Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU) today announced the names of 41 software developers who will be the first to enable key data exchange between their business and industry-specific applications and the next version of QuickBooks® Pro, Premier and Premier Accountant Edition expected to be released in December. These applications will take advantage of the Intuit Developer Network and the QuickBooks software development kit (SDK). The developer network and the resulting applications will allow small businesses to exchange certain data between their critical business applications and enabled versions of QuickBooks.
"Tighter cooperation between QuickBooks and other third-party applications has been one of the most requested features from our customers over the years," said Esther Kruijver, director of the Intuit Developer Network. "We're excited to be working hand-in-hand with some of the most innovative names in software to be able to offer our customers data exchange capability between third-party applications and future versions of QuickBooks later this year."
The Intuit Developer Network (http://developer.intuit.com) is part of Intuit's new 'right for my business' strategy to better address the needs of small businesses by providing customers with solutions that are tailored to their specific companies. This includes industry-specific solutions, accounting solutions for bigger and more complex businesses and solutions that go beyond accounting to address additional business management needs.
Since the company first introduced the Intuit Developer Network in February, more than 3,500 developers have signed on as members. From the hundreds of companies expressing an interest in participation in the QuickBooks SDK Beta Program, Intuit handpicked leading companies in a variety of disciplines. These companies range from those addressing the needs of unique vertical industries like retail and construction, to those addressing needs that practically every small business encounters, such as customer relationship management (CRM) or time and billing.
QuickBooks SDK Beta Program Participants
FedEx Corporation and the United States Postal Service are prime examples of the developers who will be helping small businesses combine their front and back-office systems.
Other developers and applications involved in the QuickBooks SDK beta program will address the needs of businesses in specialized vertical industries - from non-profits to booksellers. For example, Craftsman Book Company publishes reference books and software for construction professionals. The integration between Craftsman's software and QuickBooks will help to eliminate double entry of financial information and may help construction companies save time and money.
Other developers working with Intuit in the QuickBooks Beta SDK Program include: Actinic Software; ActSoft, Inc.; Airborne Express; Airput, Inc.; American Computer Software, LLC; Auto Data Inc.; Axeus, LLC; B2P Commerce Corporation; BookLog; ChronTech Inc.; ComCash Corporation; Craftsman Book Company; FrontRange Solutions Inc.; Gavel & Gown Software Inc; iambic, Inc; Informative Systems; Interact Commerce Corporation; JTA Consulting; Kurant Corporation; Lathem Time; LSQ Funding Group, L.C.; Mailboxes, Etc.; Mercantec; MH2Technologies; Nationtax Online, Inc.; OneMindConnect, Inc.; Pacific DataVision, Inc.; Palo Alto Software; Personalized Software Developers, Inc.; Rarevision; Retail Technologies Int'l; Timeslips; ProfitSense by Sageworks; Sales Management Systems; Symbol Technologies; Synergration; Wasp Bar Code Technologies; WendlWare; and Xactware.
Company descriptions for each of these companies can be found at http://developer.intuit.com/quickbooks/2001betadevelopers.
Developers Endorse Data Integration
"Accurate data capture in a small handheld computer is quickly becoming an important tool of the mobile economy," said Keith Kanneg, Sr. Director, New Market Development of Symbol Technologies. "By combining our mobile devices, bar code readers and a new application suite that exchanges data with QuickBooks from Intuit, we will soon have a tremendous offering for the small business market. We are excited about working with Intuit and helping them provide a new level of efficiency for small business customers."
"We've had a huge demand from our customers over the years to synchronize our software with QuickBooks," said Bob Butler, president and co-founder of Time Matters, a practice management software vendor. "By integrating our software with the QuickBooks 2002 products, we expect our sales to increase. We anticipate that our customers will be able to capture more billable time and expenses by generating billing entries contemporaneously while they work in their practice management software. We call it the 'bill it while you do it' approach, and we believe the integration will take our customers to a whole new level of productivity and convenience."
Additional QuickBooks Developers
Third-party software developers interested in their applications working with QuickBooks can join the Intuit Developer Network and register to attend one of Intuit's upcoming seminars being held in 7 major cities across the United States during September and October. For a complete list of cities and more information, please visit http://developer.intuit.com/quickbooks/seminar-pr.asp. An online registration form is available.
The seminars, sponsored by Compaq Computer Corporation, will provide a comprehensive overview of the QuickBooks API and hands-on assistance with coding. All participants will receive a pre-release copy of the QuickBooks SDK, sample code and a pre-release beta copy of QuickBooks 2002.
