Xero First to Launch Small Business Ecosystem
April 2, 2008 at 11:07 am by Ehab Bandar
Xero is not your typical small business accounting application. But it should be.
Xero is a publicly traded New Zealand company that’s been making news for launching innovative, user-centered online tools for small business.
We’ve been following this little company with big ambitions for some time now. The company seems to thrive on introducing new and big ideas that are scaled down for small business. Their new initiative is the Xero Network that allows partners with complementary applications to integrate their offerings with Xero. Their blog post states that:
The Xero Network is an “ecosystem” concept where we expect Xero to work in with other online providers, creating an integrated community that makes running a small business easier for business owners.
The goal of an integrated ecosystem, where your accounting application can work seamlessly with your payroll application, which then in turn integrates with your time tracking software, is the ultimate in running a productive business regardless of size. Imagine having one system to do everything, where your data and your vendor’s data is handled together. Imagine sending and receiving invoices from others on the network as easily as managing your bank accounts online. Well, that’s their vision and it offers a compelling alternative to the disparate solutions, both offline and online, offered today. It also meshes nicely with the idea that most business functions, especially data-driven ones, can be done online faster and more efficiently than handled separately.
This idea of an integrated and collaborative online experience is driving a lot of the innovation we’re seeing today. With the likes of Google Apps, WebEx Connect, and Salesforce vying to deliver on this promise, Xero’s focus on small business centered on an account system is a strategy with a lot of legs. In fact, those legs recently ran off and launched in the UK.
(2 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
Loading ...Share: 
