Zahara's Blog Archive

Why the Future Finance Office Needs Discipline Before Automation When I speak to CFOs about accounts payable automation the frustration is rarely about technology. The tools exist. The demo…

Running a finance team is tough. Costs rise. Deadlines tighten. Mistakes slip through. Zahara helps cut those pressures by reducing waste, avoiding errors, and giving you clarity over every pound yo…

Every business aims to reduce operating costs, improve productivity, and gain better visibility across financial processes. Yet these priorities often fall behind day-to-day tasks. When accounts paya…

Birthdays? Anniversaries? Office parties? We love surprises. Unexpected costs in your Accounts Payable? Not so much. Every finance team knows the frustration of a rogue invoice landing on their de…

By Martin Peirce, CEO, Zahara. Introduction I’ve always been a frustrated programmer. Capable enough to do a lot of techie bits, not capable enough to actually code. I’m in awe of my develo…

From streamlining accounts payable to enhancing fraud detection and enabling real-time decision making, AI is becoming a vital asset for forward-thinking finance teams. Moving far beyond automation A…

What is the key to successful employee adoption of new software? The key to successful employee adoption is software that is intuitive, user-friendly, and requires minimal training. Employees adop…

Artificial Intelligence (AI) isn’t just science fiction anymore. It’s running your inbox, optimising your shopping cart, and quietly reshaping your workday. From helpful virtual assistants to sma…

About the Author George, Zahara’s Lead Graphic Designer, has been exploring the intersection of creativity and technology since his university days. He graduated from Kingston University in…

We have had reports and read forum articles expressing concerns and annoyance with recent changes to Dext's pricing, especially in the bookkeeping community. Dext has an incredibly loyal fanbase but t…

Every company will have a slightly different invoice processing method, especially if they're automating and using different systems. However, there's one thing that every company must do, regardless …

It’s the logical decision making that men (this one in particular) often use to justify a purchase they are planning to make. The second biggest purchase most of us make after a property is of cours…

My wife and I have sat together each evening recently, progressively getting colder as Autumn approached. In my mind, the heating wasn't coming on until there was a frost on the sitting room carpet. W…

This advice is aimed at younger people. Perhaps graduates. Those looking to get their first step on the ladder into a career. I write this as someone who runs a business and interviews people regularl…

The 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) has been around for a few years now. It is characterised by the development and integration of artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and other technologies that me…

Theatres and Performing Arts provide vital conversations and entertainment, and are embedded in the culture of the United Kingdom. Unfortunately, there is no doubt in saying theatres took a huge hit w…

Improvements to make for a successful business You may have decided on some personal new year’s resolutions such as dusting off your gym membership or eating more kale, but have you thought about r…

We are almost two years into working from home or adopting a hybrid working model. Everyone is in and out of the office and it’s something we are all pretty used to. However, it can still be a strug…

Black Friday is coming up on Friday 26th November, the day after thanksgiving, and this year it poses a lot of questions. Year after year we see huge discounts on TVs, gadgets, appliances, clothing an…

The UK Zahara team gathered in the Apex Hotel and Conference Centre, Bath on Monday to discuss exciting developments coming up for Zahara. Founder, Martin Peirce, gave insight into our vision, goals, …

You may have heard the news that Facebook has changed its name to ‘Meta’, after CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, announced his plans to create a ‘Metaverse’. Building a whole new online world…

New Zahara Mobile App Update Now with expense submissions on the mobile, a new suppliers module and more.   Capture and submit expenses for approval Users can now build and submit expense claim…

Covid-19 restrictions were lifted on 19th July, and everyone is preparing for returning to work in person, phew! Zahara are back in our brand-new offices in Queen’s Square, Bath and have adopted a h…

We recently had a couple of users reporting Zahara being slow, after some investigation it turned out that their browser was the issue. A simple fix in this case, but it took time to work out what the…

Controlling Your Expenses   We all know how much events this year have changed our daily lives. One area we have really seen change is business expenses. This can perhaps be one of the firs…

2020 Is a year of change. Businesses have to adapt to a different working style, with many needing to be operated remotely. This is where the beauty of cloud-based systems really shines through. Not…

Is Your Business Ready For The Return Covid-19 has taught us at Zahara many things. First and foremost, we don’t need an office to work at 100% productivity - we learnt this very quickly. I was w…

Our business landscape is changing We are busier than ever with finance teams wanting to work from home more efficiently. We are showcasing our approvals portal and amazing invoice OCR, InvoiceExpr…

Working from home for the Zahara team hasn’t been a stretch so far. We are fortunate to use some great software apps that enable us to communicate, share and collaborate quickly and easily. The tea…

Time to go Paperless? With the recent outbreak of Coronavirus, the government has encouraged people to work from home in a bid to limit the spread of the virus. Working from home isn’t a new concep…

We all know that stress is bad for us, right? My diet app tells me it is, and I know I’m much happier when there is less to worry about, both in my personal and professional life. It seems though t…

So, you have decided you need software to improve your purchasing. But there’s a host of things to consider to ensure you select the right product for your organisation. This handy checklist should …

As part of British Airways, BA Holidays helps customers find and book perfect holidays in locations all round the world. The business has in excess of 250 employees based at Gatwick Airport, many of w…

By Guest Author: Heather Smith Budgeting certainly has its place in the business world, but not all businesses understand how to make a budget work for their needs. I spoke with some colleagues to le…

By Guest Author: Heather Smith Budgeting and cost control can be useful business tools when used properly, but if used arbitrarily, there are practitioners that believe you might be wasting your time…

Running a business is not easy. There's never enough time and often the senior team are more focussed on top line revenues than managing the costs.     For many businesses, setting and ma…

By Francois Badenhorst, Business Editor, AccountingWeb   According to a new guide from Zahara, there’s a big difference between ‘budgeting’ and ‘budget management’. While budgeting is…

Reviewing your actual performance against the budget is prudent business practice. As we’re half way through many company’s accounting period, its a good time to check you’re still on track to a…