools and features that allow you to be more efficient and effective.
One of these features are bank feeds. Bank feeds allow you to automatically import transactions from your bank or financial institution into your Xero organization. This makes it easy and efficient to reconcile statement lines with transactions in Xero, like sales invoices or purchase bills. Depending on your banking provider, the connection can be a direct feed or through one of our third party aggregators like Yodlee.
A couple other useful tools that can make your workflow more efficient are payment services and invoice reminders. In Xero, you can create and send online invoices to your customers in just a few clicks. By connecting payment services to them like Stripe, Paypal, or GoCardless, you give your customers the ability to pay their invoice immediately. You can also use this alongside automatic invoice reminders that get emailed to customers reminding them of payments that are due. When combined together, these two features are a great way to ensure you get paid faster and can focus on other business priorities.
To learn more about how Xero can support your small business, sign up for a free 30-day trial and explore all our educational resources on Xero Central.