Xero announces gen AI solution as part of wider AI push

Business solutions provider Xero is developing a new generative AI solution, called Just Ask Xero or JAX, as part of the company's overall vision for how AI can transform small business in the future.

Demoed at the company's inaugural Investor Day, JAX is intended to be an "AI business companion" that can assist business owners with routine tasks like editing a quote to include new deliverables, managing bill payments, generating invoices and communicating with customers. This can be done in Xero or in other commonly used apps and surfaces such as mobile, WhatsApp and email. JAX will not only complete the task, but will also anticipate other tasks that may follow, such as sending an email to follow up on an overdue payment. It will also provide personalized insights on demand, such as cash flow projections. A JAX beta version will go live later this year. 

The company also announced AI-powered enhancements to existing products.  A new AI assistant in Xero can help with new customer onboarding by providing users with relevant answers and information as they set up their dashboard and get started in the product. In the future Xero plans to integrate the AI assistant into the JAX experience to further streamline the onboarding and troubleshooting experience.

Xero has also embedded a generative AI tool within Xero Central to provide answers customers need in conversational language. Since doing so, Xero has seen a 40% decrease in average customer search time, with search sessions requiring additional customer service support decreasing by about 20%.

These announcements are part of a larger push toward AI from the company. To help it achieve its AI vision the company also said it appointed two senior U.S. hires — Eitan Sharon as senior vice president of data and science, and Akankshu Dhawan as senior vice president of product for direct, growth and AI products.  Sharon has spent the past four years as director of applied science at Amazon, focused on developing strategies that disrupted the product development process. Dhawan most recently oversaw Uber's Earner, AI and Data products. 

"Technology has changed the lives of small businesses dramatically — first with cloud accounting, then automation, and now through GenAI," said said Diya Jolly, chief product officer at Xero. "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."