Intuit's Triple Play Pushes QuickBooks Into SaaS Spotlight

Intuit heats up the SaaS competition with the announcement of a new application suite combining sales, warehouse, and field service management -- QuickBooks adds much need power and Intuit announces ambitions beyond financial management.Back in June when I spoke with Angus Thomson, VP and general manager of Intuit's Mid-Market Group, he allowed as how the lack of SaaS offering from the financial management software vendor was a competitive liability. Given that he was defending QuickBooks from competitors' claims that businesses "outgrow" Quickbooks, his candor was unexpected, but also balanced by the claim that Intuit was moving to close the gap.

Fast forward to August when Rick Jensen, SVP and general manager of Intuit's Small Business Group, announces Intuit's Connected Services Strategy. He's barely able to contain his enthusiasm for the opportunity that technology (and, of course, specifically Intuit's technology) offers growing businesses to compete on even ground with larger organizations around the corner, across the country, or on the other side of the world saying:

"SMBs are at an interesting point right now. When they open for business they don't think about main street, they think across the county, they think globally. The days of the yellow pages are gone."

And then today, Gary Wiessinger, director of product management for Intuit's Mid-Market Group, lifted the veil on Intuit's latest announcement from the QuickBooks Enterprise User Conference: the Intuit Enterprise Suite. The three-module suite combines Sales Management, Warehouse Management, and Field Service Management -- all of it online.

Though announced today, the suite won't be available until October -- Sales Management in beta, the other two in final release. As interesting as this announcement it, in terms of putting more SaaS options in the hands of small and midsize companies, what Wiessinger made clear is that this isn't just a product announcement. "This is very much the beginning of a journey," he said. "We have a vision and this is the first step toward collaborative business management solutions. Not the end."

And though Wiessinger, wouldn't say it, (he focused on the current QuickBooks customer base as the target audience) competitors from Salesforce to Intaact to Microsoft must be watching this vision unfold with a mixture of curiosity and trepidation.