Xro - xero

[Raven]

Interesting announcement. I'm wondering how this fits in with Telstra deal in Aus and BNZ in NZ. Sounds positive though.

XRO
03/06/2010
GENERAL

REL: 0830 HRS Xero Limited

GENERAL: XRO: Xero enters into distribution agreement with ANZ

MARKET RELEASE

3 June 2010

Leading online accounting software provider Xero (XRO) has entered into a
regional agreement with ANZ to distribute its online accounting services to
ANZ customers. The agreement allows for exclusive distribution in Australia
and to explore opportunities in Singapore, New Zealand and more broadly
across the Asia Pacific region.

Xero will offer ANZ's 450,000 small business customers in Australia an
online, integrated banking and accounting solution that allows them to
understand trading performance and cashflow position in real-time.

"This agreement reflects the synergies that Xero and ANZ share in supporting
small business owners to meet the challenges of operating a small business by
giving them the tools to take greater control of their finances," says Xero
CEO Rod Drury.

"We're excited about the prospect of working on more sophisticated
integration between our respective online systems for the convenience of our
customers,'' he says.

Nick Reade, ANZ General Manager Small Business, says managing cashflow is one
of the main issues for small businesses. "The integration of Xero's software
provides our customers with a simple and convenient solution to manage their
cashflow and provides greater transparency around trading performance."

Mr Reade says this agreement confirms ANZ's commitment to support small
businesses through both traditional and value adding services to help them
start, grow and thrive.

For more information contact:

Helen Matterson
Communications Manager, Xero
helen.matterson@xero.com
+64 21 125 8434

Rod Drury
CEO, Xero
rod.drury@xero.com
+64 21 457 012

[Stranger_Danger]

Anyone see this? http://www.techday.co.nz/start-up/ne...stomers/16621/

Just one guys view I guess but I haven't seen any info released by Xero about this, which is weird as they're normally very vocal. No idea whether this story is true or not.

[COLIN]

Anyone see this? http://www.techday.co.nz/start-up/ne...stomers/16621/

Just one guys view I guess but I haven't seen any info released by Xero about this, which is weird as they're normally very vocal. No idea whether this story is true or not.

Seems strange having regard to this morning's trumpeting of ANZ deal.

[nwood]

Xero reaches 20,000 customer milestone

[Zaphod]

Seems strange having regard to this morning's trumpeting of ANZ deal.

There's not enough information in the article in order to pin the issue on a particular party. Besides, things do go wrong and there's never a right time for this sort of thing. What is important is how Xero dealt with the matter and how quickly the issue was resolved.

[Peitro]

May 2011 for the 30,000 then, based on a conservative flat line growth of 30 signups a day.

Will see over the next year if the hockey stick really exists.

[CJ]

May 2011 for the 30,000 then, based on a conservative flat line growth of 30 signups a day.

Will see over the next year if the hockey stick really exists.

Given their strategy to target accountants, not clients, the hockey stick may happen. Once the accoutnant is on board, they will slowly transition their clients across at the next software update (ie. do you renew MYOB or move to Xero). They have 1000 accountants now. Lets say each accountant has 100 entites (ie one client may have multiple entities), that 100,000 potential Xero customers.

[Peitro]

Annual Report Out... a bit of info to consume

[CJ]

Xero just got competition:

https://indinero.com/

Cost is from free to US$100 per month

Will get a lot of press in the tech scene from these guys:

http://techcrunch.com/2010/07/02/ind...ch+(TechCrunch)

[Ripeka]

I am a Financial Administrator who set up MYOB for our organisation (after changing from Quick Books 2 yrs ago) - dont think you can consider Indinero as real competition imho. it seems like small fry and very clunky to use comparatively. I spent Friday playing with Xero after our organisation's accountant recommended I take a good look as he is encouraging all his small - medium sized clients to move to Xero from MYOB. Xero is very intuitive, their Demo is brilliant to play around with, followed by the free trial before you have to put any $$ down. The whole layout is so easy to get your head around even though its a completely different way of thinking about accounting software. Xero seems to make everything so simple as opposed to MYOB that seems to make accounting complicated! Comprehensive help is available right from the start, and in addition there is specific email help if needed. Reporting is extremely in depth. Simply put, I loved it. I dont do the nuts and bolts of accounting in our organisation-someone else does this and I oversee. I love the fact that with Xero I could log in anytime, from anywhere in the world and see what the accounts lady has been up to LOL. In my personal life, my husband & I both contract for our income, claim business expenses and own investment property - I set up everything I needed in a very short time and will be going with Xero for our personal business from now on. GST options are brilliant (you can set different GST rate on each category if you want - great for automating the GST portion of motor vehicle expenses where I cant claim the whole amount but only a portion). I came hunting for the share AFTER using Xero last week because I think it has such potential to kick MYOB into touch here in NZ and in Aussie. Just gotta time an entry point....
P.S. Accountant's opinion was that MYOB was dead in the water once Xero got some serious uptake. DYOR.

As far as cost goes, if you want support from MYOB it costs abt $600 p.a. anyway (then you get "free software upgrades"!) so price wise Xero is cheaper @ $29 USD per month.