Top Accountants - The Blog

Going the extra mile – Xero customer care

Our accountancy practice, Pearson & Associates is a huge fan of the Xero online accounting system.  What is not obvious from looking at the product demos on the Xero site is the level of professionalism and commitment shown by the customer care team, behind the scenes.

Yesterday, I contacted Nathan Travers, who heads up the customer care operation at Xero in the UK, to raise an urgent support request – the data for our own practice accounts had disappeared from view.  I knew why this might have happened, as we had asked Xero to tidy and rationalise the organisations we have added to the system since we started.  However, since we import and reconcile our bank transactions daily, this was something we needed fixing quickly.

Nathan replied to me 19 minutes later, saying that he had passed an urgent request to the development team in New Zealand.  At 5.29pm yesterday, when I expected the Xero office to be in “home-time” mode, I emailed again with further information.  My phone rang at 5.50pm.  It was Nathan, who had obtained my mobile number via a colleague.  He discussed the issues with me and was quite happy to logon to my PC to share my screen and verify what we were talking through first-hand.  I left the hoping that I would find progress had been made when I came in again this morning.

I didn’t have to wait that long.  An email arrived at 7.46pm on my Blackberry at home.  You guessed it, it was Nathan who was just letting me know that everything had been fixed.  So, instead of driving in this morning hoping that I would find good news when I logged into Xero again, I relaxed to some evening TV with the family knowing that all was well.  Clearly Nathan and his team at Xero understand how to “go the extra mile” for customers.  Well done guys and thanks very much.

Xero management information saves small business £50 per month in bank charges

Customer Sue Taylor, of Craftwork Cards Limited, called me today, feeling very pleased.  Her bank manager had just been in to see her for a review meeting and was so impressed with the comprehensive management accounts she showed him, that he decided, on the spot, to waive the £50 per month "management fee" that the bank were charging her.  He explained that, since all of the information he needed was clearly provided in the reports, that left him with no work to do on the figures.

We moved the company's accounting over to the Xero online accounting system with effect from the start of her new financial year, June 1st 2008.  Sue now benefits from bang up to date management information available anytime, from anywhere, and is also now £50 per month better off.  A great result all-round, I think you would agree.

Another exciting accounting software system, at last!

I have recently been exploring Xero the web-based accounting system just launched into the UK market.  I have to say that, for the first time in ages, I am genuinely excited about a new accounting solution - the way I was when I first saw QuickBooks over 10 years ago.

I do not intend summarising all of the features of Xero here, there is more than enough information available on their web site, which also allows you to watch some slick video demos.  What struck me though was the thought and then development care that must have been invested in this system.  By way of illustration, I offer you this: Download Xero Management Report (106.5K), which was produced automatically by Xero, after just a couple of mouse clicks.  Show me a small business owner who would not be bowled over to receive one of these every month.

Mark Hallett, business development director of Xero, called me up for a chat today - after noticing my persistent loitering around their demo site.  It was a very interesting and open discussion, with Mark's enthusiasm for his company's offering coming through strongly.  The company is totally committed to the UK market and being originally established in New Zealand has less localisation (and translation) to do than some of his European competitors.  There is still masses of development going on (a new release being issued this weekend), so the product should only get better over time.  The system is easy on the eye and, at just under £30 per business per month with unlimited users, easy on the wallet too.

We currently use another system for online accounting, Twinfield which hails from Holland.  Localisation work on their UK software is currently moving at a glacial pace (cash accounting for VAT is still not properly supported), leaving my practice with some hard thinking to do.  Xero is going to shake up the market more than anything introduced in the last 10 years!