‘Just Ask Xero’ for accounting AI

Global small business platform Xero has unveiled a GenAI-powered smart business companion for small businesses and their advisors. Just Ask Xero (JAX) will help them complete accounting-related tasks and provide deep insights to enable them to run their business better.

JAX gives users a natural, approachable way to interact with Xero’s products, right from within the apps and devices they already use every day. When available, Xero’s customers will be able to Just Ask Xero to complete tasks like generating an invoice, editing a quote, or paying a bill, either in Xero or other commonly used apps and surfaces such as mobile, WhatsApp, and email. JAX will not only complete the task, but it will also anticipate other tasks that may follow, such as sending an email to follow up on an overdue payment. It will also provide rapid, personalised insights on demand, such as cash flow projections, to give customers the confidence they need to make business decisions.

Xero has also rolled out an AI assistant to improve the customer onboarding experience. At its recent Xerocon Sydney conference, it demonstrated how the AI assistant provides new users with relevant answers and information as they set up their Xero dashboard and get started with the product.

Xero has also embedded a GenAI tool into Xero Central to provide answers customers need in conversational language. Early testing has seen a 40% decrease in average customer search time, with search sessions requiring additional customer service support decreasing by about 20%.

At its recent inaugural Investor Day, Xero unveiled its AI vision which the business says has the potential to reimagine accounting and improve the lives of small businesses. 

Xero outlined its approach to improve how small businesses and advisors can manage their accounting by integrating AI into business-facing tasks to automate them, help improve efficiency, and empower them with better insights to run their businesses. Xero is doing this by:

• Introducing conversational interfaces on the apps and surfaces (i.e. mobile, email, and WhatsApp) where Xero customers need support
• Automating and streamlining important but repetitive and time-consuming accounting tasks
• Delivering the right insights at the right time

Diya Jolly, Chief Product Officer at Xero, said: “Technology has changed the lives of small businesses dramatically — first with cloud accounting, then automation, and now through GenAI. We’re embracing this new wave of tech innovation responsibly, with our customers at the heart of what we do, as we deliver on our vision to be the most trusted and insightful small business platform.”