Though Xerocon London 2017 came to a close two weeks ago, our team is still buzzing about what an incredible event it was (only more six weeks until Xerocon Austin, but who’s counting?)! Kudos to the Xero team for making this year’s conference the biggest and best yet. Throughout the event, it was clear that the entire ecosystem continues to grow exponentially, promoting the value of automation for both accountants and their clients. Here are some of the biggest takeaways we had from the show!
The Belle of the Ball: Xero HQ!
Xero HQ was undoubtedly the biggest announcement to come out of the London event and we proudly announced our own involvement alongside the platform – Expensify has been selected by Xero as the expense management app for Xero HQ. As one of nine ecosystem apps selected out of 600, Expensify’s inclusion in Xero HQ allows accountants and bookkeepers to further drive efficiency within firms by centralising alerts for outstanding items in Expensify, such as expense reports awaiting review and approval, directly into their Xero HQ activity feed.
Community Vibes Abound
The event was a great opportunity to catch up with existing partners as well as introduce Expensify to new faces. Well done to our very own Pete for taking centre stage on Day 2 for his demo! It felt pretty inspiring to be part of a community of people with the common goal of making accounting a truly holistic approach to running a business successfully. Our team really enjoyed Tim Leberecht’s keynote, which stressed preserving the human touch amongst all the automation. This is certainly in line with our own values at Expensify where we put employee morale on the top of our priorities with initiatives like our annual company-wide offshore.
Spoilt for Choice Out There
One of the big themes that came up from our partners this year was the sheer number of apps to choose from. It’s amazing to see the Xero ecosystem so buoyant, promoting and attracting fintech innovation, which makes the accounting space a really exciting space to be involved in. It also inevitably means that accountants have their work cut out for them, as they need to dig deeper into what each app does and the nuances which make it a better fit for certain clients over others. This is why accounting-specific programs, like our own ExpensifyApproved! Partner program, are increasing in popularity as accountants seek to become experts in their field.
Xerocon 2017 Champions
Every ecosystem thrives from solid partnerships and champions, so it was great to see some Expensify users amongst the winners this year, including GoCardless, Taylorcocks and iwoca. A big well done to all the winners:
- Accounting Partners of the Year – Armstrong Watson (UK), Beyond Accounting (Ireland) and Aucamp Sholtz Lubbe (SA)
- Bookkeeping partner of the year – Ken Bell Accounting
- Emerging Partner of the Year – Taylor Cocks
- Xero MVP – Soaring Falcon Accounting
- 100% Xero – Farnell Clarke
- Industry Specific App of the Year – Unleashed
- Emerging App Partner of the Year – iwoca
- App Partner of the Year – GoCardless
See You Soon!
Xerocon has left attendees feeling invigorated about change, challenging them to continuously improve their workflows. If you are wondering why you’re still tracking your conference receipts in an excel file or manually reconciling your client’s company bank account at the end of the month, give us a shout here. We’d love to show you how bright 2018 could look when it comes to expenses. In the meantime, see you all at Xerocon Austin in early December!
Expensify Blog 