Intuit boosts services to Qld: people on the ground to seed ‘cloud’ QuickBooks

INTUIT Australia is driving its ‘cloud’ accounting solution, QuickBooks Online, to Queensland small businesses, bookkeepers and accountants by putting people on the ground.

Intuit Australia managing director Nicolette Maury has appointed its new business development manager, Owen Howells, to the market as a way of supporting Queensland small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs) and their financial advisors around the state – Australia’s only state that has more SMEs in regional areas than metropolitan.

Ms Maury said the significant investment would help to “introduce Queensland’s small business owners, accountants and bookkeepers to the power of cloud accounting”. 

“QuickBooks Online is a simple to use but powerful financial management offering that will help change their working lives so profoundly they won’t be able to imagine going back,” Ms Maury said.

Sunshine Coast firm CTB Accounting is one organization that is well down the track in recognising the synergies of working in partnership with Intuit, Ms Maury said, for the sustained and long term growth of its business.

“Understanding the value cloud accounting can provide, CTB has already purchased 1000 QuickBooks Online subscriptions for its clients,” Ms Maury said.

She said to promote “the huge benefits of SMBs being able to access and manage their finances from anywhere on any device”, Intuit Australia was running an eight week regional advertising campaign, using the theme ‘Seriously easy online accounting for small businesses’.

In addition, Ms Maury said startups across the state would benefit from Intuit’s ongoing support of Startup Weekend Australia events that provide local entrepreneurs with the skills, tools, connections and inspiration they need to be successful.

“We’ve been building a great reputation here in Australia over the past year and a recent study we undertook on the functionality of Xero and QuickBooks Online proves we are the preferred option for small businesses in this market, with twice as many Australian small business owners and employees (who had never used either product before) preferring QuickBooks Online,” Ms Maury said.

That study was produced in July 2014 by Australian research group Symplicit, commissioned by Intuit Australia, assessing the functionality of Xero and QuickBooks Online-Essentials. The result gave QuickBooks the edge in terms of its ease of use and the capabilities for completing tasks quickly and confidently.

Intuit also has a rapidly growing partner ecosystem including Queensland-based firms Fathom, KeyPay and ServiceM8 and is dedicated to working with quality developers both in Australia and overseas to help bring best in breed solutions to local SMBs and their accounting partners, she said.

“Our move into Queensland marks an exciting start to 2015,” Ms Maury said. “It continues the trend of explosive growth we have experienced over the past 12 months, thanks to increased awareness of QuickBooks Online and our continuing investment in support, sales, training and marketing.” 

The desktop version of QuickBooks has a long history in Australia, being one of the most successful accounting software packages on the market. It was originally sold through Reckon and known as Reckon QuickBooks. 

In 2013, Intuit, the maker of QuickBooks, commenced its own direct presence in Australia with its cloud-based QuickBooks Online solution which allows users to access their finances and perform business tasks anywhere, anytime from any device.

www.intuit.com.au

 

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