Are We On The Titanic?

February 15, 2016

10:33 AM

This past week, I received an email that should have been re-assuring, but in fact, completely frightened and angered me.

The subject line was: Intuit Sync Manager Eliminated as of March 1, 2016. The email went on to say: If you or your clients have third party applications you are syncing with your QuickBooks desktop file(s), you can visit the following page to see a list of apps that may be affected. http://support.quickbooks.intuit.com/support/Articles/INF29136

I quickly rushed to review the article to see what integrated apps would fall short of preparation and how many clients are going to call me, screaming because their apps are no longer synchronizing with QuickBooks? That is when I realized: I felt completely unprepared for the “sudden emergency” that is coming my way, in less than two weeks.

Sure, it is inevitable. Intuit has been sounding their alarms and now they are drawing their bridges on the Desktop Versions to aggressively migrate their users. But let’s face it, we (the proadvisor and developer community) have been left on the front lines to lead our local small business owners thru this transition.

Like the Titanic and captain of my ship, I must save as many lives as I can, because whether you know it or not, your ships (with your communities of small business owners) have been hit by an iceberg and your taking on water too. Maybe you are better prepared than me, maybe you were expecting to get off eventually, just not in the middle of the night, in the North Atlantic (or in the middle of Tax Season) – but, it is coming, your phone is going to blow-up too and Intuit has even told us the exact date of: 3-1-2016.

Yeah, I have read the short-list of affected apps (in the Intuit Support Article (above)). But, I am still full of questions and trepidation. And yes, even panic. What do I do now? I do not have a plan in place to assist my clients and it is only going to escalate from here.

Now, operating from an emergency mode: I am considering the choices for survival:

a. Migrate EVERYONE to QuickBooks Online – ASAP (save as many lives as I can)

b. Find a new platform for them – ASAP (Become a Xero, Sage, PeachTree, Rep)

c. Embrace viable integrated solutions

d. Change Careers

Which way to the life boats?

Just saying….

Comments (5)

Comment Feed

Yes, Know and Maybe

Yes, I looked at other solutions like Xero and Freshbooks for some clients. I became certified in Freshbooks and would like to complete Xero certification. However I am a single member S corp with a workforce of one. I do bookkeeping and tax services. I can't learn everything to please everyone. Fortunately my clients that use apps are on QBO and none using desktop are using any apps. I canned several apps that wouldn't work with desktop going forward last year. Didn't really use them enough to notice the loss, and saving on the additional fees.

Going forward I just plan to spend extra time learning new apps, that will work with desktop as needed by a client. But only if the client is willing to pay for my time. I don't anticipate it hurting my business currently. But going forward it may limit the clients I am willing to take on if it requires to much time learning new products for only that one client, versus a product that will work with multiple desktop clients.

Rebecca Neilson more than 10 years ago

It's cold...

I know Intuit is salivating thinking about all the subscription income they think will be coming their way. But my clients don't want to "dumb-down" to QBO. It takes my staff longer to perform their tasks on the smaller clients that are on QBO. It's not that they are unfamiliar with the processes. Data entry and month-end clean up simply takes longer in QBO because it is not designed for accountants who know what they want to do and do it fast. I wish Intuit would spin off the desktop version to a company that is dedicated to the SMB market!

Bryan Potts more than 10 years ago

QBO is indeed slower

the slow response of the web-based product is a HIGH PRICE to pay for the folks that do the front-end data entry work. By effectively emasculating the desktop product Intuit is saying "if you want these features you need to pay us ransom". That ransom demand is a real insult to the customers who have helped intuit build Quickbooks. And BTW - QBO is still seriously deficient in many areas.

Bill Rogers - triple-certified ProAdvisor more than 10 years ago

Not to worry..

Dawn, those of use who support the desktop editions have known for quite some that we were riding on the Titanic. But now we don't have to worry about drowning...because Intuit has just told us that it's "un-syncable". (Bad pun, but I couldn't resist.)

I understand Intuit's push toward QuickBooks Online for revenue reasons--subscription based revenue, the idea that the growth will all be in cloud-based stuff, etc. I get that. But I can only have lukewarm respect for any company or business model that knowingly abandons long-time customers by pushing them toward something with only a subset of the features they need. Implying in their advertising that "QuickBooks is QuickBooks" --that QBO is fully equivalent to the desktop editions, only newer and better--Intuit is disrespecting (my opinion) help the small business person who depends daily on features of QBD which have no real equivalent in QBO.

Mark Wilsdorf more than 10 years ago

you make many good points

I just wish there was a viable and vociferous "desktop advocate" inside Intuit - they are forcing many of us to look at Xero and other alternatives.

Bill Rogers, CPA more than 10 years ago