Cyber Threats, Smart Reports and AI Sustainability Tools || Accounting Tech News

Welcome to the Digi-Tools in Accrual World Podcast, your essential update on UK Accounting Tech News and Fintech News!  This week, Ryan Pearcy and John Toon discuss the strategies shaking up the software world and the latest app updates you need to know about. First, Ryan speaks with Ben Carter, Product Director for the Small Business Division at Access. Ben shares the vision behind integrating products like Unleashed, MintSoft, and Tradify. He explains their mission to deliver "value in seven minutes" and how they're using AI to revolutionise data onboarding for new trial users.   Then, it's a packed App News segment: Sumday (Xero): An AI bot has been added to the carbon tracking platform to help analyse data and build sustainability business cases. AI-Native Payments: Ryan questions if AI-driven automatic payment runs are a genuine innovation or just a buzzword. Adfin Autopilot: The platform has launched an AI agent to intelligently and automatically chase customer debts. Karbon & Spotlight: A new integration allows firms to automate the scheduling and generation of Spotlight reports directly from Karbon tasks. Katana: The inventory tool for manufacturers has introduced a free plan, limited to 30 SKUs and 3 locations. WorkGuru: The project management tool adds project document templates and an OCR integration with Easy Bills. Employment Hero: The system now automates the complex calculation of leave entitlement for offboarding employees. Cyber Attacks: John covers startling research from FreeAgent showing 6 in 10 UK small businesses were hit by a cyber attack last year.Finally, Kevin Fitzgerald, MD of UK for Employment Hero, returns. He explains the strategic decision to pause and relaunch their bureau program , moving away from a "race to the bottom" on price to a new model focused on integrating HR and payroll services for accounting firms. This episode is sponsored by Unleashed and Employment Hero.  Learn how to harness EVO in Unleashed pre client meetings. Join our Partner Product Webinar on the 17th November at 9pm GTM - https://hubs.la/Q03Q2dcL0 Find out more about Unleashed - https://hubs.la/Q03Q2cWv0   TIMESTAMPS 00:00 Welcome to Digi-Tools in Accrual World 03:44 Unleashing Success: Inside the Small Business Division at Access 14:18 App News 14:22 Xero adds Sumday AI sustainability analysis 17:06 AI-native payments promise faster cashflow for firms 20:58 Adfin launches Autopilot automation 23:40 Karbon integrates with Spotlight for automated reporting 25:52 Katana introduces free plan for small manufacturers 27:52 WorkGuru adds templates and purchase orders 30:36 Employment Hero automates leave entitlement on offboarding 32:10 FreeAgent: Three in five small businesses hit by a cyber attack 38:00 Transforming Bureaus: Employment Hero's Approach to Payroll and HR Subscribe to our newsletter for more news, and reach out if you're interested in attending the Digital Disruption Awards next year!