Xerocon South 2016 is officially underway, the largest of its kind made up of more than 2000 New Zealand, Australian and Singapore Xero users.

Opening the first keynote of the day, Xerocon Australia managing director Trent Innes addressed an excited crowd, proclaiming that the industry is is the middle of a major transformation.

“There's an amazing buzz in this industry, you can feel it,” he says.

Innes says there are now over 500,000 Xero subscribers across the world, and he is excited to see businesses coming down from Asia to join in on the Xerocon South event, as the company looks to grow its cloud-based platform.

Innes says Xero and its partners are rewiring the global economy, by bringing together small businesses, banks, advisors, large enterprise and government.

“Cloud has completely changed the game,” he says.

According to Innes, over a five-year journey, only 51% of small businesses survive in this region.

By comparison, he says, 88% of small businesses on the Xero platform survive.

“There's a reason for that,” Innes says:

• 92% on Xero have an advisor.
• 99% have an active bank feed
• ​and 40% have a connection to an app

Anna Curzon, Xero New Zealand managing director, says she is amazed it's only been 10 years since Xero launched in New Zealand.

“We've been helping businesses thrive, through our beautiful software, and also through the connections we make through our customers and our Marketplace app,” she says.

“It's all about how we can connect you with more small business customers, how we can make your business even more efficient, to help you grow and help you thrive,” Curzon explains.

“We really want to take the opportunity to connect you with more small businesses than ever before," she says.

Innes says Xero has proven you can build a global tech company from this part of the world.

“We are helping to drive small businesses to be far more successful. We should be really proud of that,” he says.