Xero launches education hub 

Cloud accounting firm Xero has launched an online platform to encompass all of its educational content, Xero U. 

It aims to teach accountants, bookkeepers and other users about how to use the accounting platform through a customised learning environment.

The hub includes educational videos, webinars and events. Xero TV guides users through the education platform, showing ‘bite-sized’ content on how to perform various tasks in Xero.

Information includes demos, training on Xero and getting started and working with add-ons.

Global vice president of education and enablement Amy Vetter explained in a Xero blog how the hub works.

Vetter is a former senior KPMG accountant and opened her own firm in 2002, and sold in 2010.

“Since that time I have dedicated my career to helping practices like mine to create successful businesses.

“Education shouldn’t be about product – it should be about helping small business owners and their advisors become more proficient in their jobs. That vision is starting to come to life with the launch of Xero U,” she said.

This education-focused strategy is becoming an increasingly prominent part of accounting software marketing around the world. In the UK, Sage has been ploughing this ground for years via its Accountants’ Club (now renamed Sage Accountants Network), which doesn’t just give practitioners discounted software, but supports them with technical guidance, practice development seminars and other material.

Intuit does much the same on both sides of the Atlantic. “We’re very focused on education at the core. We want you to know how to use our product but we also want to help introduce you to the concept of moving to the cloud and becoming a trusted advisor,” Luis Sanchez, global director of the QuickBooks ProAdvisor program recently said.

Luis added that the North American ProAdvisor programme had a much bigger stock of educational materials than international markets. “We have great content from our experiences here, but we’re building tweaks on to that to bring relevant material across to other markets,” he said.

 

Source: accountingweb – Xero launches education hub

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