Xero Bolsters Expense Tool With Machine Learning

Global small business platform Xero will further its integration with Hubdoc through a boost in machine learning capabilities, according to a report from London Loves Business.

Through a new update aiding businesses in processing bills faster, Xero Expenses will help small businesses access automation technology, through embedded machine learning used to help hasten the process of transcribing and submitting receipts, shortening that from minutes to seconds.

The report says that the updates, set to launch later this month, will also come with new ways to extract the most relevant information, letting employees submit expenses into the app and check for accuracy. Because Xero Expenses connects directly with the small business platform, it becomes easier to reconcile expenses against the accounting ledger, the report says.

In addition, Xero will be launching a duplicate detection feature, which the report says will help Hubdoc automatically identify and highlight accounts payable documents with the same supplier, date and amount, with notifications for users about said duplicates before the documents are submitted. All of the aforementioned improvements, according to the report, will help reduce time spent on manual processes and speed up the flow of businesses, according to chief product officer Anna Curzon.

“Every minute saved on collecting, transcribing or reconciling documents is valuable time small businesses and their advisors can spend on actually running or growing their business,” she said, according to the report. “We’re always looking for ways to help give our small business customers time back in their day, and are excited about leveraging this advanced technology to improve the accuracy of this data in Xero. As the integrity of this type of data grows, we can provide more powerful business insights and analytics for our customers.”

Xero also recently partnered with Coveo on a new search function, which will allow businesses to type in search terms and receive a personalized, tailored list of results to help them achieve various goals.