Jacqueline Hasler, COO at XY Sense, has experienced the full range of financial systems: from PwCâs audit floors to the high-growth energy of tech start-ups.
Sheâs waited hours for Hyperion to refresh a single consolidation, sheâs endured a multi-year ERP rollout, and today, sheâs running 6 global entities on Xero + apps, faster, cheaper and with more control than any ERP.
Her story captures the growing shift across modern businesses towards connected stacks that give ownership back to the finance team.
Jacqueline learned that scaling doesnât have to mean surrendering to an ERP.
From audit rooms to enterprise finance
Jacqueline began her career at PwC, where she audited everything from global media giants to biotech start-ups and NGOs.
âMy large enterprise clients had every type of ERP imaginable; some worked, some were impossible to read. My small not-for-profits? They ran beautifully on Xero.â
This was an early lesson that stayed with her: it would be great if bigger companies could also use Xero and benefit from the flexibility.
The ERP dream⌠and reality
After PwC, Jacqueline moved in-house to a large property portal, part-owned by a US-based multi-national company.
The system in place, Hyperion, was showing its age.
âWeâd go to lunch and wait two or three hours for numbers to update. It was clunky and slow.â
A promise of salvation came in the form of a multi-year ERP implementation, billed as the âsilver bullet.â
But the reality was far from it.
Entire teams were seconded full-time to implementation, consultants were embedded for 18 months post go-live, and costs ballooned far beyond the original scope.
âWe thought it would make life easier. Instead, it made us dependent.â
Even after launch, cracks showed quickly.
There were no native consolidation tools and no proper FX translation reserves. Spreadsheets and external tools were still required just to get a usable picture.
âIt was easier for us to do it in Excel. I remember thinking: this was meant to save time.â
The start-up shift
After years in enterprise finance, Jacqueline joined a series of fast-scaling start-ups: Nura (hardware), Tribe (social tech), and now XY Sense, a global B2B hardware-as-a-service business.
âAfter the enterprise years, I landed in start-ups running Xero, and it was a revelation. I was completely taken aback by how easy and intuitive it was. I could extract information, marry it up, and visualise results; no waiting, no consultants.â
Still, the familiar pressure soon resurfaced:
âPeople started saying, âWeâre a SaaS business now, we need NetSuite.â I pushed back. We werenât ready. We were still growing. Why spend hundreds of thousands when Xero gave us what we needed?â
From overhead to ownership
Over the last five years, Jacqueline has watched the Xero app ecosystem evolve from niche to enterprise-grade.
âThe advancement of the apps has been incredible: Airwallex, Cin7, Mayday. Whatever Xero doesnât do, thereâs now an app that does.â
And the difference in cost and agility compared to traditional ERPs? Night and day.
âItâs far more cost-effective, far more intuitive, and far less capital-intensive. My bookkeeper can jump in and fix intercompany transactions without needing any consultants.â
Xero + apps
Today, at XY Sense, Jacqueline manages 6 global entities with Xero + apps.
âEveryone says once you go international, you need NetSuite. I donât buy that. I can plug in Fathom or Syft and get consolidation in real time.â
She sees no need for an ERP.
âAfter all my years in enterprise finance, itâs wild to think that now I can see global performance daily without a monolithic ERP.â
And she also appreciates the auditability.
âAs an auditor, I love the audit trail. Tools like Mayday and Maxio give me confidence: they save the team time and provide the evidence trail auditors need.â
Would an ERP ever make sense again?
Would she ever go back? Possibly⌠but only under specific conditions.
âIf managing too many apps started to outweigh the benefit and I had to connect twenty different links to get month end done, I guess thatâs when Iâd reconsider.â
Even then, sheâs sceptical of the âone system to rule them allâ idea.
âIs there really one system that does it all? I donât know anymore.â
Her curiosity instead lies with AI and automation.
âERPs are still built on fixed modules while the rest of the world is moving to adaptive, AI-driven systems. Thatâs where Xero and apps are miles ahead.â
âPeople say automation will kill accounting. I think the opposite; it frees us up to provide more value. Let it match the transactions so my team can focus on insights. Bring it on.â
For Jacqueline, automation isnât replacing finance, itâs enabling it to thrive.
A new perspective
After more than 20 years in finance, Jacquelineâs stance is clear: scale doesnât have to mean ERP.
âJust because you hit $10 million or $100 million doesnât mean you need to move. If the setup is sustainable, Xero plus the right apps can take you a long, long way.â
The real question modern finance leaders should be asking isnât âWhen do we need an ERP?â, itâs âWhat combination of tools gives us ownership, visibility, and speed, without the weight?â
Jacquelineâs story captures a mindset shift spreading across finance:
You donât need to grow into an ERP, you can grow around it.
With modern tools, modular stacks, and automation built for scale, finance teams can move faster, smarter and with more ownership than ever before.
đ If youâre an ERP Survivor, weâd love to hear your story.
Reach out to emily.lockyer@getmayday.com
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