Businessmodel of Intuit

Customer Segments

Intuit provides services to three main segments: general consumers, accounting professionals and small and medium-sized businesses. The Company provides personal finance and consumer tax products to general users, comprising both sole traders and general professionals, wishing to gain greater control of their finances and access easier methods of managing tax requirements.

Its more advanced tools and products are used by accountancy firms as well as to enterprises. The Company’s business customers operate within various industries, including the energy, construction, education, technology, travel and financial services sectors, with customer including big names such as Google, Procter and Gamble, TomTom, and Kayak.

Intuit serves customers across the world, but its main market is in the US where it is the market leader.

Value Propositions

The key values of Intuit are the flexibility, accessibility and reliability of its products, its support and community networks and its industry reputation.

Intuit is one of the most established names in the tax and accounting software market, and is a market leader in its native US. The Company has a reputation for providing reliable, easy-to-use products offering substantial functionality.

Intuit products can be accessed via desktop and mobile websites, as well as mobile and tablet apps, enabling users to keep track of their finances while on the move. It also allows users to access its software products via the cloud or through direct downloads.

Additionally, Intuit maintains a strong support and community networks forits users through its website.

Channels

The majority of Intuit’s products are available via its desktop and mobile websites at www.intuit.com. The Company has also developed a range of apps corresponding to its various different products – including for Mint, Intuit Tax Online Accountant, Online Payroll and QuickBooks online – that are available through the Apple App Store and the Google Play marketplace.

Once users have subscribed to Intuit services, software can be downloaded directly - on both Mac and Windows computers – or accessed via a cloud-based software-as-a-service platform, depending on the product.

For more complicated or tailored subscriptions customers can contact the Intuit sales team for pricing.

Customer Relationships

The majority of Intuit’s consumer, business and accountancy products are available on a self-service basis, with subscriptions, purchases and downloads being managed via the Intuit website with no interference from the Company itself.

Some larger, more advances subscriptions, however, require a greater degree of personal care, with sales representatives negotiating prices directly with customers.

Intuit provides ongoing tax, payroll and quickbooks support to its customers in the form of tutorials, FAQs and training resources. The Company’s support staff can also be contacted directed via the Intuit website.

Intuit also hosts community forums for its small business customers and tax customers, providing answers to specific queries and enabling users to interact with one another.

The Company also updates its customers through its small business, tax and accounting blogs, as well as via its various social networking accounts.

Key Activities

Intuit develops and markets business and financial management software solutions for individuals, small and medium-sized businesses, financial institutions, and accounting professionals, including tax preparation, payroll, accounting and personal finance products.

Its activities are divided into three principal segments: Small Business, Consumer Tax and Professional Tax. Additionally, the Company operates an application marketplace which facilitates the sale of third-party applications, and provides small business lending services in collaboration with several financial and tech partners.

The Company also manages a network of other partners, including developers, resellers, distributors and affiliates

Key Partners

Intuit partners with a variety of companies in order to provide reliable and efficient products and extend its marketing and sales network.

The Company’s partners are divided into five separate programs: the QuickBooks Online Distribution Partner Program, comprising tech companies and accounting services firms; the Intuit Reseller Program, comprising authorised resellers and independent software vendors; the QuickBooks Affiliate Program; the Intuit Developer Network, comprising software developers, cloud services companies and tech firms; and the Turbo Tax Affiliate Program.

In addition, the Company partners with a number of sourcing companies, through which it procures the goods and services required to operate fully. Intuit’s partners include e-commerce company Shopify, payments platform developer Stripe, ride-sharing company Uber and tech firm Fundbox.

Intuit also collaborates with a  number of authorised hosting partners, including Xcentric, CloudRunner, Right Networks and Skyline Cloud Services.

Key Resources

Intuit’s key resources are its software products, its IT infrastructure, its network of partnerships and its personnel.

The Company has a number of patent applications filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office, including applications titled ‘Personal savings plan’, ‘Method and system for intrusion and extrusion detection’, and Method and system for providing a payroll preparation platform with user contribution-based plugins’.

Cost Structure

Intuit’s cost relate principally to the development of its products, cost of sales, support services, retention of personnel and maintenance of IT infrastructure.

The Company reportedly employs a workforce of more than 8,000, including large sales and support teams that incur costs through salaries and benefits.

The Company also operates a network of servers and data centres which accrues operating and rental costs, as do Intuit’s offices across the US, Australia, Canada, India, Brazil, Singapore, France and the UK.

Revenue Streams

Intuit primarily generates revenue through the sale of various tax preparation, payroll and accounting software products. This accounted for the vast majority of Intuit’s 2015 fiscal revenue of $4.2 billion.

The majority of Intuit’s products are available on a monthly subscription basis, with the exception of certain one-off tax services. Intuit’s suite of products is divided into those for individuals, comprising Mint, QuickBooks Self-Employed and TurboTax; those for small businesses, including Intuit Payroll Services, QuickBooks and QuickBooks Payments; and those for accountants, notably Intuit Tax Online, Lacerte, and ProSeries.

Subscription pricing ranges from as little as $5 per month for the most basic QuickBooks Individual package and up to $1,890 per year for the Company’s ProSeries tax product for accountants. For larger accountancies and businesses subscription pricing can be negotiated with members of the Intuit sales team. Intuit additionally sells a range of personal finance products through its Quicken brand.

Intuit also generates a smaller amount of revenue through its app marketplace, where it sells a range of third-party applications, as well as through its Intuit Quickbooks Financing products, that include invoice financing, short-term loans, and credit card services.