Xero Scores New Strategic Partnerships

New Zealand cloud accounting firm Xero has used its annual Xerocon conference to announce a host of new partnerships and tools, and says it has passed 250,000 paying customers in Australia.

CEO and founder Rod Drury kicked off the event in Melbourne with a number of strategic partnerships with Dropbox, Adobe, Bigcommerce, Insightly and Mindbody, which he said would each offer improved business insights and simplified collaboration for small businesses and their accountants.

Xero’s headline partnership is with primary Xerocon sponsor Dropbox, which will work with the accounting firm to integrate Dropbox for Business with Xero Tax in a bid to make it easier for partners to store and share documents in one location and enable collaboration between bookkeepers and their clients.

Meanwhile, productivity software firm Adobe will be working with Xero to integrate its Adobe Document Cloud eSign services across Xero. That integration will enable accountants and small businesses to electronically sign and submit their tax documents, from business activity statements to end-of-year tax returns without the need to print, sign and post those documents.

Drury also announced Xero Australia will reach 250,000 paying subscribers this week, adding to recent news that it had hit more that 540,000 paying subscribers globally.

The firm also launched “Xero for Startups”. Managing director of Xero Australia Chris Ridd said Xero had already been actively involved with the start-up ecosystem through various incubators and event sponsorships but was looking to ramp this up in a more official capacity.

“We’re launching the Xero for Startups program in recognition of the direct reach and influence that Xero now has across the start-up community in Australia,” Ridd said.

Original article by David Swan, The Australian, August 13, 2015.