SaaS Risks and Cloud Dependencies - A Guide on How to Backup Xero
In today's fast-paced business world, cloud accounting software like Xero has become indispensable. It's quick to setup and integrate, accessible anywhere, and secure. Xero offers amazing convenience and efficiency, revolutionising financial management for millions of businesses. Many of us implicitly trust that 'safe in the cloud' means our data is permanently and effortlessly available. But what if that assumption leaves a crucial gap in your business's data strategy?
Cloud Resilience: Safe, But Not Invincible
Cloud services such as Xero or Shopify are built on top of best-in-class cloud services like Amazon Web Services or Google Cloud Platform which are extremely resilient. There are many reasons to feel confident in the promise that data is "safe in the cloud". But it doesn't always guarantee uninterrupted access to your data under all circumstances. Think of it like keeping important deeds at home, even if your money's secure in the bank.
Understanding SaaS & Cloud Dependencies: What Could Go Wrong?
There is a hidden nuance behind cloud's promise. Situations can arise where your crucial data becomes inaccessible. These aren't necessarily failures of the cloud, but rather challenges businesses might face, impacting your ability to get access to your financial information. Many of these concerns might be rare, but should they arise, their impact could be very serious.
Account Lockouts & Platform Changes
Losing account access due to compromise, forgotten details, admin errors, or even a rare dispute can halt operations. Major platform changes, , merges? or service discontinuations could also affect how you access historical data. These are general SaaS risks worth considering.
Business Closures & Mergers: The Long View
What happens if you close your business, liquidate, retire, or merge firms? You're legally required to keep financial records for several years. Maintaining a dormant Xero subscription and access credentials solely for old attachments is an unnecessary, long-term concern. A local backup solves this.
Ransomware & User Error: The Human Element
Ransomware encrypts data, making it inaccessible. A backup stored away from the primary data offers a crucial recovery point if your systems are ever compromised. Also, common human errors, like accidental deletions or overwrites, can be quickly resolved with a robust backup, saving stress and time.
Why a Local Backup is Your Digital Insurance for Xero Data and Attachments
True Data Ownership and Control. A backup empowers you with genuine ownership and control over your complete financial data. The backup can be stored locally or in a separate cloud environment using different credentials. Your business' financial history, both the accounting records and supporting documents, is always available to you, independent of any single platform, fostering greater resilience.
Tax Authority Compliance & Audit Readiness
UK's HMRC, much like other tax authorities, requires businesses to keep clear financial records, including all supporting documents like invoices and receipts, for many years. While Xero makes exporting reports easy, securing tens of thousands of individual files alongside comprehensive accounting data for a complete archive can take weeks of manual effort. Numerint directly addresses this by providing a comprehensive, easily accessible local archive of your complete Xero data, both the accounting records and file attachments, which drastically simplifies audits, reducing stress and avoiding potential penalties for missing information.
Flexibility, Portability & Accessibility
With a separate backup, your complete financial data (including attachments) is no longer confined and dependent on Xero or Numerint. All the files are in their original format (e.g. PDF, JPG, XLS) with useful filenames to help you identify the contents of each file. The accounting data is provided in both raw JSON format and as a comprehensive, hyperlinked Excel workbook with multiple worksheets covering all your transactions, contacts, accounts, and more. This makes it simple, amongst tens of thousands of files, to find a specific supplier bill allocated to a specific account code for a specific amount. This means you can access your complete financial records and supporting files anywhere, anytime, on any device without any special software.
A Simple Strategy
Keeping copies of all your accounting files (bills, sales invoices, credit notes, purchase orders etc.) should be? extremely simple for anyone to manage. Not everyone has access to IT teams managing backup software or maintaining rescue credentials that might be needed many years in the future to access a SaaS platform.
Numerint: Your Simple Solution for Complete Xero Backups
Effortless and Comprehensive Export
Numerint makes securing your Xero data and files remarkably easy. Simply sign in with your existing Xero credentials and click to export all your accounting data and attached files, all packaged in a single ZIP file. Your backup includes comprehensive accounting records (transactions, contacts, accounts, and more) in both JSON and Excel formats, plus all your file attachments. There is no sign up, no long-term commitment, and no additional credentials to manage. It's perfect for both one-off archiving and regular backups.
Tailored Backups with Intelligent Filtering
Numerint offers intelligent filtering by date range or accounting type (e.g. you want invoices and credit notes but not quotes and bank transfers). All accounting data is included regardless of filters, while file attachment selection affects pricing. This ensures you only pay for the files you need, with transparent, personalised and automated quotes based on your attachment count.
Universal Accessibility & Futureproofing
All the files (e.g. PDF, JPG, XLS) are exported with useful filenames to help you identify the contents of each file, together with comprehensive accounting data in both JSON and Excel formats. The Excel workbook features multiple worksheets with hyperlinked navigation, making it easy to explore your complete financial data. This is all bundled into a ZIP file making it simple to store and move each backup. This means you can access your complete financial records and supporting files anywhere, anytime, on any device without any special software.
Supporting Larger Organisations
Scale comes in many forms. Some firms may have a single Xero subscription with hundreds of thousands of records and tens of thousands of attached files. In this case, Numerint may run continuously for several weeks to perform a complete backup.
Some firms or accounting practices might manage dozens of Xero subscriptions. Numerint allows operators to connect all their Xero subscriptions and run backups all at the same time.
One-off and Regular Backups
Numerint is not only for one-off comprehensive backups. It can be limited to particular date ranges for file attachments, while always providing complete accounting data, and can be used on an ongoing basis to capture changes and new periods. This allows customers to capture and store snapshots over time to ensure an updated local copy of their complete financial records is kept.
Conclusion: Take Control of Your Financial Future
Empowering Your Business
In a cloud-reliant world, smart businesses proactively manage their data. Securing Xero attachments with Numerint isn't about distrusting the cloud; it's about taking ownership of business continuity risks and empowering your business with ultimate data resilience and control.
The Numerint Advantage
Numerint offers a simple, cost-effective, and comprehensive way to gain peace of mind. It's your digital insurance, ensuring your complete financial dataset, both accounting records and supporting documents, is always accessible, compliant, and under your command, free from concerns about future changes or unforeseen events.
Visit Numerint.com today to get an instant, personalised quote and take the first step towards securing your business's financial future with a comprehensive, easily accessible backup.