Feeling QuickBooks Connected
Our biggest takeaways from 2017’s QuickBooks Connect Conference
Feeling QuickBooks Connected
The KORE team was fortunate to have the opportunity to attend Intuit’s annual QuickBooks Connect (QBC) conference in San Jose, CA at the end of November. After a busy (and fun!) holiday season, I finally had a few minutes to reflect on our experience, and I wanted to share some of my biggest takeaways.
While it certainly wasn’t easy for Alex, Mark, and me to take time away from the office during one of our busier times of the year, QBC turned out to be a very worthwhile and fun experience. After the whirlwind three days, the team and I felt inspired, excited, and better than ever prepared to help our customers be even more successful!
Here are a few of our highlights:
- Intuit really cares! We came away impressed by Intuit’s dedication to their customer base and inspired by the stories of success (and overcoming adversity) shared by many of their wonderful presenters. During the 3-day program, Intuit put together over 200 educational sessions broken up into three different tracks, focused on accountants, developers, and small business owners. The various sessions provided guidance and insight into everything from specific edge-case use of QuickBooks to general business philosophies and approaches. The KORE team worked hard to divide and conquer, but there were definitely session blocks where we wished we could have been in multiple places at the same time.
- Cha-cha-cha-changes! One of the most impressive things to me was how actively Intuit is improving the QuickBooks Online product. One of the coolest parts of being at QBC was getting a sneak preview of some of the upcoming features and updates coming to QBO. On top of some of the useful new features coming out soon (such as a new accountant portal, project management tools, and admin-side app provisioning), we were particularly happy to see that Intuit is implementing many of the improvements and suggestions that we (and, undoubtedly, other users) have been requesting. Additionally, Mark and Alex both got to spend a good amount of time with Intuit developers and product managers, looking over some of the coming features (**progress invoicing**), providing specific feedback, and building relationships with the people that are making these changes happen.
- Apps! In recent years, Intuit has been placing a big emphasis on third-party apps and positioning QuickBooks Online as a platform. As such, QBC had representatives from dozens of apps and services that help business owners with everything from time tracking to managing shipments to setting up and maintaining a business license. While not every app was relevant to us or our customers, we got the opportunity to learn about many different services that may be able to help us better service and add value to our customers, and ultimately, help our customers be more successful. Additionally, it was great to make a personal connection with representatives from apps, such as Clio, that we are already using. In the time since this event, we have been in contact with a number of the vendors we met, and we look forward to implementing some of great tools!
- All about the people! Hands down, the best part of our three days at QBC was all of the amazing people we had the opportunity and privilege to meet. In addition to Intuit’s staff (who were all incredibly friendly and helpful) and representatives from various app providers, we got to speak with many other participants – accountants, bookkeepers, and business owners, all of whom had great insights to offer and experiences to share. It’s easy for business owners to get caught up in their day-to-day routine and lose sight of the proverbial forest behind the trees, so sharing our successes and opportunities with other professionals was a great way for us to take a step back and look at the big picture.
Attending QuickBooks Connect was definitely a worthwhile experience, and we are looking forward to being a part of this conference in the future. We built great relationships, gained a lot of valuable knowledge, and feel more empowered than ever to help our customers succeed!