David opened the session with a clear tone:

“We are in myth-busting mood: namely, if you think you need an ERP, think again.”

But the session wasn’t about dismissing ERP entirely. Instead, it was about challenging the default assumption that scaling businesses must inevitably leave Xero behind.

Start with the problem, not the platform

One of the clearest messages of the webinar came from Kate Hayward, who cut straight to the core of the issue:

“Why is ERP the answer... What’s your problem? Start with the problem and work out if you can fix it.”

Too often, businesses treat ERP as the inevitable next step once they reach a certain size or complexity.

Kate challenges that logic directly. As she puts it, Xero may have been born serving small businesses, but that does not mean its usefulness ends there:

“Core doesn’t mean primary.”

And more importantly:

“Xero’s capabilities mean that it scales far beyond that.”

The misconception, as Kate acknowledged, is that Xero is “just for small.” In reality, many growing businesses are stretching much further with Xero than the market still tends to assume.

Strain sits around the ledger

Kevin Appleby reinforced Kate's perspective, reframing where pressure actually shows up inside finance teams:

“In many cases, the core problem isn’t that the ledger has stopped working. Instead, it’s multi-entity complexity, requirements for consolidation, board reporting, scenario planning, better visibility, etc."

If the ledger still works, then replacing it entirely may not be the most effective move. 

“That leap to ERP is huge”

Moreover, Kevin, drawing on his experience in ERP implementations, didn’t hold back on the reality:

“That leap to ERP is huge. Too expensive, potentially too slow, too disruptive.”

He also shared a striking stat from his time at PwC:

“70% of ERP solutions fail to deliver the benefits they promised.”

And the most forward-looking point was about timing risk:

“You could be investing in something that’s yesterday’s technology.”

In a world where AI and automation are rapidly changing expectations, locking into a 12–24 month ERP programme carries a new kind of risk:

“You discover after a 12-24 month implementation that the benchmark has moved on.”

A better path emerges

Building a modular stack around Xero as the alternative to ERP sat at the heart of the webinar. And it’s increasingly what finance teams are actually doing.

Felix Matthews brought this to life through his operator experience.

Before founding Abica, Felix was CFO of a fast-growing, multi-entity, international business. As complexity increased, he followed what many considered the “responsible” path:

“I believed it was the right time. I actually believed I had a duty to start evaluating ERPs.”

 

However, he quickly saw the issues when he started exploring ERP seriously:

“It wasn’t far down that road that I saw the cost involved, and the challenge in implementing an ERP.”

 

That’s when the shift happened.

“I finally took a step back and actually, for the first time, really explored the ecosystem.”

This led Felix to a completely different conclusion:

“Parking the ERP idea and actually staying on Xero not being so much a defensive move, as actually being an optimal setup.”

From insight to action

Since then, Felix hasn't only changed his tech stack, he's changed his career.

“Once I committed to scaling the finance function with Xero, it was one of my favourite parts of the job.”

His experience led him to found Abica, helping other businesses scale with Xero + best-in-class apps.

This evolution reflects something broader: a new layer of advisors, operators and specialists is emerging around the Xero ecosystem, mirroring what ERP historically had.

In fact, when the panel was asked live:

“ERPs often have a network of consultants and networks who can help with the setup. Who can help with a Xero-based tech stack setup?”

The answer was clear: “Felix can!”

The stack itself is also enabling this through initiatives like Stackademy and advisor directories.

Live proof: businesses moving away from ERP

The true value in the session came from the audience.

One live attendee shared their experience.

“I'd classify us as medium sized, and we’ve just moved to Xero from Oracle NetSuite ERP. The right step to make!”

That single comment reinforces a major shift: the direction of travel is no longer always Xero → ERP. In some cases, it’s the opposite.

Debunking another myth: stack ≠ chaos

One concern often raised in the discussion about Xero + best-in-class apps is complexity.

If you build a modular stack, do you end up juggling dozens of tools?

Felix addressed this directly:

“We’re not talking about 10, 20, 30 apps. You can do 90% of the work with 3 or 4 apps around Xero.”

Best-in-class doesn’t mean bloated; it means targeted, efficient, and purpose-built.

The most important takeaway: start with workflow

The webinar closed with a simple but powerful idea from Kate:

“It’s not about the technology, it’s about the workflow. Map your workflow, optimise your workflow, and the technology answer should speak for itself.”

 

Key takeaways

This webinar showed the reality of an ERP alternative, and highlighted that:

• Finance leaders are questioning ERP as the default
• Operators like Felix are choosing Xero + stack deliberately
• Businesses are even moving back from ERP to Xero
• The ecosystem around Xero is maturing fast
• And AI is accelerating the need for flexibility over rigidity

Experience shows time and again how finance teams have been able to thrive with a tech stack around Xero. And this isn’t a future trend; it’s already happening.

The word continues to spread...

To find out more, watch the full webinar back here.