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OPEN
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
JUN
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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OPEN
The View from the
Small 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
$
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
STOP

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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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OPEN
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.