20 Nov Xero Partner Day
I managed to escape from the office…
It’s not often that I get chance to write a blog or get out of the office, but today I was invited out to a Xero Partner day by our amazing Xero account manager at their HQ in Milton Keynes. Although I’ve attended Xerocon before, which is Xero’s annual event for partners, I’d never been over to their head office and especially not for a small get together with a small number of other selected partners.
Xero Platinum Partners
As a bit of background for people who don’t know, we’ve been with Xero since 2013 and are platinum partners. Over the years, we’ve made big investments in the time and expertise of our team and are now in the top 2% of Xero’s partners. It’s a big achievement for us as I consider us a small firm that not many businesses (apart from in our local area or niches know of).
The day started off with some introductions and then a game where we got to know some of the other Xero partners at the day. I’m not really big into networking so it was a bit daunting but Xero actually made it very fun and at the end of it I felt part of the group and was smiling. It’s interesting to hear others perspective on how they’re firms are going and being able to suggest small ways they can make improvements and receiving the same guidance from others.
Catching up with old colleagues
It was nice to also bump into an old colleague who I’ve not seen for many years and hear how well they’re getting on. We had previously worked at a company together about ten years ago and apart from seeing each others post on social media, had not spoken properly since working together. It does make a nice change to discuss things with others.
Discussing Progression
I had an interesting discussion with one guy, talking about how the industry has changed so much, from spreadsheets and then moving to Sage and now our practice being almost 100% Xero. Xero has helped our business and clients move with the times and apart from being a great bookkeeping/accounts software package, the team (especially our account manager) are a great support. I feel in our day to day work, many of our clients use bank feeds, Dext for receipt & invoice capture but speaking to others, it’s clear there are many businesses who still keep manual records.
Back to the Xero day, it was really inspiring to hear one lady’s account of how she setup a local community in the depth of covid, arranging the local community to collect prescriptions for vulnerable people, knocking on neighbours (some 250 volunteers & streets in their neighbourhood) doors every 2 days to check they’re ok, collecting shopping and even sorting out payments using receipt capturing software and Xero.
The Harrisons Brand
I left after a talk about PR which again gives a different outlook on how things are going in our business and what we can do differently. I don’t often think of myself as a brand, more that I’m a member of the team in Harrisons Accountancy. Do others see themselves as a brand? I think it’s a very interesting concept.
It was nice to get out of the office and I’m grateful for the time out as it’s given me time to reflect on work, how well things are going and what else we can do as individuals and businesses to help others. Maybe we should all take a bit of time and consider what’s going well for us, what we can improve on and what we can do to make others happier too.
Finally, thanks to Xero for my new hat!
Author: Dan Harrison.
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