Xerocon 2018

Our feet have just about recovered (and our bodies just about rehydrated) from a crazy and inspiring two days in London attending Xerocon, the conference for Xero accountants and their app partners.

It was the first time for the development team — our partners FD Works are old hands at Xerocon so they had prepared us as best they could, but the sheer energy of the place was unexpected! This is not your ‘stereotypical accountant’ space, and these are not your stereotypical accountants. A zipwire, real grass carpet, a huge party with ping-pong… But it’s not all socks as swag; some of Xero’s huge family of add-on apps were in attendance and we continue to be impressed by the dedication and enthusiasm for their whole ecosystem.

“Human at Heart”

The theme ’Human at Heart’ and a talk by the futurist Gerd Leonhard really emphasised that whilst the march of technology is inevitable and at times daunting, it is an opportunity to create technologies that allow humans to do what really matters. There is so much hype around AI at the moment, from creating artwork, to fake news videos, to ‘killer robots’. Whilst it does have some genuinely eyebrow-raising uses, both whimsical and sinister, there has never been a better time to be a part of the conversation.

The strength of AI and machine learning in the financial sector lies in the ability to process a large amount of data, very quickly, and spot patterns that would be extremely difficult or require an intense amount of time and concentration for humans. In the case of processing large amounts of historical Xero data, Xavier can provide insights that would be too time consuming (and expensive) for humans to attempt on a regular basis. We would love to see Xavier helping bookkeepers and accountants by doing the work that best suits machines; automating data cleanup and crunching numbers that can then be used by humans, for humans, to provide real value and service.

We have some really exciting AI aided cleanup tools coming soon; The new Supplier Insight learns from your payment history with a contact to detect any anomalies in a month (for example, a double payment) for you to check, and we also have another bigger project we can’t wait to share with you really soon!

Give Xavier a try today, and be part of the future of accounting.

~ Helen

Originally published at xavier-analytics.com on November 22, 2018.