Xero & SaaS in Asia with Alex Campbell

Xero & SaaS in Asia with Alex Campbell
Alex Campbell, managing director from Xero, joined us to discuss the footprint of Xero across Asia and his perspectives on the software as a service companies (SaaS) in Asia.

Alex Campbell, managing director of Xero, joined us in a conversation to discuss the web based accounting software service company in Asia and the state of software as a service (SaaS) in Asia. We discussed the origin of Xero and its current footprint across Asia, the products and services behind the company and how the company is scaling across different geographies. Last and not least, Alex shared his thoughts on the SaaS industry in Asia.

Here are the interesting show notes and links to the discussion (with time-stamps included):

  • Alex Campbell (@alexjcampbell, LinkedIn) Managing Director, Xero in Asia [0:38]
    • How did you start your career? [1:24]
    • In your career journey, what are the interesting lessons learnt? [4:26]
  • Xero in Asia Pacific and SaaS in Asia [5:27]
    • Can you briefly introduce Xero as a company to my audience and discuss its vision and mission? [5:34]
    • What is your current role and coverage in Xero? [8:55]
    • Xero is an accounting as a a service solution, can you elaborate more on what the product does and even tell us more about the services that have evolved? [9:38]
    • How have you managed to get customers to shift to online? What’s the onboarding process like? [11:13]
    • What’s the current footprint of Xero in Asia Pacific? [12:46]
    • Does Xero need to localise its product within Asia? [13:51]
    • As Xero is focused on small and medium businesses, what are their main challenges in Asia as you have observed with customers? [14:31]
    • Can you offer your thoughts in software as a service (SaaS) in Asia? Are small and medium businesses responding more to them? [15:15]
    • Can you talk about the importance of strategic partnerships for example, the recent one did with DBS Bank in Singapore? [17:52]
    • Where do you see the SaaS business evolve in the next 1-2 years? [20:26]
  • Closing [21:47]
    • Can you recommend a book, podcast, movie or something that has recently impact your work or personal life? [21:56]
    • How can my audience find you? [22:24]

Podcast Information:

The show is hosted by Bernard Leong (@bernardleong & weibo) and are sponsored by Ideal Workspace (Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn) with their new Altizen Desk on Indiegogo (Twitter, Facebook, Medium). Also check out Ideal Workspace’s new standing desk, Altizen and sign up for their mailing list. Sound credits for the intro music: Taro Iwashiro, “The Beginning” from Red Cliff Soundtrack.

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