Enterprise software is expensive! Think SAP for Fortune 500 companies. Think NetSuite for mid-tier companies doing $100 million plus in sales.
At ControllershipPLUS what we have cobbled together is a stunning suite of software that links, communicates, and integrates flawlessly, efficiently, and seamlessly. Without a glitch.
Today I am going to summarize the benefits of this suite of software tools, how they integrate, and exactly what they do for you.
At the heart of it all is our favorite accounting software….
Xero, “To Do Beautiful Business”
Xero is a beautiful piece of software – built with the end user in mind. It is simple, elegant, and intuitive.
What does Xero do?
I am glad you asked!
By the way, Xero, is not an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software.
What it does, beautifully, is manage your bank accounts, accounts payable, accounts receivable, and customizable reports.
You can also do Purchase Orders, basic projects tracking, simple inventory management, divisional tracking, tax reports, and short-term cash-flow management.
Now here is where it gets interesting – as we add other specialized software programs into the mix, then Xero transforms into an ERP for small to mid-sized businesses.
The first essential partner program to Xero is….
HubDoc, Your Document and Data Capture System
All of your supplier bills and even bank statements can be uploaded to HubDoc in one of three ways:
- Snap a pic on your phone and upload using the app on your phone.
- Upload directly from your desktop computer.
HubDoc gets to work extracting the details on the document – date, taxes, amount, supplier name.
Using artificial intelligence (AI) it then codes the transaction in the same way you did last time.
Now, one of our highly trained cloud-based accounting specialists will review each transaction to ensure that the AI coded it correctly. If not, they recode inside HubDoc.
The transaction, along with the source document is seamlessly posted to Xero, attaching the original source document to the transaction inside Xero.
This is where the handoff to the next add-on happens…
ApprovalMax, Robust Financial Controls Made Easy
All the transactions from HubDoc, posted to Xero go into a “holding tank” called “awaiting approval.”
ApprovalMax steps in and automatically pulls all these unapproved transactions and routes them to the internal approvers before they are ready to pay.
The setup matrixes inside ApprovalMax can be as simple or as complex as you need them to be.
The supplier bills get sent to users like Department Heads, frontline approvers, managers, accountants, and ultimately owners (if desired).
An audit report after the transaction has been approved gets attached to the transaction along with the source document from HubDoc.
These transactions now move to the next “holding tank” called “ready for payment” …and now the next heavy-duty add-on software kicks into gear…
Plooto, Your Business Payments Streamlined and Simplified
Plooto pulls all those bills ready for payment along with the source documents and audit report.
It then routes those bills for payment to the proper approvers and e-signers.
Your suppliers get paid automatically by deposit into their bank account.
The payment is then synced back to Xero to record against the outstanding bill.
All this happens without human intervention, aside from the approval itself.
Now, Back to Xero
Now that all your transactions are entered through HubDoc, approved through ApprovalMax, paid by Plooto, it is time to reconcile the bank.
(By the way, all your customer invoices, sent out through Xero by email, can be paid by your clients/customers using Plooto).
Reconciling the bank is easy with bank feeds inside Xero.
Xero will match transactions it pulls from the bank automatically through its feeds and all you have to do is review and click “okay.”
Now, you re ready to ensure everything is accurate and create reports. Custom reports can be setup once and used over and over again.
From Xero and our core add-on programs we re now ready to hop over to….
Fathom, All in One Reporting, Analysis and Forecasting
Fathom is our powerful high-end reporting add-on.
The end results from Xero are synced over regularly to Fathom.
From there, Key Performance Indicators, Cash-Flow Statements, Complex Forecasts, and incredibly beautiful month end reports are created.
The Fathom reports are what we review with our clients monthly and provide coaching from the numbers…
A Quick Summary
Each software described above talk seamlessly with each other.
Each has its own unique role to play. Because they are highly specialized, these software programs do things that all-in-one software can never compete with.
It is the difference between building a house with a jack-of-all-trades versus using a skilled plumber, a skilled electrician and so on.
Together these powerful add-ons transform Xero into a mini-ERP!
In Conclusion
In addition to the core programs above, the marketplace for Xero add-ons offers solutions to a myriad of challenges…
For example:
- If you need to collect your aged receivables better – use an add-on called Chaser.
- If you need robust inventory management – consider Unleashed.
- For real estate companies – take a look at Loft47.
- Do you sell goods online using Shopify? – these can be linked to Xero.
There are hundreds of add-ons in the Xero marketplace.
Finally, many front-end operational software that are highly industry specific will often sync their transactions directly into Xero.
Thank you for reading…