Well-respected web and technology journalist Chris Keall joined the team at the National Businesss Review last month after leaving Fairfax Business Media publications as editorial director.

He caught up with Rod recently to discuss the upside of the global markets meltdown, and how these current market conditions are actually a boost for the concept of SaaS or cloud computing.

The key points were:

• The low monthly fee rather than upfront capital expenditure suits the current climate.
• Small business keeps on ticking, and with many displaced executives looking for new opportunities small business start-ups will increase.
• There will be a greater focus on cashflow, and to raise funding from any source business owners need more up-to-date access about finanical performance.
• SaaS is a megatrend that is starting to accelerate for example, cloud services are the big focus of Microsoft’s Professional Developer Conference later this month in Los Angeles.
• New emerging markets will skip installed software, and all the piracy issues that come with installing software, and go straight to web - in the way that emerging countries skipped fixed line communications and went straight to mobile.
• Well architectured SaaS models allow new markets and opportunities to be opened up at minimal incremental cost

You can read the article here.

We received exciting news today that Jakob Nielsen “the king of usability” released his list of the 10 Best Application UIs of 2008 and Xero is on the list. We love the priceless comments like:

“…[Xero] puts users at ease and projects a sense of playfulness.”

“Come on, making accounting fun? That’s an award-winning design.”

We found out about the announcement from one of our customers who wrote to us saying, “He’s 1000% accurate. We use it. We love it. Who’d seriously have thought that an accounting tool could be so gloriously smooth and even fun to use.”

Getting industry recognition is nice, but hearing it from people who use it everyday is what really matters to us.

NZMac.com just published a glowing review of Xero, but I wanted to pick up on some quotes that really resonated with me…

No-one likes doing the books, partly because it’s scary, but mainly because it’s, well, boring. Until now

The easier it is to keep on top of the accounts, the easier you’ll understand your business, and the better control you’ll have of the finances. So many small businesses go under because the owners just don’t know what’s going on at the bank, because they don’t crunch the numbers. Xero can’t work miracles, but if it makes it more enjoyable doing the books, then you’ll do them, and not put it off till next week.

Xero will make you want to use it.

When we founded Xero my main motivation for doing it was that I hated doing accounting, with a passion. Unfortunately there’s no getting around accounting, so I wanted to design a tool that would make it a pleasure, rather than a pain. Business is fun! Money is fun! Accounting…ugh.

So I cannot tell you how cool it is to see people finding joy in using Xero to do their accounting. This review is just another person echoing what other people say all the time.

Here’s another recent review from a property management perspective that gives Xero really good marks as an accounting system, although we lose points for not being a property management tool, “it’s slick and easy to use, but it’s an accounting package, not a full property management package”. Fair enough. For many property investors, Xero may be all they need to manager their properties. But it’s definitely not a property management system. Therein lies the opportunity. With the Xero Network, we’re working on integrating with property management systems so that we can provide a solution that will do everything a property manager needs.

Seeing people understand and appreciate what we’re doing with Xero is extremely gratifying.

Here’s our latest news story from the UK:

Influential accounting site AccountingWEB.co.uk, has given online accounting software product Xero a glowing independent review.

Xero founder and UK MD Hamish Edwards says the report is further evidence that Xero has a bright future in the UK small business market.

The review finds that Xero offers great performance and stacks up well against competitors, with the reviewer Nigel Harris concluding: “I have to say I like Xero. Not that it does much more than many other SaaS accounting packages, but it just does it very stylishly and with a minimum of effort.”

“There is a lot in there to be pleased about, especially the finding that Xero does a great job while still being a pleasure to use. That’s something we particularly strive for because we know it’s so important to our customers,” Says Edwards.

Launched in June 1997, AccountingWEB.co.uk is the premier online information source and community for over 90,000 accountants in business and practice. Read the full review here.

The Small Business Expo rolls into our hometown of Wellington this week, on its final stop of 2008. Xero will be exhibiting at the Expo, which is being held at the TSB Arena from Wednesday 25 June through to Friday 27 June. We’re delighted to offer free e-tickets to the Expo. Just register for the Expo and download your free ticket.

We’re giving away an Apple iPod Touch and a bottle of Moët & Chandon Champagne, so make sure to stop by booth 136 for details. A few of our developers are planning on making an appearance with their iPhones so you can get a chance to see the iPhone version of Xero in-person. Xero CEO Rod Drury will be talking business at the Expo as part of the National Bank Seminar Series. This is open to anyone at the Expo. You can catch him at 3:30pm on Thursday 26 June. Hope to see you there.

It’s rewarding when we get coverage on leading UK websites such as AccountingWeb:

Online Recruitment Company ‘Hires’ Xero to Handle its Accounts Online.

The AccountingWeb article covers how an online recruitment company now does all its accounting online. AccountingWeb has a community of more than 90,000 accountants – in business and practice – who are considered the first port of call for expert advice from their accountant database.

An article published in The Dominion Post yesterday outlines the Xero Network.

The Xero Network is an “ecosystem” concept where we expect Xero to work in with other online providers, creating an integrated community that makes running a small business easier for business owners.

Partners that are already on board with Xero are: payroll solutions provider IPayroll; workflow and job-costing software WorkflowMax; real estate software suppliers My Desktop and Real NZ; and a provider of mobile sales force tools, ITLink.

The need for Xero to be constantly innovative and improved, is summed up by the following quote from Xero CEO, Rod Drury, “As the first publicly-funded software-as-a-service [SaaS] player, we felt we needed to take a leading position on this.”

Rod explains more about the Xero Network here.

The New Zealand Herald today ran an article featuring Xero, highlighting the benefits of Xero’s SaaS accounting system.

Technology journalist Simon Hendery wrote the article with his small business owner hat on – he’s been a Xero customer for his freelance journalism business since September 2007. His points validate all the things we’ve been telling our customers and potential customers about Xero: it will save you time, eliminate the pain of bookkeeping and improve your business’ productivity.

Simon says:

“With the new financial year beginning next month, now is a common time for businesses to review their accounting software.”

We think NOW is the perfect time to review your current accounting system and compare it to Xero. Promise yourself that the next end of financial year period you’ll do things the easy way using Xero.

Each day this week the NZ Herald has published a column written by Xero CEO Rod Drury. The idea was for Rod to share some insights on best practices when starting up a business.

The columns outlined the necessary steps to consider when you have a great idea, but don’t know if it’s a business – how to pitch your business proposal, making shareholding decisions, whether to look for angel investors, how to export, and even how to sell your business. Read all six articles here.

Technology marketing and strategy shop Concentrate is running a series of entrepreneur interviews called ‘Tall Poppies’ for their community. They recently interviewed Rod Drury for this article which was published in their November newsletter.

Rod points out how important marketing has been to each of his technology start-up companies – and that this trend is set to continue with his aim of making Xero a long-term strategic player in the accounting software market. Other participants in the series include Andy Lark, Sir Gil Simpson and John Blackham.