Xero introduces an AI chatbot that chases unpaid invoices and charge clients a late fee

Cloud accounting giant Xero has unveiled a chatbot which can chase unpaid invoices and even charge clients a late fee, which it will introduce across its platforms later this year.

Xero chief executive Sukhinder Singh Cassidy.

Access to artificial intelligence tools is already moving beyond websites and purpose-built mobile applications and into the realm of social media and other messaging platforms.

Xero is one of the pioneers: its answer to the AI race is a chatbot that can chase unpaid invoices and even charge clients a late fee.

The New Zealand-founded, ASX-listed accounting giant unveiled JAX – “Just Ask Xero” – this week.

It plans to roll it out across its platforms later next year.

The tech giant had diverted from the typical path of restricting product use to a single place, a move chief executive Sukhinder Singh Cassidy said was “about meeting customers where they are”.

“JAX is sort of the agent that you’ll probably meet on every surface,” she told The Australian.

She means that JAX will have a home outside the Xero platform and within WhatsApp and email, where instructions can be sent with the chatbot to follow immediately after.

Ms Singh Cassidy hasn’t ruled out other platforms either, with the ability to text or even call JAX a possibility when it finally launches later this year.

“Using AI and Gen AI, you start to realise intuitively, that yes, you don’t want to always be logging into an app or logging into the Xero app when you have tasks to complete,” she said. The company had shifted its approach to one that could help small businesses perform accounting tasks “on the run and not necessarily inside of the Xero platform”.

“When you’re going back and forth with a customer, and it does often happen in Gmail, (you don’t want to have to log into an external platform),” Ms Singh Cassidy said.

JAX isn’t Xero’s first play in the AI space, but perhaps the one the company will become known for.

The new chatbot does not just do tasks it has been asked to do, but can also begin to anticipate them.

“JAX will not only complete the task, but it will also anticipate other tasks that may follow, such as sending an email to follow up on an overdue payment,’ the company said.

JAX would also be able to analyse the actions it had performed and the company financial data, a company spokesman said.

“It will also provide rapid, personalised insights on demand, such as cash flow projections, to give customers the confidence they need to make business decisions,” the spokesman said.

In 2024, the AI race is running hot, and Xero wants to not only keep up but have a place on the podium.

Ms Singh Cassidy said the company’s approach had shifted to “build what you think is useful get it out there as fast as you can’’.

Originally published as Xero introduces an AI chatbot that chases unpaid invoices and charge clients a late fee