XeroCon 2015 Highlights

Xero Add-Ons that dramatically enhance Medical Practice efficiency

I had the pleasure of joining many old and new friends in the Xero community at last week’s XeroCon Melbourne – and at these events, I am always on the lookout for the latest technology to automate away the pain points out of medical practice management.

When demonstrating the joys of cloud accounting to clients, I find that it is often the add-ons that make the most impact. Cloud accounting software is often seen as the domain of bookkeepers and accountants (not that it should always be so!), whereas medical practice managers and owners immediately see the value in the add-ons – those innovative tools that replace the outdated paper-based workflows in the business.

My clients will be very familiar with Deputy for the automation of staff rostering and timesheeting – and having engaged with the Deputy team for over two years, I know how hard they have worked for their success. For me, a highlight of the conference was seeing their success recognised when Xero named Deputy as the add-on of the year at the conference awards.

Receipt-Bank has dramatically improved its accounts payable offering over the last year, incorporating line-item extraction from supplier invoicing, for automated creation of Xero purchase bills. The recent upgrades to their user interface have also been a hit with clients. Another key feature of Receipt Bank is that it attaches the original invoice file (PDF) to the Xero bill.

This latter feature enables what I thought to be the most exciting new tech to come out of this year’s XeroCon – well, at least for Medical Practices. “Best in Show” was Expense Check – a free service, just launched as a Xero Add-on, that ‘reads’ you supplier invoice files, finds you a better price in the market, and switches you.

Yes, you heard right – Expense Check will:

• Scour your selected Xero expense accounts for recent invoices from suppliers (sourced via Receipt Bank), on a regular basis;
• Strip out key information to determine your current pricing;
• Find you better offers in the marketplace and offer them to you;
• If you choose to proceed, Expense Check will effect the switch to the new supplier on your behalf.

And, it costs nothing to join or subscribe – Expense Check makes its money via an inclusive share of the price to the new supplier. Check it out! I signed up immediately, and look forward to demonstrating it to clients in coming months.

Surgical Partners, and our various industry partners, are planning to bring cloud-based financial management to life at our Superstand atwww.practicemanagers2015.com – If you will be in Hobart in October, I look forward to seeing you there and sharing all the latest in practice management tech.

Yours in hassle-free, paperless practice management,

Marcus