IMGCAP(1)]Don't worry if you haven't been paying much attention to news in our space this week; there really wasn't much beyond Intuit finally making (or appearing to) plans to reach more global customers and is reorganizing to do so.
Sure there was an award here, product announcement there but little to compare to what Intuit is saying it is making plans to do, so let's dig into that.
News: Intuit Inc. is
Intuit’s new structure becomes effective Aug. 1 in conjunction with the company’s new fiscal year. It includes six business units reporting to the chief executive officer, as well as the retirement of Kiran Patel, executive vice president and general manager of Intuit’s small business group and Alex Lintner, senior vice president and general manager of Intuit’s global business division. The work of their respective organizations will be assimilated into the new organizational structure.
My Take: OK, so in addtion to the aforementioned, some top execs are either expanding their roles or changing them all together to take on this "global initiative." You can read the full article or all the details that Intuit has laid out. What is unspoken about this move, and should be said is despite how ubiquitous Intuit and its related accounting and small business products have become in North America, they simply do not have the global presence or recognition of their competitors. Yes, it may be hard to imagine going into a small business or accounting firm in another country and have them never even heard of QuickBooks but it's true.
In short, and this may come as a surprise, Intuit is not the dominant, go-to product for small businesses and accountants around the world and the company is -- so it seems -- making specific plans to change that. Sure they may have a presense in a few countries, but no real focused, global initiatives.
And with increasing competition for the space, particularly from cloud players, you better believe Intuit is taking that very seriously. Even in North America there are numerous companies taking a bite out of Intuit's marketshare -- many of whom have come on just in the past few years -- so you can bet when it's looking around the world, it sees great potential to at least try to be a leader with competition for the space already mounting. Other companies have a bit of a head start on Intuit outside of the EST-PDT time zones, and with the recent reorganization the canons are aimed squarely at the rest of the world's small business market.
It all makes sense, really, with the world moving towards more internatlonal accounting standards and even small businesses looking across seas and borders to do business seamlessly. Exciting times, to be sure and we will certainly keep tabs on it. Expecting more VAR and vendor releated news after the Memorial Day holiday, enjoy!
