Thursday, May 22, 2014

Intuit QuickBooks Online Grew – Surprisingly, Desktop Also Grew

intuit quickbooks online

You’re probably sick of hearing about the cloud in business. So this news might surprise you.


Intuit reveals that, while the cloud version of QuickBooks, its popular small business accounting software, continues to grow, its desktop version is still growing too.


In a third-quarter earnings report, Intuit announced an increase in subscribers to QuickBooks Online of 36 percent. But, perhaps more surprising is that QuickBooks Desktop saw a 22 percent increase in subscribers over the same period.


That’s right. Even with the availability of the cloud based option, new customers continue to sign up for the desktop version of the software.


So, this isn’t existing customers unwilling to make the switch. This is new customers evaluating the two options and deciding to go with a desktop solution instead of the cloud.


It’s amazing just how tenacious demand for the Quickbooks Desktop version remains, even with the online version out there.


For instance, QuickBooks has had an online option available to customers since 2000, long before cloud computing became a trend. Yet, last year company officials said 2013 was the first time they expected online subscriptions to surpass new customers for boxed software.


Still QuickBooks Desktop growth broken out separately from online subscription growth for the first time in the third-quarter report may be misleading.


For example, in the last earnings quarter, QuickBooks Online added only a little over 45,000 new customers, a February report showed.


In a conference call earlier this week, Intuit President and CEO Brad Smith put this growth into further perspective explaining (PDF):


“QuickBooks Online subscribers grew 36 percent in the third quarter to 624,000, adding more than 60,000 net customers in the past quarter. QuickBooks Online subscribers outside the U.S. were up more than 130 percent to 64,000, further accelerating from 90 percent growth last quarter.”



Meanwhile, continued growth in the QuickBooks Desktop subscription base this quarter masks an overall shift, added Intuit CFO Niel Williams in his report:


“QuickBooks desktop units declined 12 percent versus last year as we continue to lead with our online ecosystem. The shift in the business model and the acceleration of QuickBooks Online growth combine to lower small business revenue growth by about a point this fiscal year.”



Image: Wikipedia


The post Intuit QuickBooks Online Grew – Surprisingly, Desktop Also Grew appeared first on Small Business Trends.




Source: Small Business Trends



Intuit QuickBooks Online Grew – Surprisingly, Desktop Also Grew

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