Richer reporting capabilities will soon be available to Xero users thanks to a forthcoming integration with Microsoft Power BI.
One of the important but still sometimes underestimated benefits of cloud software is the ability to connect various applications with minimal effort on the user's part.
Xero is one of the well-known cloud accounting systems in the Australian market, and Microsoft Power BI is a widely used tool for analysing and visualising data.
Starting next month, Xero users will be able to take advantage of Power BI via an off-the-shelf integration delivering data visualisations of 25 small business metrics including cash position, revenue vs. expenses, profit loss trend, debtor days and return on investment.
"We understand that the true value of data lies in the ability to extract insights and the story it paints around the health of their business," said Xero chief product officer Angus Norton.
"Microsoft Power BI can now be accessed with a click of the financial system of record in Xero and paired with data from other advanced inventory systems - to surface new insights, and give precious time back to our customers to focus on their customers."
The advantages of this approach include the way Xero is able to provide richer reporting and analytics capabilities without having to maintain the code that actually does the work, and advanced users can exploit Power BI to create custom reports and visualisations rather than being limited to the canned reports provided by their accounting software.
Xero already provides integration with Office 365.
