Will attended the 2nd annual Intuit QuickBooks Connect Conference and here are his impressions of the week:
What an amazing week! QuickBooks (QB) Connect is an Intuit sponsored event that brings accountants, business owners and software developers together in a mashup of training, inspirational speakers and just plain fun. Last year was the first year and while it was a great event, this year was even better and I can’t wait for next year.
First of all, we brought Sofia, our Ace bookkeeper for advanced training in QuickBooks Online (QBO), Intuit’s cloud based accounting package. I sat in on a number of the classes as well as being invited to help with the concierge desk. The desk was designed to help the attendees maximize their time at the trade show. We got to speak to attendees, learn about their business needs and direct them to vendors that might be a good fit for their needs. While I knew a number of vendors there, I was excited to meet new vendors and find out all of the great things that are happening to make QBO the platform of the future for small businesses as well as helping accounting firms become firms of the future.
In addition, there was a great line up of speakers in the main hall. In the morning we heard from Jessica Alba who talked about the challenges of a celebrity trying to build a worthwhile company that made a difference. The highlight was when she said that everyone told her that she just should do a perfume like all of the others, but her vision was to create a company (The Honest Company) in which she could be proud of the products she sold as well as making a difference in her customer’s lives. Afterwards, Robert Herjavec of Shark Tank fame spoke about the importance of not just being good enough. As he was getting started, he heard from a prospect that their current provider was “Good enough” which caused Robert to pivot and change his offering to differentiate himself from the rest. There were some juicy tidbits from the set of Shark Tank, and he closed with a touching story about his dad with the thought that in spite of all of the money and fame he has acquired, he does it to take care of the ones he loves, a thought that resonated with me. To close out the event was Oprah, yes Oprah. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting to be moved as much as I was. She talked about intention acts as well how she never wanted to be used by any guests, using as an example of having a skinhead use her show to espouse their hate. It was inspiring and moved me.
Next up was the Reseller Connect, our reseller trade show. I received advanced training in QuickBooks Point of Sale Powered by Revel. I have now mastered the setup of the Quick Serve and table service restaurants. Server based POS systems are so last century. I have spoken to several people who have many years in this industry and they see the huge shift in the industry. Aloha and Micro are so limited with their back office hardware requirements and large upfront and ongoing costs. QBPOS Revel gives you the ease of operation on the front end and all of the features needed as well as integration with QuickBooks Accounting. Very compelling value proposition for the customer.
At the conference, we (English Management Solutions, Inc.) were also recognized for our sales achievement. We were one of 39 out of 240 Premier Resellers who were in the 100k club, meaning they sold at least 100k in Intuit Product and Service Revenue in their fiscal year. While we were honored to be among this select group, it is our customers who deserve the honor. By placing your trust and faith in us, we are humbled to be your reseller of choice and I thank you and look forward to many more years of faithful service.
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