SEE:Xero successfully completes buyback of US$297 mil of the US$300 mil 2.375% notes due 2023
“With Xero, every day, they’ve got the most up to date financial information for their business,” he adds. “Our platform provides key data and insights to help business owners successfully plan for their business’ future while taking stock of its financial health each day.” While accounting and financial planning are often not part of SME owners’ core expertise, Xero is committed to providing every user, regardless of their background, a beautiful, intuitive experience and offers users extensive training for new features and solutions to ensure they get the most out of their subscriptions. This is part of the subscription that they pay for and available at no additional cost,” he says. From a security standpoint, Xero’s cloud accounting platform is ISO certified and subject to an annual cyber audit by KPMG, assures Fitzgerald. Moreover, the platform is hosted on AWS’s secure servers. “We go through a rigorous security protocol to make sure that SMEs’ information and data stay safe,” he says. Addressing SME pain points Xero founder Rod Drury, an entrepreneur from New Zealand, developed the cloud accounting platform to solve a problem that he as an SME owner faced. Drury was frustrated that there was no simple and seamless way to view the financial movements of his businesses to better ascertain their financial health. He had to gather the relevant financial data himself each time, before getting his accountant to crunch the numbers to obtain the information he needed. Drury also discovered that other SMEs were facing the same problem too. So, he seized the opportunity to make a business out of it.
SEE:Xero prices zero coupon US$700 mil convertible notes due 2025
Passion for SMEs Fitzgerald developed a passion for and deep understanding of SMEs over years of working closely with them. He has had a diverse career, spanning audit, recruitment and sales in four different countries across three continents. Fitzgerald started his career as an accountant at a small accounting firm in Dublin, serving many SMEs. After five years there, he moved on to KPMG in Channel Islands – part of the British crown dependencies. Subsequently, Fitzgerald returned to Dublin to join a US bank, servicing hedge fund clients, before moving to Melbourne to join Robert Walters as a recruitment consultant, specialising in accountancy roles. During his tenure at Robert Walers, Fitzgerald rose quickly through the corporate ranks before ultimately making the decision to move into the technology industry. While in Melbourne, he had also begun taking notice of Xero, particularly how they were serving SMEs. Two and a half years after joining Xero’s operations in Melbourne, he accepted a promotion to join the Xero Asia team in Singapore as regional sales director, Asia. Fitzgerald was subsequently promoted to managing director, Asia. “I don’t think I’ve ever made the decision to sell accounting software, but much of my career has been dedicated to helping and supporting SMEs. In fact, my first job was an accountant for SMEs when I was in Dublin. And I really, really enjoyed it,” he says. “When I saw what Xero was doing and the impact they were having on the SME community, it was something that really resonated with me. SMEs are the backbone of every economy and community in the world. Our commitment is to bring world class solutions to SMEs at a very affordable price and help them become the most resilient, competitive and successful version of themselves,” he adds.