Intuit, the makers of QuickBooks, TurboTax, Credit Karma and Mailchimp, recently began the roll-out of a new B2B Ad Network called SMB Media Labs. As you can probably tell from the name, this advertising network targets small businesses.
The Network is part of Intuit's Small Business and Self-Employed Group, overseen by Alex Chris, Intuit's Executive VP and GM. Dave Raggio, VP of US Acquisition Marketing for the Small Business and Self-Employed Group, will administrate the new ad network.
SMB Media Labs has the potential to reach over six million QuickBooks Online customers in the US. It will focus on open exchanges, social networks (starting with Meta), audio and podcast, and CTV. Vizio will serve as the exclusive CTV partner.
In announcing the new advertising network, Alex Chriss says, "We're giving our small business customers an edge by using the power of our platform to draw on the collective strength of their data ethically. Small businesses will gain access to focused, relevant advertising for the products and services they need."
So, my question is, "Is this the third piece in Intuit's development of a total B2B Environment?"
In April 2022, I wrote an article titled "QuickBooks Business Network – 'It's About Time.'" The article introduced the QuickBooks Business Network—what could be considered Intuit's first step in helping establish the connection between the payee and the payor by offering a more straightforward, safer way to do business with other QuickBooks users.
Within a year, 3.8 million QuickBooks users had signed up to connect their accounts payable to Intuit's B2B platform.
Then, during the spring 2023, I reported that the B2B Network was working on wallets to streamline payments between the network members. The wallets would allow bills created through the Network to be paid without exchanging payment information.
They would work like a direct transfer of funds from one QuickBooks Online user's wallet to another QuickBooks Online user's wallet via the Network itself.
So, with data exchange to order and receive orders across the Network and direct payments between members headed in the right direction, what about the piece of the puzzle to "get one member connected to millions more who know what each does?"
I assume the new SMB Media Labs is that piece of the puzzle. It will allow network members to promote their businesses to potentially every other company on the Network.
This is not just about providing a network where a current customer and supplier can connect; it is about allowing every vendor to reach out to potential customers and allowing every customer to identify the most advantageous vendors for any given product or service.
It is powered by the Intuit Cloud, providing connectivity between QuickBooks Online subscribers who join the B2B platform.
Imagine an environment where you 'chat' to QuickBooks that you need 2500 pounds of a specific cattle feed, and you want it for the lowest price from a vendor who can provide it in the shortest amount of time and for the cheapest delivery cost.
Immediately, four advertisements appear in a ranking that fits your criteria, displaying their cost and asking if you are ready to place your order with your selected vendor.
Then, simply confirming your order issues a purchase order from your QBO, which immediately is received as a sales order in the chosen vendor's QBO to be processed.
Once processed, the vendor's invoice from their QBO is immediately posted as a vendor bill in your QBO, and once you select to pay, the funds are moved from your QBO wallet to the vendor's QBO wallet. All at the speed of the internet.
I further suspect that the advertisements you receive also will be customized based on vendor history, your actual purchase (product and service) history, and the geographic location of the vendor/distributor warehouse or service locations providing those products and services.
The only remaining obstacle to this Utopia is the commonality of product/service identification numbers (SKUs, UPCs). At some point, descriptions become inadequate, and too many naming conventions get in the way. While we think UPCs should be standardized, too many small vendors have created SKUs instead of standard UPCs.
This is all too evident in ecommerce, where a website or marketplace platform requires mapping standard UPCs to a merchant's established SKUs.
Another aspect of this coding complexity is taking it all the way to accounting and tax reporting. Sooner or later, the tax man will want his fair share, which means having all the dollars properly assigned to tax accounts. So, every UPC and SKU ultimately must be associated with tax reporting requirements on both income and expense (including cost-of-goods).
With millions of product examples of this, you can see why this likely will be the last piece of the puzzle to resolve in the B2B network.
But have no fear; with all the data being captured in millions of QuickBooks Online data files, the artificially intelligent bots are likely already crunching away to finish the puzzle.
Yet, that's not where the story ends (or should end).
Intuit has another world outside of QuickBooks Online, the world of QuickBooks Desktop. In many ways, this world has an even more significant potential for the type of connectivity the B2B Network offers.
That's because QuickBooks Desktop, especially QuickBooks Enterprise, is the platform of choice for many heavy hitters when it comes to wholesale and distribution operations.
The reality is that QuickBooks Enterprise, and other desktop products, are already connected to Intuit's cloud in several ways. More desktop features are running within an internal browser that provides cloud-based functionality.
It will be easy enough for Intuit to offer QuickBooks Desktop, especially Enterprise users, the capability to directly participate in the Business Network functionality and all that implies.
When that happens, the merger of QB Online and QB Desktop users finally will come to fruition.
Footnotes & Disclosures:
As used herein, QuickBooks®, QuickBooks Business Network, and SMB Media Labs may refer to one or more registered trademarks of Intuit Inc., a publicly-traded corporation headquartered in Mountain View, California.
Some feature content and graphic materials may have been adapted from Intuit content including media press materials. All adapted source content and materials are furnished for educational purposes only by Insightful Accountant.
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