Online advertising mastermind Google and business software specialist Intuit announced on Wednesday they have teamed up to tempt small businesses into seeking new customers on the Internet.
Intuit's QuickBooks 2007 program slated to go on sale this fall will be imbedded with Google-powered ways to promote inventory and businesses online, the presidents of both company's said in a telephone conference call.
"It's a good win for Intuit. It's a good win for Google," said Google chief executive Eric Schmidt. "More importantly I think it's the beginning of a much deeper partnership."
The QuickBooks software package would target millions of small businesses, ranging in size from a few employees to 250, that have been unable or unwilling to create Web sites or advertise on the Internet, Intuit said.
The new QuickBooks will make it easy for businesses to list themselves on Google Maps; manage Internet advertising campaigns with Google Adwords program, and post inventory in Google's search database, according to Schmidt.
"The business world is one of collaboration because of the game-changing power of the Web," said Intuit chief executive Steve Bennett. "This is truer today than ever before."
Schmidt sidestepped a question asking whether he thought Google's alliance with Intuit, which makes comprehensive software packages for small businesses, could be seen as "a stake in the heart" of business software giant Microsoft.
Schmidt said he would leave it to others to gauge how the partnership changed the "competitive terrain."
"We think its great for our companies because it is great for our customers," Bennett said. "It is clear that Google understands the Web better than anyone else, and Intuit has a reputation for making easy-to-use solutions for small businesses."
More than 25 percent of small businesses in the US use Intuit software such as QuickBooks and Quicken, according to the company. QuickBooks sales last year tallied US$1.4 million and the company boasted 3.7 million active QuickBooks users.
Intuit estimated that at least half of the small businesses using QuickBooks did not advertise online.
"We became convinced there was a way to add a million or more advertisers on the Internet," Schmidt said. "To solve the problem with them getting online, we made it easy. It seemed a natural partnership."
The new QuickBooks would provide a very simple way for businesses to make pay-per-click ads on Google and create online coupons, the companies said.
Google would create free "profile pages" for businesses that didn't have Web sites.
QuickBooks was to also feature Google search technology that let business operators scan their databases for customer, vendor, and financial information.
"We expect it to be enormously successful and have big hopes and expectations to expand it next year," Schmidt said.
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