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Xero has launched a new business performance dashboard which uses “the power of big data analytics”, among a raft of product updates recently unveiled.
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Xero launches new performance dashboard
09 June 2015
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The product uses these analytics to provide real-time business metrics on an easily readable dashboard, Xero said.
Chris Ridd, Xero Australia's managing director, said the feature allows small business owners and their advisers to keep up to date with exactly how the business is tracking in real time.
“It's providing an insight into their financial data for the business and exposing it in ways that are insightful and meaningful,” Mr Ridd told AccountantsDaily.
Businesses that use the dashboard will also be able to query individual metrics with their adviser at the click of a button, which sends the query straight to their accountant.
"We are bringing the accountant or the bookkeeper into that workflow and I think that that is a really important point to make," Mr Ridd said.
"We have always been very clear that we want to amplify the value of an adviser. There are going to be questions that some of these ratios may raise and so if it results in a small business clicking on that button and asking their accountants for advice, we think that's actually a really good outcome."
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The metrics that appear on the dashboard include key figures such as gross profit, accounts receivable and payable days, debt to equity ratios and inventory turnover. There are currently 20 metrics available to Australian businesses.
Mr Ridd said the dashboard will continue to evolve and in the future will take better advantage of the big data available to Xero.
"We will continue to evolve it and perfect it and look at other opportunities but there is no doubt that our strategy is now being able to tap into the data, both within the business but across industry metrics as well," he said.
"We will do it in a way that obviously is observing the privacy and other consent that's required but there's no doubt that this strategy is really about unlocking some tremendous insights that we know business owners have been asking for and this is a logical step for us to take and we will continue to evolve it."
In addition to the new dashboard, Xero unveiled greater integration both with Apple and Gmail, a billable expense feature and improved practice reports.
The practice reports feature provides a quick and simple way for accountants and bookkeepers to generate powerful business insights for their clients, according to Mr Ridd, who noted that it allows accountants to create template reports they can use across several clients.
"It's been something we have been working on for a couple of years now and it's something that our accounting partners have been really crying out for, so we are pretty excited to be able to bring that to fruition," he said.
This feature will be rolled out in Australia in the near future, Mr Ridd said.
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