Not your usual Xerocon wrap up 

I had planned to write all about the Xerocon amazing announcements and innovations including the journey automation, artificial intelligence and robotics is going to take us on…..but….

Then I went to the movies.

So disclaimer here …if you haven't seen the movie ‘Sully’ and plan to - maybe save reading this blog until afterwards as there are a few spoilers in here.

Sitting in the dark waiting for the movie to start, mind mapping all the changes and enhancements I am going to bring to my business and my clients from Xerocon, I started to see before me the story of Captain Chesley Sullenberger, his First Officer Jeffery Skiles and courageous crew.

You no doubt remember the pilot and the plane that landed in the Hudson River in a emergency crash landing (now there are 3 words no one likes to hear together) - 155 passengers on board - all souls survived - minor injuries but alive

The Captain “Sully” hailed in the media as a hero…. or so I thought.

The movie depicts the back story - the human doubt - the questionability of whether the decision made to land in the river was correct. Sure the result was joyous but was it correct.

BAS Agents, Bookkeepers and Accountants can be like pilots.

We have detailed checklists - physical and mental . We have procedures . We know that 1 plus 1 will equal 2. Just as pilots go to work with the lives of their passengers and crew in their hands - we go to work with our clients businesses in our hands.

That was Sully’s first response after the rescue from the icy Hudson began - he wanted to know ‘his numbers’ Bless him a man after my own heart!

The numbers he wanted was how many passengers were accounted for.

Almost to obsession - hey, he and I could be buddies !

The story doesn't end there - you see Xerocon brought to us in the Accounting industry news about Facebook Chat bots and machines that will take away data entry errors for good - more than just predicting - actually correcting - seeking changes to data, like heat seeking missiles.

SO as I am thinking about my future and that of my team and my clients and the affect this will have on their businesses, I’m watching a movie that depicts the investigation into the plane crash - analysing the pilot for his actions.

Now here is where the story had me open mouthed in a cinema where you could hear a pin drop.

The Computer simulators conduct alternate landings in same conditions and parameters as the Hudson ‘landing’ with 2 alternate courses of action. Both land successfully and safely.

Sully has maintained he would not make the airport landing and that was why - putting the lives of his ‘team’ first - he chose the course he did.

Minor problem - the data and the computers said different.

Do we trust the human advisor advice or the robots ?

Sully is able to point out 2 key components that the humans did not account for when simulating with the computers….Human reaction and human need to practice.

SPOILER ALERT - look away now if you don’t want to know the key point to the movie - Sully states that it took 35 seconds after the initial bird strike that caused the dual engine failure - in which time he processed the situation, assessed the risks and decided on a course of action.

He did have a fantastic mental checklist to boot.

The humans conducting the testing had failed to input this into the computers doing the testing. The robots didn't stand a chance to simulate the situation - both repeat tests failed miserably with plane crash in both instances.

Sully questioned how many times the simulators had practiced the turns required to land safely. He knew he had only 1 chance and 35 seconds to decide on a course of action. It turns out the tests had 15 practice runs!

Sully was indeed not just doing his job - he was a leader, a decision maker and a hero.

It did not go unnoticed by me that I was watching this on Sept 11!! Footage of planes flying low in New York made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

The quote that resonates with me is Sully (Tom Hanks) when he says

“to find the human error, you have to be human”

You need to factor in the 35 seconds it took to decide.

Of course what would have even been better is if the machines had been able to land the plane themselves - but then of course we wouldn’t have much of a story would we?

My key take way was that yes the automation is still coming - the robots and artificial intelligence will dominate the data - but as Rod Drury said in his keynote speech at Xerocon ….

“Automation and machine learning are improving traditional services by streamlining compliance processes and creating new business opportunities, many of which are either no-touch or limited-touch.”

The future is exciting and Xero see this future and embrace it head on so that we can act like Sully - we can lead our teams and clients, protect them from harm so they arrive safely in the land of business success and the machines are going to help the humans to do it.

Author : Katrina Spinazzola

Dedicated to the brave men and women whose lives were taken in New York 9/11

And to Captain Chesley Sullenberger and his crew.

Oh and of course Rod Drury - Xero guru.