If you are using Xero for accounting you are probably already aware of the benefits of using a cloud-based system to take care of company finances and allow anything access, anywhere you need it.
What you may not know is just how far you can go by leveraging other add-ons and tools which connect or integrate with Xero. These apps provide additional functionality and features and make the possibilities endless. We will take a look at our top six Xero add-on picks to look out for in 2018.
GoCardless
Most businesses, especially those who trade online take payments by card. In almost all cases taking payment by card no longer optional and is expected by customers and website visitors.
Many card payment solutions work well for one-off purchases, however, often companies struggle with solutions for ongoing arrangements such as subscriptions, recurring payments and direct debits. GoCardless allows you to do all of those and more Europe-wide. It even provides payment status notifications so you can stay on top of missed or defaulted payments.
Additional options allow your business to create customised and advanced payment workflows. Perfect for those otherwise tricky setups. The best part, it’s all cloud-based and managed by GoCardless and can provide reporting back to your tracking in Xero. A winning combination for 2018.
Receipt Bank
How many times have you lost track of business expenses? A missing receipt here, a lost expense sheet there? Receipt Bank solves this problem and allows you to go paperless.
Simply add the app to your smartphone or device and take a quick snap of receipts and invoices as you receive them. They are then captured and stored right away. The system also learns as it goes so expenses can be distributed into the correct categories and submitted to the accounting team for expenses payouts and record keeping.
All of this works together with Xero to provide a cross-referenced record of all of your business spending. It really is a clever app saving data-entry time, lost receipt headaches and minimising issues with expense claim arguments. Highly recommended – we even use them here at Fluidly.
Iwoca
Have you ever felt that banks do not fully appreciate what it is like to run a business? Cashflow does not always line up with the day to day needs of a business that is otherwise profitable. This can be very frustrating and cause delays and issues in how you operate your business.
Iwoca have identified just this problem and partnered with Xero to provide a flexible business credit line facility by connecting to your Xero account and tracking your realtime cashflow. This allows them to gain a better understanding of how the business operates and speed up the application and approval process, which makes them different from a bank and traditional business loans.
Those investment plans for 2018 just became a little more real.
Zapier
If you haven’t heard of Zapier, prepare to have your mind blown. Unlike some of the other apps on our list, think of Zapier as an app for apps. What do I mean? Zapier uses something called webhooks that allow you to connect apps together to form workflows and processes. Webhooks in their own right are very powerful, but Zapier is truly a powerful tool and allows you to easily connect over 750 individual apps without knowing how to code.
Xero has five triggers and four actions, which, when combined with other apps, means there are close to infinite possibilities for automation with your accounts package. For example, save time by automatically creating an invoice in Xero when you receive a new Amazon order or send a notification email from Gmail when a new payment is received in Xero.
The majority of Zapier connections can be done for free, but to use a select few premium apps, including Xero, you will need a paid subscription. Zapier can help you achieve that new year’s resolution of becoming more efficient with your time.
Fluidly
Xero is great at recording data and producing typical accounting reports and info. However, it’s 2018, you need more from your financial data and the technology exists to give you more. That is where Fluidly comes in.
Fluidly is an Intelligent Cashflow engine. It constantly analyses and learns from transactions to highlight threats, maximise opportunities and transform your business.
Essentially Fluidly is your always-on financial supervisor, automatically chasing up debtors and speeding up cash collections. It then takes financial data from Xero and applies artificial intelligence to predict your future cashflow. After all, only tracking financial events after the fact is a thing of the past, instead, see what opportunities and threats are on the horizon and prepare for them accordingly.
Your goal of reducing stress and gaining cashflow confidence in 2018 just got quite a bit easier to achieve.
Find out more about how we integrate with Xero.
MinuteDock
If you have a time- or labour-intensive business you will know that accurately tracking time and manpower can be difficult. It can be even more difficult to ensure time is attributed to the right project or client. This can lead to internal arguments as well as disagreements with clients.
Minutedock solves these problems; it allows you or individuals in your team to track and attribute time to projects. Records can be then converted to timesheets, allocated to clients and/or directly into invoices. Time-based billing has just become simple, straightforward and painless.
From 2018 to beyond
The connectivity of all of these apps with Xero allows you to expand the possibilities of what can be done in the cloud. Take some time to review the apps and how they can help you and your business. After all, we all want to stress less and grow more in 2018 – let technology help you do just that.
