New products and features break cover at Xerocon Sydney

Small business SaaS accounting platform Xero has unveiled new products and features at its Xerocon event in Sydney, with a focus on artificial intelligence.

They include enhanced AI-powered predictions in bank reconciliation and Xero Analytics Plus, 
upcoming generative AI pilots in Xero Central to help deliver a better customer experience and Plandayʼs award interpretation tool expanded for the hospitality sector in Australia.

A deeper payment integration with Stripe to bring more features into Xero and more seamlessly connected practice tools for accountants and bookkeepers is was also revealed.

“By creating simpler, smarter and more seamless platform experiences for our small business customers, Xero can help them tackle common pain points such as managing cash flow and payroll more efficiently, freeing them up to focus on other priorities," Diya Jolly, chief product officer said.

Xeroʼs bank reconciliation will apply machine learning to populate new contacts that arenʼt already in the business contact list.

Previously, Xero would predict a contact and account code for transactions only where the business already had a relevant contact, with the new feature helping save time while eliminating repetitive data entry.

Xero Analytics Plus short-term cash flow forecast now includes predictions for regular invoice and bill payments, giving small businesses a clearer picture of their potential future cash flow, and predictions of regular cash transactions, 

Businesses can choose to include predicted future invoice and bill payments, collectively or individually, within their cash flow forecast.

Two new generative AI experiments were also launched at Xeroon.

In Xero Central will provide customers with quick access to information from existing content. 

Xero is also experimenting with an AI assistant to help small businesses set up their organisations during the onboarding process.

The AI assistant will use Xero Central articles to provide relevant answers and information to key questions, and guide them on how to complete tasks.

Meanwhile the Planday award interpretation tool is expanded restaurants, cafés and more in Australia

Xero acquired Planday, an online workforce management platform which launched for Australian businesses earlier this year targets the hospitality industry, which employs nearly 950,000 people.

Together with Xero Payroll, Planday will give businesses a real-time view of most labour costs compared to projected revenue, with daily forecasts and analytics. .

Xero has partnerened with payments processor Stripe to develop a more powerful online payments experience for small businesses, enabling them to manage more of their payments directly in the SaaS accounting platform.

Stripe customers using Xero will be able to access this embedded experience later this year, which will initially include viewing payment transaction details and issuing refunds to customers.

Xero als unveiled a new single client record to provide advisors with a more connected practice tools experience, allowing them to work eamlessly across Xero Practice Manager, Xero HQ and Xero Tax, with no duplicates or double handling.