Intuit Takes Cue from Apple, Shows Off App Store, New Tech

If there was any question in my mind as to how influential Apple's app store model is to established, business software companies, that question was laid to rest after attending Intuit's Innovation Gallery Walk.

Intuit has revamped the way it offers its financial and accounting tools to small businesses, and the result is a slew of user-friendly and - dare I say - kind of cool-to-use services that address what can be the most boring and painful part of running a small business—the financials.

Intuit has evolved from selling its shrink-wrapped software to offering cloud-based services. Now, along with such classics as Turbo Tax, Quicken, and Quickbooks, the company is offering an App Center for additional tools and software for small businesses.

The Innovation Gallery Walk was held in a swanky studio in Manhattan. Amidst flowing Chablis and unidentifiable, fancy hors d'oeuvres, Intuit had several booths showcasing its latest offerings.

Among the highlights was a display of Intuit's App Center. Since its , the App Center has grown threefold with over 800,000 customers using the apps, which run the gamut of what a small business would need: billing and invoicing, business analytics, inventory, marketing, payroll, and much more.

What's really ideal about Intuit's model is its integrated approach. Customers who have Quicken, Turbo Tax, and other Intuit services accounts can log into the App Center and download the apps, which can cost anywhere from $5 to $50. Information is shared between the apps and Intuit's major software like Quicken and Quickbooks. That cuts down on a lot of data entry and management for a small business owner.

Another attention-grabbing display at yesterday's event was GoPayment. The app allows users to accept credit card payments using mobile devices like iPhones, iPads as well as Android and Blackberry phones. The news announced last night was that GoPayment can now be used to process checks. The app can take an image of checks, and there's even a "bad check" alert system—checks are run against a database that Intuit manages to compare if the check writer has any history of fraud.

Like other App Center apps, information entered with GoPayment integrates with other Inuit apps. GoPayment is already available for download, and the check feature will be available soon. Intuit is also experimenting with near-field communication (NFC). I watched a demo where a payment was processed and then uploaded into Mint, all done from a phone without, or course, an actual credit card present. There are few phones that currently support NFC, but when the technology becomes more widespread, Intuit will integrate it into its mobile/wallet payment offerings.

I also was impressed with Intuit's Health Patient Portal. This is a service that came from Intuit's acquisition of Medfusion last year. The portal allows patients and providers to interact digitally, sharing EHRs (Electronic Health Records), patient payment information, appointment scheduling and more. It's also a HIPAA-compliant solution.

These are just a few of the many services and solutions that were on display at the event. Intuit certainly has the expertise and resources to offer integrated business solutions, which are particularly advantageous to smaller businesses due to the fact that low-to-no startup costs are involved in deploying and managing these solutions. But the company lost some credibility after a , as well as that left thousands of Intuit.com, Quicken, QuickBooks, TurboTax and QuickBase users out in the cold without access to their data.

If Intuit is encouraging SMBs to place even more components of their business onto its platform, it will not only have to continue to dazzle with its latest cutting-edge apps, but it has to firmly reassure and reestablish trust to customers, current and potential. Tayloe Stansbury, senior vice president and chief technology officer for Intuit Inc. had this to say, "We understand the important role our services play in our customers' lives and businesses. While the cloud provides greater convenience for customers, it also adds to our responsibility. We take that very seriously. We continue to strengthen our software and infrastructure to provide greater reliability so that we earn and keep our customers' trust."

That's confident reassurance, and hopefully Intuit will prove not only to be a front-runner in business and financial services, but also to deliver high availability for customers to their critical business data.