In this Q&A, Joiin’s Paul Shipway answers our questions and tells us about future plans, AI features and hitting 2million reports run on the platform.

Paul Shipway is the chief commercial officer at Joiin – the consolidated reporting app. Having grown businesses from start-up to exit and supported others in doing the same, Paul deeply understands the many challenges business owners and finance teams face.

He recognises the true value accurate and timely financial data plays in the success of any business, small or large, and is working with the team at Joiin to help deliver this to an ever-growing number of multi-entity businesses around the world.

XU: Firstly, can you tell us about you and your role at Joiin?

PS: I’m the chief commercial officer at Joiin. I came on board about three years ago, just after launch, as a non-exec director to advise the board on growth. I’m now full time to drive that growth, working alongside a talented team that includes our co-founders and the board, as well as product, customer success and marketing teams, plus an array of partners.‍

XU: Tell us a bit about Joiin, what kind of businesses benefit most from using the platform, and why?

PS: Joiin is a cloud-based financial reporting platform that helps businesses consolidate their financial data from multiple sources, such as Xero, QuickBooks, Sage, and spreadsheets.

It is utilised by a diverse array of businesses that rely on our platform on a regular basis – whether daily, weekly or monthly. These businesses range from accounting and advisory firms to multi-entity companies operating in industries such as franchises, property, ecommerce, healthcare, family offices, and beyond.

‍XU: How does your reporting platform stand out in such a busy accounting software market?

PS: The real differentiators for us are ease of use and time to value. Time to value is a measurement of how quickly a new customer will reach that first moment where an application delivers real worth for them. With Joiin, a first-time user takes on an average only 7 minutes before they have run their first set of consolidated financial reports; whereas for other software that can typically take hours, days or even weeks. We believe our time to value is unsurpassed.

XU: What contributes to this ‘time to value’ – is it being user-friendly, or the support you offer your users?

PS: The Joiin platform is so simple and intuitive in its design that 94% of our customers self service, meaning they require no support whatsoever. Because most of our customers do not need support, our customer success team is better enabled to respond quickly to those that do require assistance, with support tickets typically resolved within 90 mins.

We also have livechat available on our platform for anyone looking for an immediate response, plus on-demand demos and an array of YouTube support videos.‍

XU: How does Joiin’s integration with Xero and other accounting platforms benefit businesses, and what kind of impact does it have on their financial reporting and forecasting?

PS: Firstly, it’s important to highlight that our integrations with Xero, QuickBooks and Sage enable swift and secure set up of your group reporting on our platform. We know our users want ease of deployment and peace of mind, and they’re both ticked from the outset.

In terms of impact, we poll our customers regularly for insights and feedback – and they tell us that they save on average 8.3 hours per month, with some saving up to 3.5 days per month when automating their multi-entity and/or multi-currency group reporting with Joiin. This means our customers can deliver accurate and timely financial data more quickly and efficiently.‍

XU: Is there a feature that you’re particularly proud of that helps businesses in terms of financial reporting?

PS: We’re extremely proud of Joiin’s varied reporting. Many customers simply use our off-the-shelf reporting for its ease of use, but many also like our custom reporting for its flexibility when creating reports tailored to specific needs. With custom reporting, both the data and format can be chosen by you, enabling reports to be created in a format that may be familiar for your internal and external stakeholders.‍

XU: Can you give us an example of how Joiin has helped a business improve its financial reporting and forecasting?

PS: A good example is a large property management business, with over 100+ property locations, which was struggling to keep track of its financial data. The company used a variety of different accounting systems, making it difficult to consolidate data, generate accurate reports and get a clear picture of financial performance. By implementing Joiin – and replacing Excel and days of work – they could immediately see a consolidated view of all property and their financial status.

They now use Joiin to review their best performing properties and analyse by geographical areas. Essentially, Joiin gives them a single version of the truth, increases visibility of property performance and substantially reduces their team’s workload.‍

XU: How does Joiin ensure data security and privacy for its users?

PS: Our background in technology and experience in building apps means we have a very strong view on getting security right across the business, app and data from the get go. We continuously train the team on cyber security and access controls and constantly review their skills, including random tests to ensure the correct processes are being followed.

We’re Cyber Essentials certification registered and later this year will be accredited for SOC2 then ISO27001. For us, security is inline with trust. Our customers can trust us but we know that top-notch security is a key element in gaining that trust.‍

XU: How does Joiin stay up-to-date with the latest developments in financial reporting and forecasting?

PS: We live and breathe technology, finance and fintech advancements. We achieve this by being curious in nature – which means loads of research, attending conferences, and working with business and accounting leaders. We also focus on our customers, their feedback good or bad, as well as their suggestions and feature requests.‍

XU: How has Joiin evolved since its inception, and what are your plans for the future?

PS: We have evolved significantly. When we first launched, we had a simple MVP tool that allowed businesses to track their consolidated financial data through three simple reports. Now we have custom reporting, multi-client, sales and purchase reports, APIs, and a raft of key features that support multi-entity, multi-currency reporting globally.

In terms of plans for the future, we have a detailed roadmap that we collaborate on with our customers, plus we are developing and implementing AI into our platform. Like every business we see AI as a twofold experience – improving how we work internally and improving how customers work within the platform.‍

XU: Can you talk about any partnerships or collaborations that Joiin has formed recently?

PS: We are working closely with App Advisory Plus, Approvalmax, Mayday, NettTracker and Roveel, with further partnerships in the pipeline. We enjoy the collaborative aspects of working with other software vendors and see these partnerships as added value for our customers, as they are with companies whose applications complement the work we are already doing around multi-entity and multi-currency reporting.

We often run joint promotions and webinars, currently collaborating on a State of Month End industry-wide survey, which everyone is welcome to take part in here: https://form.typeform.com/to/dwNNOPpw‍

XU: What is Joiin’s approach to customer feedback, and how do you use it to improve your product?

PS: Customer feedback is essential to our product development process and we collect it in a variety of ways, including online surveys, email feedback and phone and video calls. We then make changes based on the feedback we receive and update our customers on a regular basis.

We are constantly amazed by the innovative ways our customers utilise our platform, often surpassing our initial expectations and creating unique use cases.‍

XU: What milestones has Joiin achieved that you are most proud of?

PS: In 2023, we’ve not only seen the number of companies that rely on Joiin for their reporting needs grow beyond 30,000 globally in over 100 countries, but this month we also celebrate hitting 2,000,000 consolidated financial reports run on our platform.‍

XU: What advice would you give to businesses looking to improve their financial reporting and forecasting processes?

PS: Firstly, when seeking to enhance your processes, establish clear goals and then identify the software that aligns best with what you’re aiming to achieve.

Once you’ve achieved this initial step, consider other important factors, such as data security, ease of use, sustainability (ensuring the longevity of the application and its support), and value for money.

You’ll then be best placed to make an informed decision and select software that not only meets your immediate needs but also aligns with long-term strategy.