Tuesday saw XERO, the most popular cloud accounting software in the world, make a major announcement that it would be partnering with both global IT corporation Microsoft, as well as Barclays bank. XERO aim to further automate small business financial management and control through their strategic partnership with two super powers of industry.
Microsoft – Xero Partnership
Power BI is being brought to the XERO table through Microsoft as the partner, delivering big data for small businesses so that any business customer can gain true insights from their business data. Microsoft Power BI transforms your company’s data into rich visuals for you to collect and organize so you can focus on what matters to you. Stay in the know, spot trends as they happen, and push your business further. Microsofts software literally brings your almost meaningless mess of raw data to vibrant life. Power BI is a suite of business analytics tools to analyze data and share insights. Monitor your business and get answers quickly with rich dashboards available on every device.
Barclays also come on board joining banks such as Metro Bank, RBS, Natwest, and Silicon Valley Bank with live data feeds.
The two companies said the Microsoft – Xero integration will enable businesses to analyse data faster, more efficient and with greater understanding through 25 metrics such as cash position, revenue vs expenses, profit loss trend, etc. The new analytics tool is expected to be available in March and is certainly in much anticipation for XERO users.
“Business tools today are smarter and more connected than ever and finally available to the small business sector,”
said Xero’s chief executive, Rod Drury.
“The Accounting Industry runs on Microsoft Office and we’re delighted to further integrate with Microsoft Power BI to give our users easier ways to access and analyse information from Xero and other sources to make smart, informed decisions.”
Users will be able to share valuable data & insights directly from within Office365 and Microsoft have praised the partnership and it’s long term future with XERO cloud accounting. Statistics from XERO suggest that they have over 600,000 users with more than a quarter (150,000) using at least one of either Microsoft or Barclays in conjunction with XERO accounting software, which makes this a very powerful strategic alliance and a great move for XERO.