This SMART 100 profile and the information it contains is a duplication of content submitted by the applicant during the entry process. As a function of entry, applicants were required to declare that all details are factually correct, do not infringe on another’s intellectual property and are not unlawful, threatening, defamatory, invasive of privacy, obscene, or otherwise objectionable. Some profiles have been edited for reasons of space and clarity.
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1. THE BEGINNING
This innovation initially came to life when…
…when our accounting firm, the Poole Group (Xero Accounting Partner of the Year 2013), was looking at ways to create efficiencies and allow our accountants to focus on providing business and tax advice as opposed to sorting out the clients records. We saw the use of Xero and our own internally developed technology providing the perfect opportunity to develop a platform that not only assisted our firm but could become scalable and assist other firms globally to achieve the same efficiencies and productivity gains. We have 2 in-house developers to create our own IP.
2. WHAT & HOW
The purpose of this innovation is to…
…free accountants time from sorting clients records and create capacity for them to provide more value added business and advisory services. In short to provide Real Advice in Real Time with Real Data.
It does this by…
…providing accountants globally the ability to create and accept a fixed price proposal online in multiple currencies 24/7 without waiting for us to respond. Once accepted we onboard the client and perform the tasks requested by our partner. We utilise a number of off the shelf and in-house programs to perform the bookkeeping and processing functions.
3. PURPOSE & BENEFITS
This innovation improves on what came before because…
…it allows us to offer the advantages of economies of scale and efficiencies not before seen in the traditional bookkeeping models. The automation of the online proposals alone allows our partners to receive and accept fixed price proposals immediately wherever they are and in their own currency.
Its various benefits to the customer/end-user include…
…the ability to have real data in real time allowing the partners to provide their clients real advice in real time as well as relieving their clients of the data processing functions.
4. COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE
In the past, this problem was solved by…
…traditional bookkeepers coming on site and entering data manually which was (i) significantly more inefficient, (ii) charged on an hourly rate thereby creating conflicts of interest and (iii) created time delays when it was done once a month after the month end. This process was not easily scalable for large client numbers.
Its predecessors/competitors include…
…other traditional bookkeepers/bookkeeping firms using a more traditional cottage industry approach as well as outsourcing entities who offer the labour services. Neither options include the level of automation and technology we integrate within our service offering.
5. TARGET MARKET
It is made for…
…accounting partners who utilise the Xero platform as their primary software option and are looking to free up productive capacity to offer higher value advisory services. The partners then on sell the services (which are provided as a white label offering) to their clients to help the clients (i) reduce the administration of their businesses, (ii) improve the quality and timeliness of their data and (iii) create capacity and efficiencies within their practice. The target market is in the thousands as our primary target markets are accounting firms in Australia, United Kingdom and North America.
It is available for sale through…
…our accounting firm partners who on sell our services as part of their client services offering. Once an accounting firm becomes a partner they can log into our partner portal and prepare proposals as required.
Our marketing strategy is to…
…continue to target Xero partner accounting firms looking to scale or free up capacity to offer new advisory services. Since we are utilising the Xero platform we will then attend, exhibit and potentially speak at the Xero conferences in AU, UK and USA in Sept-Dec 2017 as well as ongoing social media and email newsletters.
FINE PRINT: This SMART 100 profile and the information it contains is a duplication of content submitted by the applicant during the entry process. As a function of entry, applicants were required to declare that all details are factually correct, do not infringe on another’s intellectual property and are not unlawful, threatening, defamatory, invasive of privacy, obscene, or otherwise objectionable. Some profiles have been edited for reasons of space and clarity.