AdvanceTrack makes an impression as attendees want to know more
Xerocon 2018, held in London’s ExCeL, was another important date for the AdvanceTrack team. With several thousand people in attendance at the continually growing show, we were kept very busy – fortunately we had a couple of existing clients on hand to help talk through what we do to attendees curious to know more about us.
Xero director Damon Anderson spoke about its big news: the acquisitions of accounts prep and tax filing provider Instafile, and financial document ‘fetcher’ system HubDoc. “These acquisitions place compliance at the core of Xero,” he said.
But what does such technology mean? Does it mean outsourcing won’t be for you, with it easier kept in-house? For AdvanceTrack MD Vipul Sheth, any technology that enables accounting practitioners to have access to client data more accurately and quickly is a boon.
“Once practitioners understand how technology improves efficiency, and the data is in the cloud, it becomes so collaborative between us,”
said Sheth. “Previously a client had to do work to package it up; now they just provide us with a login. Firms can give us so much more information and utilise us as a resource – we know that resource is finite in the UK. So our proposition becomes more valuable and compelling.”
Anderson also addressed the issue of potentially ‘treading on their app partners’ toes’.
“There’s no sign of our ecosystem slowing down; there are huge opportunities,” said Anderson. “We work with lots of providers – we complement them and don’t compete. They are specialists.”
Brendan Woods, CEO and founder of invoice and receipt capture provider AutoEntry, said the “market is as vibrant as ever”.
“Cloud was the top priority, but it’s now about trying to remove manual process and transforming processes (see main feature on pages 2-3). There’s no end to the success stories – but the key is making a commitment to change,” he said.
“Very often it’s the clients putting their toe into the water… are you going to walk away from a client? Either you help them or you don’t – so practices get dragged forward,” Woods concluded.
