We’ve helped hundreds of businesses move to and thrive on Xero, it makes life so much easier having day to day business performance data in the cloud. That’s just the first step, the next step gets even more interesting: let’s feed in data from other areas of the business so we can rocket productivity.
Leanne Owen wrote an article for WalesOnline with her top 5 nifty and affordable pieces of cloud software that love Xero. Here’s Leanne’s top 5:
DataMolino
This book-keeping automation system captures the data on receipts, invoices and bills and processes the information before sending it directly into your accounting system. It then waits patiently for you to simply correlate it with an incoming or outgoing bank transaction; all at the click of a button.
The app function allows you to photograph any paper documents on your phone, whilst there is an email address you can simply forward invoices and bills to if they are in PDF format.
For a small monthly fee, it works away in the background whilst you get on with the important stuff. It makes lost receipts an issue of the past. Stunningly simple.
iZettle
You may have spotted this at your local market or coffee shop. Perfect for small businesses that historically deal with cash, the iZettle is a point of sale (POS) device that makes paying by card a breeze for both customer and the business.
The transactions feed automatically into the accounting system, allowing the business to print, text or email receipts; capturing and building a database of loyal customers in the process.
There are options of monthly fee or transaction percentages available to businesses. This is perfect for consumer facing businesses that attract a heavy and demanding footfall.
Quotient
This application allows you to send quotations and proposals to prospective customers in a professional manner. With the quotation being hosted online, customers can accept quotes with a simple click whilst giving both parties a binding agreement that is accessible for referencing should it be required.
It gives the business the ability to track all of its quotations and even set reminders for when to chase up.
A perfect fit for a range of businesses from professional services to tradespeople, Quotient allows quotes to be sent direct from the app before being fed into the accounting system when it comes to sending in the bill. This transparent process reduces chances of miscommunication and querying of works.
Deputy
This workforce management tool is perfect for multi-sited businesses and teams on the go. From simple functions like creating rotas and staff schedules, to building timesheets which feed into the accounting package to create payslips based on working hours.
The timesheets allows you to accurately record staff who are paid by the hour; a perfect fit for the hospitality industry.
With a simple pricing structure based on a small monthly fee per team member, this is an ideal fit for those businesses with staff spread across a number of different sites, struggling to monitor its output and performance of staff.
GoCardless
Perhaps the best known item of software on this list, GoCardless allows businesses to set up direct debits and keep an eye on recurring revenue streams with ease. The beauty of this software is that it is all trackable via email, so if a customer cancels a scheduled payment, you’ll know about it pretty quickly. Also, customers get payment reminders letting them know when money will be taken from their account; reducing the risk of those awkward surprises.
For most businesses, it charges 1 per cent of the transaction value capped at £2, meaning those businesses struggling to get paid on time could ensure all clients are paying their invoices swiftly and for an affordable fee.
A perfect tonic for those businesses with cashflow headaches, GoCardless integrates into packages such as Xero; automatically reconciling invoices with payments making it hard to argue the value of such a nifty bit of kit.
Get in touch with Leanne to find out how ‘the cloud’ can help you and your business.