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In case you missed our recent Twitter Spaces Chat with an Expert session on QuickBooks Mobile, you can catch the recap of the session below. Because this is a longer interview, we've broken it into two parts, and you can find the next part here.
Our Social Program Manager, Luren sat down with Alex Ayers to discuss the QuickBooks Mobile app. Below is a summary of their session that has been lightly edited for clarity.
Luren: Hello and thank you for joining us today for a discussion about QuickBooks Mobile. Let's get started with a quick round of intros. I'm Luren and I am a program manager in our social spaces. Alex, please tell us a bit about yourself.
Alex: My name is Alex Ayers and I represent the QuickBooks Mobile App. I work with our product development team to understand customer needs for our mobile space specifically. Really excited to join you guys today and hear more about how we can help you guys in the mobile space.
Luren: So we will start off with a really simple question. What is QuickBooks mobile?
Alex: QuickBooks Mobile is our mobile app. It's offered both on Android and iOS. And for those of you that are familiar with the web experience, QuickBooks Mobile most closely resembles and emulates our Simple Start Plan. So all of the features and capabilities that are available on Simple Start are available on QuickBooks Mobile.
We've come a long way in the past year, and obviously coming a long way comes with a lot of change. So we really appreciate our customers sticking with us through this journey. We're working actively to increase capability from your mobile device as you use the QuickBooks Mobile app to empower yourselves through your small business journeys.
Luren: When we're looking at different business types, who would you say would use this app and benefit most from its capabilities?
Alex: I would say from an industry perspective I think anybody that sees the value that certain features have can fit in. I don't think there's any (one) industry. However, we are embracing the persona of the Small Business Owner, who can be seen more as a "Checker." Kind of checking, you know, the health of their business. Checking the health of certain invoices, expenses, mileage for tax deductions, even reports like Profit and Loss and your balance sheet are all things that QuickBooks Mobile can help you stay in touch with and aligned with. And so, really anybody, any business model, or anyone that is a small business owner, that sees value in these (features) - QuickBooks Mobile could solve for that.
Luren: So, it works great for a plethora of businesses. It's not specific - it's really anyone that wants to run their business on the go.
Alex: Absolutely. Yeah.
We do follow me homes, and we try to understand small businesses because ideally we'd rather us fit into your business model than you fit your small business into the QuickBooks platform. And so we see people, in the pest control industry, construction, freelance folks who travel, retail, cosmetics, culinary even and really it's how their systems and tools - because we know that QuickBooks isn't the only system and tool at play here - it's how much time is spent to set these things up in order to have that durable system for a small business accessible in QuickBooks Mobile.
Luren: Because you work so closely with the product, I love asking this question because it really lets people know what's coming and what they should be looking out for. So what are you most excited about feature-wise in QuickBooks mobile?
Alex: Yeah, and this is a boring one because it's our most used feature. So it's nothing, you know, super new and Innovative, but it's also something that I think can benefit all types of business models. And the one thing that I really like is our invoicing feature. It really enables people to procure payment.
At the end of the day, (the question we ask ourselves is) "Hey, how are we going to get you paid? How can we empower you to get paid?"
And so a lot of the time spent on the web app, as far as customization, sales tax, (setting up) products and services, and a variety of other things that you can do within the QuickBooks website; you can see that reflected and kind of capable within the QuickBooks mobile app once it's taken care of on the web platform.
What I really like is when I'm able to kind of see that connection happen from web to mobile and then the small business owner doesn't necessarily need to be attached to the computer. To feel able to procure payment or operate their small business from their hand. So I love that. It's nothing that's like, you know, a mind reader that's going to hit your market and understand what's really going to sell the best. That is a feature I think everybody would love, but I really like how you can customize your invoice, you can have those different locations where you're selling products and services from on the invoice and you can really make it something that without too much of a thought you can get done from your hand.
Luren: So, when we think about people having this, as a handheld device, what can our small businesses manage on the go? I think you've touched base with a lot of the different features and functions. But if you just had to tell them, these are the things you can manage on the go. This is what you can do when you're out in the field. When you're at a site, when maybe you're out of farmers market selling something, what would that look like for them? What can they do on the go?
Alex: Yeah, it's a great question because we don't serve all of the needs that we can serve online. What does mobile uniquely solve? And those are my second and third answers to that most exciting feature question.
We've got features like mileage tracking and receipt capture that take advantage of and leverage the capabilities of our phones. Cell phones really are magical devices but are totally normal and commonplace. And that's why we've got to innovate quickly for the benefit of those small businesses. But through mileage tracking, and through expense tracking, and capturing those receipts, you no longer need to have Ziploc bags full of receipts that I'm sure your accountants would not want to see at the end of a quarter.
Those are things, you know, say let's just pull a construction example out for example. Say I've got to drive and I'm in a rural location, and I drive quite a long way to pick up supplies from a Lowe's or Home Depot. Well, I can track that trip through the mobile device, through the QuickBooks mobile app, and have that as a tax deduction. And then once I get to Lowe's, or Home Depot, I can take a picture of that receipt. Now, if I want to get rid of the receipt, I can. But the point of the matter is, your receipt can be uploaded quickly into your QuickBooks, and then it can be something to take care of later or on the spot - whatever the time and the task requires.
But those two things from a small business perspective, they really help small businesses understand that there's a ton of tax deductions here, and while we really want you to generate a ton of money - we want you to do so in a lean way to where you get a tax benefit for it. And so those are two things that I think mobile uniquely can take care of. Everything else is kind of in service to that web experience and It opens up the capability there, too
To keep an eye out for our next Chat with an Expert session, you can follow us on Twitter at @QuickBooksCares, or you can check out our Webinars and Events calendar to always see what is coming up.
