Intuit gets cloudy

Here is something that should be right up the street of just about every small business - a SaaS-delivered accounting service for just £9 a month in the UK.

It comes from long-standing accountancy software specialist, Intuit, and is the latest incarnation of  its famous QuickBooks accountancy family. It has already been localised for 100 countries around the world, including the UK, and is intended to provide small businesses and accountants with access to a robust, open platform that is future proof and works anytime, anywhere.

The company has rebuilt QuickBooks from the ground up to deliver what it hopes will be a simple, yet powerful platform that not only provides accounting, but also offers a full business management solution. Known as QuickBooks Online, it is built to take advantage of the cloud and is an open platform that is intended to set the foundation for Intuit’s future growth in the UK market.

It is built around an easy-to-use interface that helps users to streamline business tasks to boost efficiency and save time. It features a simple set-up with easy to learn, intuitive functions, fast performance offering real-time data and reports, scalable solutions to fit the needs of any small and medium-sizes business, plus the benefits of the Intuit accountant ecosystem.

The workflows and interface have been made more intuitive, with a new, easy-to-use drop-down menu and a new invoicing module. It works across a wide range of mobile and desktop devices, making it well-suited businesses with a strong mobile component to their operations. This is soon to be encapsulated in a ‘virtual office’ feature. 

QuickBooks Online has been rebuilt as an open platform, which simplifies work for small businesses by integrating all of Intuit’s business management tools under one umbrella. The platform includes Intuit’s small business tools, including Payments, which are now interconnected and built into QuickBooks Online.

The open platform design allows third parties and app developers to create small business applications that are available to nearly 500,000 QuickBooks Online subscribers, which boast more than 1.3 million users. This gives customers the ability to customise QuickBooks to meet their specific business needs, while providing them access to data across applications.

The QuickBooks Online platform offers a range of collaborative tools including access to Intuit’s accounting, payments and payroll add-on solutions through one login, from a computer, iPhone, iPad, and Android phones and tablets, real-time data updates enabling immediate accountant or bookkeeper collaboration, large-scale app integration, and access to Intuit’s Apps.com, one of the largest and most diverse small business apps marketplaces.

The announcement coincides with new research findings from research company, Coleman Parkes, which revealed that 64 percent of the 100 accountants surveyed said that working in the cloud will allow them to offer new and strategic services to their clients. In addition, 72 percent said they would benefit by becoming a more mobile business. The findings also revealed that 61 percent of small business clients now expect cloud-based services from their accountants.

The updated QuickBooks Online will be available from late October for new users on a 30-day free trial. It is then available at a standard list price for ‘Simple Start’ of £9 (plus VAT)  per month, which includes free access to all of Intuit mobile apps.