What The Heck Is A QBO App And Why Do I Need One?

What is a QBO App and Why do you need them?

In the past, the accounting software for a small business owner was a stand alone product. If you wanted to get some information into the software, you manually had to enter it. Sure, there were some things that could be synced into it, but it was cumbersome, manual intervention was required, and to set it up, you sometimes needed a computer engineering degree.

Welcome to today’s world of accounting and QuickBooks Online (QBO). if you don’t know what QBO is, you can read more about it here.

The power of QuickBooks Online is the Apps that connect to it.

You will hear lots of references to Apps in this new world of accounting and bookkeeping. In its most basic terms, an “App” is a an application, or another piece of software that integrates and transfers information either To or From your QBO file. Lots of people are familiar with the term “App” because they have a smartphone. In the accounting space, it is exactly the same thing. It is just a program that solves a business problem and integrates with QBO. The combination of QBO and the Apps that connect to it are called your Financial Data Management Ecosystem (Ecosystem).

In 2018, there are approximately 1200 apps that extend the functionality of QBO, and that number grows daily. There are apps for pretty much every purpose that you can imagine, some that are related to the numbers of a business, and some that have nothing to do with financials. There are time-tracking apps, inventory management apps, expense management, CRM (customer relationship management), payment processors, payroll, financial analysis, funding, and the list goes on and on.

In the past, many people have objected to migrating business clients over to QBO because the program was not as robust as QuickBooks desktop. And that was true. However – with the growing number of apps that connect to QBO, there are no longer limitations to what can be accomplished with QBO. We would argue that QBO in conjunction with Apps is far superior to QuickBooks desktop software, and can solve more problems for small business than you ever could. This kind of power and capability was never available to small business in the past. You would only ever get this kind of interconnectivity if you were an IBM or a Canadian Tire. Well that has all changed.

Visit the QuickBooks Online App store to learn more

Browse through the full list of apps available in the app store (yes, there is an app store!) There are some which are country specific, but the US has the largest selection, and more are added to the Canadian store every day.

So, if that was completely overwhelming and you have no idea where to start or which apps to choose, then you’ve come to the right place! This is our specialty, and we LOVE creating Financial Ecosystems for our clients.

So give us a call and let’s get you connected!

If you would like to see who some of our App Partners are that we highly recommend, check them out here.