Alive Docs is an innovative new online service that allows you to easily access your Xero contacts and send them mail merged, personalised documents such as a newsletter, invitation, promotion, order confirmation or reminder notice – all created in Microsoft Word. The documents are emailed as PDFs and you can bundle other attachments such as PDF brochures in the email too.

Just think of the time and angst this saves! Rather than manually exporting contacts out of Xero and into Word, running a mail merge and then the hassle of emailing customers one by one using with a customised letter, Alive Docs takes care of it all. 

 To see how it works, watch this short screencast:

Alive Docs is currently in beta and accepting new users now. You can find out more about this integration and how to try Alive Docs here.

I remember a few months ago hearing about Captain Xero, who muscled frame made quite an impression, and caused quite a buzz.

But even better we caught a real Buzz. Buzz Aldrin, a real life astronaut and super hero. (He’s the one on the right.)

Buzz is speaking again tomorrow and is well worth listening to if you get a chance to get along.

I did a session on small business productivity.  Nice to see @JulianTSmith up in front to learn about online accounting.

I heard one of the best marketing slogans ever today.  A senior and very nice guy at Microsoft said this to me.

We have a cloud in a box solution.  Our customers can take a slice of our cloud and install in their enterprise environment.

I couldn’t help but burst out laughing.  ”You mean on-premise software. I cannot believe you said that with a straight face.”

We’re always chuffed with some of the things Xero partners dream up to promote their relationship with us and the world of online accounting.

Last weekend Xero Bronze Partner Norm Coldicott staged a community triathlon in Nelson (South Island NZ) sponsored by his firm Your Accountants with the proceeds going to charity.

Xero branding was simply everywhere and a highlight was a guest appearance by former Xero relationship manager and Olympic triathlon champion Hamish Carter, who as you’d expect did win the event, but gracefully of course.

A total of 70 teams made up of mums, dads, kids, the fit and not-so-fit braved the course. That’s me doing the commentary ( far right).

Certainly a novel way to build an accountancy firm profile along with Xero. Wine and cheese evenings just seem so tame…

In August last year we partnered with CountGPS, an Australian based online provider of exclusive content and resources for accountants. Through this partnership CountGPS members are introduced to Xero.

With more than 1000 delegates in attendance, the Count conference is an ideal opportunity for financial planners, accountants and other financial services players to network, discuss current trends and developments in the financial services and accounting industries, and keep abreast of the ever changing landscape.

Xero CEO and co-founder Rod Drury will speak at the opening about where he sees technology moving in this space (particularly SaaS), and Xero co-founder and CA Hamish Edwards will take a workshop on Wednesday about how to move your practice to charging fixed fees.

The  conference includes lots of exhibitors showcasing new advancements, products, services and technologies. Xero will be there in all our glory and we’ll be running demos at scheduled times.

This is a significant change that will require most external bookkeepers to become registered. If you use a bookkeeper for BAS services and they don’t become registered there could be consequences for you. For instance you would not be covered by new legislation which provides safe harbour protection from penalties in the event your bookkeeper does not take reasonable care when lodging your return.

We suggest you find out if your bookkeeper is registered or if they are intending to do this. To help with the transition, those who have been providing BAS services up until 1 March have six months in which to register with the new national Tax Practitioners Board (TPB). Bookeepers can download the registration form from the TPB website.

Your bookkeeper will need to register as a BAS agent if they do any of the following for you: 

• Installing computer accounting software and determining default GST and other codes tailored to the client.
• Deciding on the GST coding of tax invoices and transferring data onto a computer program for clients.  (Simple data entry is not a BAS Agent Service).
• Reconciling BAS provision data entry to get the figures to be included on a client’s activity statement. (This does not include normal bookkeeping duties nor reconciliation processes.)
• Filling in the activity statement on behalf of an entity or instructing the entity which figures to include.
• Assessing the withholding obligations for the employees’ of the business. This includes the preparation of payment summaries.

There are a number of organisations that can help external bookkeepers comply with the new legislation. One of these is the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers (ICB). At Xero we suggest external bookeepers contact the ICB to find out how they might be affected.

If you’re a mobile based business, this integration will save you having to double-handle data. Using the simPRO Mobile digital pen you can hand write your orders, invoices and expenses in the field. The content is stored in the pen and then this is transmitted via bluetooth to your mobile phone and on to your office through the internet. Back at the office the data can be checked and sent on to Xero and voila – the invoices are automatically there for you to approve.

Here’s how it works:

You can find more information about this integration here.

Andreessen’s Advice To Old Media: “Burn The Boats”

It discussed the challenge for media companies redefining themselves for the web. This gem caught my eye …

The one thing technology companies do really well is deal with constant disruption. “Microsoft is going through this right now,” he points out, “Ballmer is not complaining about it.” He’s tackling it head on.

One of our challenges with Xero is creating process change for small businesses and accountants. We see the opportunity clearly. From our point of view it’s obvious the world is changing quickly but sometimes we forget that we are used to constant disruption that is not common in many other industries.

The best way we’ve thought of driving change has been through constant evangelizing and telling the stories of those who have changed and can talk to the benefits that they perceive. We are starting to see 100% Xero practices that have embraced the power of being connected to all of their customers – so it is working, but it’s also good to realize that in the tech industry we are used to dealing with significant change.

Marc Benioff from Sales force writes an essay on Sandhill.com: 2020: I See It Clearly – Through the Clouds

The article is packed with great quotes …

Thanks to cloud computing, sensitive information is no longer prisoner to a device, data is accessible from anywhere, and collaboration is enabled like never before.

Nikesh Arora shared a story to which we can all relate. He was late for a flight. Airport security was the usual tough slog: Pockets empty; shoes off; laptop out. With moments to spare, he boarded the plane—and then realized his bag was a little too light. His laptop was back at security.

The loss of a key executive’s laptop would be a considerable cause of concern for most companies. However, unlike most of the laptops that passed through Heathrow that day, there was not much on this computer—certainly no sensitive data. As soon as Mr. Arora got a new laptop, he connected to his Google Apps, and was back in business. Nothing was lost, nothing was comprised, and a whole new way of doing business was gained via the cloud.

“When the network becomes as fast as the processor, the computer hollows out and spreads across the network.” That is both an accurate description of what we are seeing today—and a dire prediction for the future of traditional software.

We are experiencing a phenomenal change in our industry with the rapid adoption of cloud computing. The last time we saw such a shift was in the 1990s when the PC revolution morphed into client-server and challenged the mainframe for dominance of the enterprise. That transition threw the balance of power from stalwart companies such as IBM and DEC to challengers …

Today, every major analyst firm sees cloud computing expanding its share of the overall IT market. Gartner Group predicts that cloud computing will continue to be the top strategic opportunity in technology this year, and it has forecast that cloud revenue could grow from $56 billion in 2009 to $150 billion in 2013.

Customers are voting for the Cloud with their dollars, euros, and yen because the software industry grew too greedy, too complex, and too out of touch with the customer. Outrageously expensive to buy, costly to maintain, and difficult to change, traditional client-server software has failed customers for too long.

Customers pay as they go; vendors recognize revenue as they deliver the service. This model aligns the vendor with the customer’s success. That’s a significant change over the way we viewed the relationship when I was in the enterprise software business, when it was all about making the sale. Today, cloud computing vendors know they have to build enduring customer relationships, not the one-night stands that define traditional enterprise software sales.

The new opportunity this affords us—the ability to work in real time—is a big change from the past. While market shifts happen in real time, deals are won and lost in real time, and data changes in real time, the software we’ve used to run our enterprises has been in anything but real time. New real-time cloud applications, platform, and infrastructure mean that when a market zigs, customers won’t have to wait weeks or months for their software to zag. It’s instant—and that’s a timeframe we’ve come to expect.

In 2020, the “office” need not be much more than an Internet connection. I can’t wait to see what entrepreneurs start in coffee shops, garages, and rented apartments. Right now, we are authoring our own odyssey towards economic recovery. If history serves as a soothsayer, this will be a time of robust business formation and innovation. I can’t predict what the next great billion-dollar business will be, but I can almost guarantee that it won’t be run on a rickety jukebox full of software hits from the 90s.

Also Steve Balmer has been talking Cloud today: Ballmer: Microsoft ‘Betting Our Company’ On The Cloud

About 70 percent of Microsoft employees are working on cloud-related projects right now; that figure will reach 90 percent within a year, he said.

We’ve spoken to lots of accounting partners and customers over the last many months. They don’t really care that that there is this concept called “The Cloud” but it is very cool to me that they are excited about how their software now works and that they see the benefits and opportunities of collaboration. Even further it’s great to see small businesses really thinking about how they market themselves in this new era of connectivity.

All the things that Marc is saying we are experiencing first hand at Xero. It’s a definitely a fun time to be in software.