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Why the Small Business Market is the Next Big Thing for Developers

The Appification of Small Business

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Small businesses are at the tipping

point of broad-based cloud adoption.

Currently, 37% of United States small

businesses are adapted to the cloud, but

an anticipated 78% will be fully cloud

operational by 2020.

For the 29 million U.S. small businesses and

the 600 million around the world hungry for

new solutions, this represents a massive

opportunity for developers to deliver new

cloud solutions that will make business more

efficient, successful, and prosperous.

This report is designed to provide developers

with core insights into the small business

cloud market opportunity.

29M

U.S. Small

Businesses

600M Global Small

Businesses

37% Small

businesses currently

adapted to the cloud

A Massive Developer Opportunity

The Dawn of the Cloud-Powered Small Business

78% Small businesses adapted to the cloud in 2020

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America’s small business owners are

already running significant portions of

their businesses online.

In fact, the average small business

owner is online for four hours a day.

What isn’t so obvious, however, is what

they’re doing when they’re online.

They aren’t checking out their friends’

Facebook feeds, watching YouTube

videos, or playing Candy Crush like

the rest of us.

Instead, small business owners spend

their online time running the nuts and

bolts of their businesses.

Top 5 Small Business Owners’ Online Tasks

The Center of the Small Business Cloud is Financial Management

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48% Communicating with

employees and business partners

58% Managing relationships

with existing customers

35% Advertising to build

company awareness

65% Conducting back-office work, such as bookkeeping and accounting

65% Generating invoices and/or accepting payments for their small businesses

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QuickBooks Online is the Small Business Apps Marketplace

Small business owners understand that the cloud

presents a profound opportunity to reimagine how they

run their businesses.

Much like consumers a decade ago making the switch

from flip-phones to smartphones, they understand that

the cloud offers more than the promise of an improved

product. The iPhone didn’t simply represent a better

version of a flip-phone; it completely changed what

a phone was used for.

The same holds true for the future of small business

software. This year, for the first tim ve ever, more small

businesses chose QuickBooks Online over the desktop.

They did so because they understand that it provides

much more than a better accounting application; it

represents a platform that will completely change the

way they run their operations.

By transforming QuickBooks from a product to a platform,

small businesses benefit from an ecosystem of products

and services that work seamlessly together. Developers

have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to solve this

massive, hungry market’s needs.

50% growth rate*

QuickBooks Online Global Leadership

~1M Paid Subscribers

*Per FY15 Quarterly Report

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The View from theSmall Business Cloud

To better help developers understand how to best

approach the small-business apps opportunity, we

commissioned Nielsen, a leading research firm, to

examine how small-business owners are currently

using software solutions and mobile apps.

The research also digs into the new types of solutions

small business owners most want to see developed,

gauging their willingness to pay for apps to help run

their businesses more efficiently.

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What Hardware Do Small Business Owners Use?

Nearly half (43%) of small business owners use a smartphone as the primary device to run their operations.

Virtually all small business owners (98%) use some sort of computer

to run their business, and most use multiple devices.

The Most Commonly Used Devices

Desktop

Computer

Laptop

Computer Tablet

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

67%56%

19%

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What Software Programs Do Small Business Owners Use?

More than 9 in 10 (92%) small

business owners say they use at

least one software solution to run

their business.

Top Software Choices

48%

25%

19%

17%

15%

6%

5%

Payments

Marketing

Customer Relationship

Management

Payroll

Legal

Human Resources

Accounting

Software Solution

Accounting programs are the most

widely used type of small business

software, used by nearly half (48%)

of small-businesses owners.

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Are Small Businesses Ready to Adopt Mobile Apps?

Half (50%) of small business owners already use at least one app to run their businesses. And we’re not

talking about Gmail, Twitter, and Facebook. This refers specifically to mobile small business software applications,

such as payments, accounting, and CRM solutions.

Top Attributes That Small Business Owners Look for in Mobile Apps

43% Saves time and money by automating work they otherwise would have to do manually

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40% Helps stay organized by

better managing the back office

(e.g., bookkeeping)

31% Tailor-made for their

type of business

33% Helps maintain

good relationships with

existing customers

24% Helps generate sales leads

and win new business

31% Works seamlessly with other

software solutions they’re using

14% Provides deep insights into

their business performance so

they can make important decisions

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What Makes for Good Small Business Software?

67% Help stay

organized by better

managing the

back office (e.g.,

bookkeeping)

63% Save time

and money by

automating

work they would

otherwise have

to do manually

48% Help maintain

good relationships

with existing

customers

App Solutions That Small Business Owners Want to See Created

34% Work

seamlessly with

other software

solutions they

are using

21% Help generate

sales leads and win

new business

21% Provide

deep insights into

their business

performance

4 in 5 (81%) small business owners say it is important that

the different software solutions

they use work seamlessly together.

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What Makes for Bad Small Business Software?

40% of small business owners cite at least one challenge with the

software solutions they currently use.

19% Different

solutions don’t work

well together/data

doesn’t sync

17% Not designed

specifically for their

type of business

14% Difficult to use

and time-consuming

Most Commonly Cited Pain Points Associated with Existing Small Business Software

8% Doesn’t

work well (e.g.,

full of bugs)

6% Doesn’t help

them advance the

goals they have

set out

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How Much Are Small Business Owners Willing to Spend?

Small business owners already

spend on average about $630 a year on software solutions.

85% of small-business executives are willing to invest

more in small business software

solutions over the next 5 years.

Top Reasons Small Business Owners Would Spend Even More to Buy a New App

27% Help simplify their

day-to-day operations

20% Solve a problem

not currently solved by

existing software

22% An immediate return

on their investment

11% A solution that works

with existing software they

already have

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Small Business Verbatim

What New Types of Software Solutions Would Make it Easier for You to Run Your Business?

A way to automate

doing the “grunt” work

Solutions that integrate and merge

Combined accounting with sales

leads and customer service

Better invoice and reporting cost accounting

Covers all aspects

of the business

Cloud-based software with no updating required

More integration between

my smartphone and computer

More mobile apps

Easier recording of client purchase historySeamlessly integrated

productivity software

Integrated, not having to

keep switching and syncing

Accounting software that

syncs with other programs

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Developers at the Core of the QuickBooks Online Ecosystem

At Intuit, we believe the QuickBooks Online platform is only

as powerful as the third-party apps that connect to it.

That’s why the new developer.intuit.com was designed to

enable developers to quickly and efficiently create game-

changing applications for small businesses.

Our goal is to create a partnership with developers

to increase app adoption, so we can expand the

QuickBooks Online platform and grow together.

We want a partner ecosystem and developer community

that are open to free discussion, willing to share best

practices, and interested in where the future of the Intuit

platform should go.

The good news is that we’re already off to great start. Many

developers are catching on to this rare opportunity to get in

on the cutting edge of a brand new market opportunity.

In fact, in the past year, developer activity on the

QuickBooks Online platform has increased 10x.

A year ago, we had about 1,000 active developers working on our platform. Today, we have more than 10,000. A year ago, there were 80 apps that worked with QuickBooks. Today, we have 796.

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The QuickBooks Online Developer Experience

Intuit Developer Vision: Every Small Business App on the QuickBooks Platform

The Ultimate Small Business App Store

From Idea to App: 4 Key Ingredients

QuickBooks Online is a single,

open platform for Intuit and

third-party developers.

• Global reach

• One app store

• “Right for me” apps

• Developer experience

• Rich and durable APIs

• Developer productivity tools

• Discovery and adoption

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A Tipping Point in the Small Business Apps Marketplace

Developers hold the key to unlocking the true potential

of the small business cloud.

And the QuickBooks Online platform provides the best

route to get there.

We have a developer experience and small business

app store that provides best-in-class developer tools

and access to the world’s largest market of cloud-based

small businesses.

More importantly, we are committed to working

alongside developers to fulfill our mission of making

QuickBooks Online the operating system behind small

business success around the world.

Come join us, reach further, and do amazing work.