Xero In for a Convincing Win!
Overall Satisfaction with Xero
We use Xero in several ways, including:
- managing our own diverse professional services practice
- as the designated primary financial accounting system for hundreds of clients representing all industries
- as a training tool
- to demonstrate proper governance, transparency and accountability techniques relevant to crowdfunding and other alternative finance vehicles
- Cross-app integration: the company boasts native integration with over 350 other cloud apps, but that number is really only about 260 when you count unique apps rather than double or triple counting apps that serve multiple functions. Xero's higher tally also duplicates the same core app if the API integrator differs (i.e. Shopify as three apps if there's an API from Zapstitch, Carry the One, and Stitch Labs rather than Shopify identified as a single SaaS app).
- Intelligent configuration: allows the true 'under the hood' accounting to maintain integrity while allowing flexibility for advanced users who need to capture and manage specialized aspects of business information. The interface is extremely easy to use, but also robust and technologically innovative behind the UI.
- Update reliability: I've used dozens of SaaS apps, most of which fail to deliver high quality updates and new features in a timely manner. Xero, on the other hand communicates what's coming down the pike and actually delivers it according to the schedule. When it's available, it's not a bug-filled poorly tested version, but fully tested and debugged, ready for immediate use. When I first begin using Xero, I used draft sales invoices in lieu of quotes, and draft bills in lieu of purchase orders because of the latter choices being unavailable. My "workaround" was more than adequate, but since Xero introduced native purchase order and quote functionality, the actual benefits have greatly exceeded what I would have imagined. The same is true of their inventory functionality. It's simple enough to accommodate flexibility, but also very intelligently designed to allow many who might have previously used a third party app to now track quantities within Xero natively.
- Payroll: most obvious potential for improvement is payroll which is only available for 8 states currently, but with the acquisition of Monchilla, serving 50 states is just a short wait from now. On the other hand, there are extremely powerful add-ons for payroll which I prefer anyhow, especially ZenPayroll, such that even when Xero's payroll covers all 50 US jurisdictions, I doubt I will use it often with clients.
- Support documentation: it's not my own opinion, but I hear from non-accounting users that there are many unanswered questions within Xero's online support documentation.
- Quote import: Xero's really good at allowing most transaction types to be uploaded in properly formatted CSV files which allows bulk processing. Importing is not currently enabled for sales quotes, but it would be great to have this feature, since I've come across the need several times with clients.
- Faster lead conversion: prospects might call with a question and they're already setup before the end of the phone call
- 25% to 50% of my clients