Small business owners know that running a business often means juggling dozens of disparate tools. Intuit wants to change that.
Starting today, QuickBooks users will be able to call on their virtual assistants, such as artificial intelligence agents, to help them complete tasks across core business functions, including accounting, client management, finance and project management.
Built on the Intuit platform. Quick books introduces AI Agents, a Client Center, a redesigned interface and an updated set of connected tools that help businesses operate and grow smarter and faster.
On average, executives lose seven and a half hours a week switching between tools. Intuit claims that addressing these issues could result in an additional $178,000 in annual revenue for the average Canadian business.
“We've heard from our clients that fragmented tools to gain a consolidated view of their business are a major challenge. It’s like going to six grocery stores to cook dinner,” said Hamilton Jones, HR manager, global platform at Intuit. “We wanted to reimagine the platform as a whole and combine everything a business owner needs with artificial intelligence and human intelligence to relieve the manual labor holding them back.”
The problem was not just anecdotal. Intuit's recent Growth Gap report found that nearly half of Canadian SMBs are missing out on growth opportunities due to inefficiency and decision fatigue.
On average, executives lose seven and a half hours a week simply switching between tools. Addressing these issues could result in an additional $178,000 in annual revenue for the average Canadian business, according to Intuit.
The new QuickBooks experience directly targets these pain points by combining accounting, CRM, and project management into one platform powered by automation, artificial intelligence, and the expertise of trusted experts.
“We hope to give users more options to focus on the work they actually want to spend time on; it grows their business,” Jones said. “With highly administrative and highly repetitive tasks, so much time is lost that it can be difficult to see the big picture, so a big part of this is being able to help users notice things they might not see themselves.”
New AI agents are the stars of the new platform. Think of them as a team of digital assistants who work behind the scenes for you or your accounting professional and get smarter over time, but the business owner is always in the driver's seat.
An accounting agent automates bookkeeping and categorization to keep accounts clean. An account agent finds leads directly from your inbox, prioritizes high-value opportunities, prepares responses, schedules appointments, and tracks prospects throughout the sales cycle.
The financial agent compiles real-time summary data on profits and losses, cash flows and balance sheets. And the Project Management Agent automatically populates key data for draft projects to reduce manual data entry.
But the update goes beyond AI agents. QuickBooks also introduced a redesigned interface and menus that make it easier to find what you need, an AI-powered business channel that suggests tasks to improve productivity, and access to human support when you need it, making the platform feel like you have a big team behind you.
For users, this means less time spent navigating between tabs and more time spent on strategy, customers, and growth.
Mike Libby, partner and chief operating officer of accounting firm YBL, says they have never used QuickBooks in their 16 years with the company.
“We've been using QuickBooks for many years, and the platform has grown and become much better today,” Libby said. “We have a team of 35 people across Canada and 1,000 clients, so being able to have all their information in one place where I already spend time on a daily basis allows us to be much more informed and provide timely insights.”
He also believes the power of artificial intelligence could be a game-changer for his clients, from realtors and healthcare providers to construction companies.
“Agents will give them some information from a deeper perspective before they even ask,” he said. “Having this information at their fingertips will help them transform their business.”
According to an Intuit study, 80 percent of business leaders said AI could help them delegate more effectively while maintaining control. Four in ten leaders say AI is already saving them up to one day a week. Intuit calls this the “AI dividend”: the productivity, focus and confidence gained when technology automates the work that slows down a business.
And it looks like Canadian SMEs are ready to capitalize on it. Forty-six percent of respondents fall into the “high readiness” category for using technology for growth, one of the strongest results among global markets.
With the global rollout of QuickBooks on the Intuit platform, Intuit is betting that more integrated workflows and AI-powered analytics will help small businesses close the growth gap and even reclaim a few hours along the way.
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QuickBooks powered by Intuit is available today at: fastbooks.intuit.com/ca/
All images courtesy of Intuit
