Intuit Partner Platform team blog

Partnerships, IPP + Windows Azure

When we started the Intuit Partner Platform, we had a pretty simple vision: To delight Small Businesses with an ecosystem of applications that solve lots of needs and work extremely well together. We set out to build a platform that would enable us to work with our partners to build more and better offerings for the small business community. 

Although the vision hasn't changed, the path along our journey has certainly evolved. Three years ago, platforms-as-a-service were nascent. To help accelerate our partners getting to market, we created and offered an end-to-end platform. This helped a number of our partners get to market, but it wasn't a perfect offering. It was a stack that solved the needs of a small set developers, but couldn't scale in features to meet the needs of all our developers.

While we've continued to invest in our native platform, other platforms have moved at lightning speed. Many of these platforms focus on what I'll call the "lower" end of the stack. This is the stuff a developer needs to build and deploy a saas or mobile app (hardware, database, etc.). These platforms have evolved way past anything we could create and honestly provide a better development experience than we could.

In parallel however, we've focused on our core assets and differentiators, and evolved the "upper" end of the stack. This includes access to QuickBooks data and key "go-to-market" services that make app integrations possible and delight small businesses. As you can see with our Beta release of Intuit Anywhere, we're continuing to push the envelope on providing ubiquitous data integrations and tightly integrated apps to our customers. That's what we're good at, and it's where we will focus now and in the future.

That brings me to a couple of announcements we shared at IPP CloudJam: First, we will no longer offer our "native development" stack for developers to build on. We are going to focus our resources on the top of the stack and make data and services for our developers the top priority.

So what should our developers who are looking for a PaaS offering do?

While we have always been and will always be an open platform, and we will always embrace applications built on any platform, we think it's important to help guide our developers who are looking for a PaaS option to what we believe is the best option on the market. So I'm pleased to announce that we will continue the journey we started with Microsoft last year and double down on our investment to tightly integrate the Windows Azure platform with IPP. The feedback from current developers using Azure and live on Intuit App Center has been extremely positive and we believe with additional investment in our Windows Azure SDK for IPP, we can make developing an app on Azure, leveraging Quickbooks data and IPP's go-to-market services, and getting into the Intuit App Center Channel, DROP DEAD EASY.

We've been extremely impressed with the dedication and quality of Microsoft's platform, their willingness to work closely with our existing partners, and their dedication to making developers successful. Microsoft has built a huge business behind their partner community – they just "get" how important partners are and how to treat them – and with our "native" IPP development option now gone, we think this is the best platform for our developers.

Read up Liz Ngo, Microsoft's business development manager on why we're doubling down on this partnership. 

Here is some more information on how developers can take advantage of our partnership, sign up for Front Runner for IPP. 

Look for new releases of Window Azure SDK for IPP in the coming months and if you have requests, feedback, or interest in learning more about Azure, please let us know!

Alex Chriss
Director, Intuit Partner Platfomr

IPP - Alterity's Story: From the Desktop to SaaS

It’s always exciting when a new app goes live on the Intuit Workplace App Center, and especially so when it is has been developed by a long-standing member of the Intuit Developer Network.

Brian Sweat of Alterity had good conversation (full recording as an mp3 here) with Redmonk’s Michael Coté to talk about the new Easy Analytics for Inventory, and why - as a 10-year-long member of IDN developing "traditional" desktop applications - Alterity is adopting IPP and the SaaS delivery model for the next generation of its products that integrate with customers' QuickBooks data.

Show Notes:

• Brian tells us about Alterity and their new offering, Easy Analytics for Inventory.
• I ask Brian to tell us how they started getting interested in using IPP and what the process was like getting up and running.
• We talk about the use of Flex and how the IPP platform integrates with the UI layer.
• Brian tells us about the ability to more closely track what users are actually using and doing (or not using) in a cloud-based application.
• While customers don’t seem to be overly concerned with cloud vs. desktop deployment – at this early point – Brain says the support and even install time on cloud seems much smaller than for traditional deployment options.
• This leads to a discussion about the other effects a PaaS, like IPP, has on a company’s structure: namely not having to worry so much about billing and other back-office concerns. And then there’s all the marketing Intuit does for them in the App Center.

The full recording as an mp3 here.

IPP Podcast Now Available by Michael Cote (RedMonk) and Jeff Collins

This new RIA Weekly podcast talks about what IPP is, and the opportunity it represents for developers.

Enjoy!

Announcing IPP V2.4 - More Than More Data!

The IPP team is excited to announce that IPP v2.4 is now live and available for IPP partners. Take advantage of the new and enhanced capabilities: access to more data, new configuration options for application Sign Up and Sign In (including more control over application invitation messaging), and additional click-stream analytics.

Read all about it below. (Additionally, we’re offering a webinar on January 14th that will cover the IPP v2.4 features in depth. Note: You must be registered IPP Developer to attend this webinar.)

IPP v2.4 CONTENTS

IPP v2.4 is part of a series of platform updates focused on:

1. Extending the IPP Intuit Data Services (IDS) model for IPP federated and native platform developers, including Read (and in some cases Create and Update) access to Accounts Payable, and General Ledger objects as well as several new Account Receivable and List items
2. Streamlining the application Sign-up / Sign-in (S·U·S·I) experience
3. Improving click stream analytics to help partners run their business, and
4. AppCenter enhancements to improve the application shop and learn experience

We’ve also addressed a variety of platform and IDS issues / defects in v2.4.

1. INTUIT DATA SERVICES (IDS) ENHANCEMENTS 

We’ve made a significant number of enhancements and improvements to Intuit Data Services.

Important: IPP v2.4 introduces a new IDS API version, v2. Developers need to use this new IDS API version to utilize the new objects / behaviors listed below. Previous IDS versions (e.g. v1) are supported but will not include new objects/behaviors; developers are strongly urged to migrate to the latest API version (v2) at their earliest convenience. IPP will continue to support IDS v1 until December 1, 2010.

The following capabilities have been exposed via REST API as well as added to the IPP Flex framework:
New IDS Objects

• ACCOUNTS PAYABLE
  • Read and Create access to Item Receipts
  • Read access to Purchase Orders, Bills, Bill Payment Checks, Bill Payment Credit Card, Sales Tax Payment Checks and Vendor Credits and Checks
• ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE
  • Read access to Credit Memos and Statement Charges
  • Read access to Sales Receipts
• GENERAL LEDGER
  • Read and Create access to General Journal entries
• LISTS
  • Read, Create and Update access to Jobs
  • Customer/Job hierarchy properly represented
  • Read access to Payment methods, Sales tax codes, ship methods, Inventory items, inventory assemblies, classes and units of measure
  • Item Query now returns any of several types of QuickBooks items
• OTHER
  • Read access to Checks, Sales Receipts, Purchase Orders, Journal Entries, and Company Classes

Enhanced IDS Objects

• Accounts, Inventory items, Inventory assemblies, service items and non-inventory items can now be Created
• Customers, Employees and Vendors can be filtered by name and company name
• Most transactions now support “To be Printed” and “To Be Emailed” attributes

Read more about these enhancements in the release notes.

Get more detailed information about all the IDS capabilities in the IDS Programmer’s Guide.

Register for the webinar we’re offering on January 14th that will cover the IPP v2.4 features in depth.

2. STREAMLINED INTUIT WORKPLACE APP CENTER SIGN-IN/SIGN-UP (S·U·S·I) EXPERIENCE 

Several improvements and additional developer configuration options have been added to the Sign-up / Sign-in experience for Intuit Workplace App Center.

Note: All changes are upwardly compatible. New developer-facing enhancements are optionally configurable. 

The end-user changes to make the SUSI process clearer and easier will be immediately available for new users signing up for Intuit Workplace App Center applications.

Enhancements include:

• Custom Welcome and Application Invitation emails: partners can create their own email templates.
• Guided sign-up process with improved sign-in interface and client-side field validation throughout process
• Improved business profile interface that (a) prevents users from subscribing to an app more than once per business and (b) allows customer to launch existing subscriptions as well as add new ones.

Get more information about these and other new IPP SUSI capabilities here. 

3. CLICK-STREAM ANALYTICS IMPROVEMENTS 

Several enhancements have been added to IPP’s click-stream tracking services based on Google Analytics. These include:

• Separate sign-in tracking to differentiate actions performed by new customers signing up for applications versus existing customers signing in to their apps.
• New click-stream tracking for customers who are upgrading their subscription from beta, opt-in trials, or subscription upgrade/downgrades.

Get more information on these and other new IPP Click-stream analytics capabilities here. 

4. INTUIT WORKPLACE APP CENTER IMPROVEMENTS 

A variety of small enhancements and modifications have been made to Intuit Workplace AppCenter to improve the overall shopping flow and experience. 

5. SOFTWARE UPDATES / FIXES 

For a complete list of software updates / fixes included in IPP v2.4, please review the release notes here. 

Thanks,
—The Intuit Partner Platform Team

Sleeter Group: IPP - What It Means for Intuit Consulting Communities

The Sleeter Group has published the second article of a two part series focusing on the Intuit Partner Platform (IPP).

The first article compared the IPP and the "traditional" QuickBooks SDK. This second article explains the IPP offering, how developers can take advantage of it, and what it means to the Sleeter Group and Intuit consulting communities.

The Sleeter Group is a respected community of experts who provide consulting services to small business owners in the accounting software and business process design areas. So we're pretty excited about this active community taking an interest in and educating their membership about IPP!

• Part I: What is the IPP - and how does it compare to the SDK?
• Part II:What IPP means to the Sleeter Group and Intuit consulting communities

Announcing IPP Dev Voice - Enhancement Voting and Tracking System

I’ve been fortunate to speak with many of you over the last several months as the Intuit Partner Platform gains momentum. The progress we’ve made together in the last 90 days alone is ASTOUNDING! We released a new App Center with QuickBooks 2010 to let small business customers easily discover your great solutions; we’ve seen a dozen new apps launch, and we’re putting the finishing touches on a whole host of new platform capabilities and data services.

One thing I really appreciate is all the great ideas and thoughtful recommendations you’ve provided on how to make IPP even better. You can see many of your ideas put into action as we roll out new releases. But what about that other suggestion you asked us for? What’s coming up?

To make it easier for you to provide feedback and for us to share the status of things, we’re trying out a new service - IPP Dev Voice. This service will let you:

• Add your own suggestions
• Review the great suggestions posted by other partners (there are 8 different enhancement groups, ranging from Data Services, to Marketing and Selling, to App Management and Support)
• Vote on the enhancements you’d find most valuable (you can place up to 10 votes in each group!)
• Subscribe to RSS feeds for any of the groups to monitor new ideas and track the status of your suggestions.

IPP Product Management will review all the suggestions regularly. We’ll flag the ideas we’re actively reviewing, planning, and working on, so you’ll always know the status of your favorite enhancements stand.

IPP Dev Voice is available to all registered IPP development partners. To access it, go to http://voice.developer.intuit.com. We’ve also integrated the service into the IPP and Workplace Discussion Forum. Look for the FEEDBACK widget on any IPP forum listing pages or postings. Click on this widget to view the IPP suggestions with the highest number of votes, or go directly to IPP Dev Voice to add a suggestion and see what other developers are thinking about.

Do you have an idea? Do you recognize a good idea when you see one? We want to hear from you!

~Bill Phelan
IPP Product Management

Redefining Software Platforms - How PaaS changes the game for ISVs

The following is the introduction to a new 16-page report created by Phil Wainewright, “Redefining Software Platforms - How PaaS changes the game for ISVs”. The Table of Contents, information about the report and the author and a link to the report as .PDF can be found at the bottom of this blog post. Preparation of this report for publication was funded by Intuit, Inc.

Introduction: A New Kind of Platform

 

The rise of software as a service over the past decade has opened up new opportunities for independent software vendors to develop new applications hosted and delivered via the Web. But until recently, any ISV creating a SaaS offering has had to build its own hosting and service delivery infrastructure. That has all changed in the past two years with the rise of platform-as-a-service. PaaS is the online equivalent of conventional computing platforms, providing a ready-made infrastructure on which an ISV can rapidly build and deliver a SaaS application.

While many ISVs are understandably wary of binding their fate to that of an emerging platform provider, those who have stepped forward to become early adopters of PaaS have experienced dramatic reductions in development costs and timescales. By lowering barriers to entry and foreshortening time-to-market, PaaS supercharges SaaS, accelerating the pace of innovation and intensifying competition.

The advent of PaaS will change the game for ISVs – not only those who choose to introduce SaaS offerings, but also those who remain wedded to conventionally licensed, customer-operated software products. PaaS changes the competitive landscape across a swathe of parameters:

• Dramatically faster innovation cycles. PaaS implements
  the iterative, continuous improvement upgrade model of
  SaaS, allowing developers to monitor and respond to
  customer usage and feedback, and rapidly incorporate the
  latest functionality into their own applications.
• Hugely lowered price points. The shared, pay-as-you-go,
  elastic infrastructure of PaaS slashes developers’ costs
  across multiple dimensions, resulting in massively reduced
  development and operations costs.
• Multiplicity of players from lowered barriers to entry.
  The low costs to get started on a PaaS provider’s
  infrastructure attract huge numbers of market entrants who
  would not be able to fund their own infrastructure,
  significantly increasing innovation and competition.
• New business models, propositions, partner channels
  and routes to market. The ‘as-a-service’ business model
  opens up new ways of offering products and bringing them
  to market, many of them highly disruptive to established
  models.

To remain in control of their own destiny, it is imperative that ISVs understand and evaluate what PaaS can offer them. Key to that understanding is to recognize that PaaS is more than just another platform. It’s a new kind of platform. The dynamics of PaaS are different than conventional software platforms. Developers should beware of assessing PaaS alternatives on criteria that are no longer valid when applied to PaaS.

This report maps the landscape and introduces a new framework for evaluating PaaS providers.

Preparation of this report for publication was funded by Intuit, Inc.

 

Table of Contents:

 

A new kind of platform........................................................… 3
Changing ISV business models.............................................…. 4
New economics.................................................................… 4
New go-to-market ..........................................................….. 5
New customer relationships ..............................................….. 6
Dynamics of PaaS................................................................ 8
Distinctive features of PaaS as a platform................................ 8
Multi-tenancy..................................................................... 9
Web community and APIs...................................................... 9
Continuous innovation.......................................................... 9
Meta-customization............................................................. 9
Service delivery infrastructure ...............................................10
PaaS portability ..................................................................10
Interplay with other assets ...................................................11
‘Metaplatform’ assets ...........................................................11
Legacy assets ....................................................................11
Ecosystem partner strategies ................................................11
Platform plays in the PaaS era .............................................…12
Ingredients of classic ISV platforms ........................................12
How PaaS redefines software platforms ...................................13
Considerations for ISVs selecting PaaS ....................................15
Seizing the opportunity ....................................................... 16

 

Download the report (.PDF):

 

• Redefining Software Platforms - How PaaS changes the game for ISVs

 

About the Report

Published by Procullux Media Limited for general information, this 
document presents independent research and analysis compiled by 
Procullux Ventures in good faith from best available sources. 

 

Preparation of this report for publication was funded by Intuit, Inc.

 

About the Author

 

Phil Wainewright is one of the world's foremost authorities on emerging trends in business automation. He is a prolific writer with a ZDNet blog on Software as a Service, an eBizQ blog on The Connected Web, and a series of influential analyst reports to his name. He serves as CEO of Procullux Ventures, a London-based strategic consultancy working with leading business automation vendors and their customers.

• Software as Services
• The Connected Web
• Procullux Ventures
• Detailed biography

Sleeter Group: What is the IPP and how does it compare to the QuickBook SDK?

The Sleeter Group has published an interesting blog post (by Chuck Vigeant) comparing the Intuit Partner Platform (IPP) and the "traditional" QuickBooks SDK. We liked what Chuck had to say...here's a snippet: 

"[IPP] contains tools for database creation, programming, billing, usage metering, licensing procurement, security mechanisms, and even creates a listing for the product that can be accessed directly from within QuickBooks.  In the desktop world, this would be paramount to nirvana.

I have sat in several roadmap meetings, and my first notion is that they have learned from their experiences in the SDK implementation, and have provided a top notch environment for developers create a sellable application in a short timeline. In fact, using the IPP platform and tools, a developer can bring an application to market in weeks, instead of months."

Nice! Now, go and read the whole article...

Also, I'll be at this year's Sleeter Conference (Nov 9-12, Orlando) - so if you are planning to be there too, say hello!

New Promo Video - Intuit Workplace App Center

Below is the new promo video for the Intuit Workplace App Center, featuring some of the great web apps that help Small Business owners boost their bottom line and get connected to a wider array of powerful online services. We'll be updating the video with other new apps as they come online, but this is our first public version.

A quick note to developers new to the Intuit Partner Platform (IPP): the apps shown here are either fully built on IPPs platform-as-a-service (PaaS) or federated, then packaged and sold (as SaaS apps) using IPP. Either way, the App Center is where end-users find, try, but and use those applications.

You like?

 

QuickBooks Pro and Premier 2010 Feature the All-New Intuit App Center

We’re very excited to announce that the Intuit App Center, a new feature of QuickBooks Pro and Premier 2010, is now live. The all-new Intuit App Center provides QuickBooks customers with direct access to web-based business applications that help Small Business owners boost their bottom line and get connected to a wider array of powerful online services.

The apps available on Intuit App Center have been developed by Intuit and members of the Intuit Developer Network to further expand the value of QuickBooks. Today there are over 20 3rd party apps live on the Intuit App Center with a very healthy pipeline of more high-quality 3rd party apps in the works.

Free Trials Available On Intuit App Center

The Intuit App Center is a key channel for 3rd party web apps (built on the Intuit Partner Platform by IDN members) to reach QuickBooks’ 4 million customers. IDN members can check out free trials to the apps available today. Here a some great examples:

• Fuel Station - Track and manage marketing campaigns and sales leads while synchronizing customer information with QuickBooks 2009 and 2010.
• Central Desktop - Share files, create wiki pages and more in minutes! Anywhere Anytime.
• Pixily - Simplified paper and digital document management and document scanning. Automatically look-up clients' and vendors' email addresses from Quickbooks 2009 or 2010 contacts.
• Dimdim - Set up web conferences or deliver synchronized live presentations, whiteboards and web pages while sharing your voice and video online.
• Rypple  - Helps your employees learn and execute faster by getting honest feedback from colleagues, clients, and advisers.
• Setster - Gives service providers and teams of professionals the ability to accept appointments online using a widget that can be embedded on any website.
• VerticalResponse for Intuit® Workplace - Create, launch, and track professional emails, newsletters, postcards and more. And, if you have QuickBooks 2009 or 2010, you can directly import your customer contacts.

What Intuit Apps Are Live on Intuit App Center?

Another exciting aspect of the Intuit Partner Platform is the fact that Intuit’s own product teams are also building and launching new web apps available on the Intuit App Center. Again, free trails are available for each of these apps, so try them out now:

• Intuit Green Snapshot - gives you recommendations on how to save money by reducing your carbon footprint and lets you share progress with your customers.  And since it’s based on your QuickBooks data, there’s no extra work for you.
• ViewMyPaycheck Beta - gives employees of Small Businesses easy access to payroll information.

How Can You Get Your Apps into the Intuit App Center?

If you want your web apps become available on the Intuit App Center then check out the IPP Developer Center to learn how you can build your apps from scratch as “Native” apps or “Federate” existing SaaS apps that integrate with QuickBooks data and then sell them on the Intuit App Center.

Links

• Official Intuit QuickBooks 2010 and Intuit App Center Press Release
• Intuit App Center
• Intuit Partner Platform – IPP Developer Center
• What’s new in QuickBooks 2010 (Intuit site)
• 5 minute YouTube Video w/ new features
• Intuit Small Business United Blog - QuickBooks 2010 is Here!
• Youtube: IntuitQuickBooks

QuickBooks 2010 Press / Blog Coverage

• VentureBeat article: Intuit’s small business software QuickBooks 2010 gets an app store  
• PCMAG.COM article: Intuit QuickBooks 2010 Includes App Store
• accountingweb: What's New in QuickBooks 2010
• bMighty (Information Week):Intuit's New QuickBooks 2010 Eases Installation, Improves Reporting (and Gets Webbier)