A Tremor in the QuickBooks Ecosystem – QuickBooks Desktop Discontinued in the UK
Some extremely important news about QuickBooks Desktop rolled out of the UK recently…
I emphasize that this information ONLY relates to the UK version of QuickBooks.
For now.
COULD INTUIT DISCONTINUE THE US VERSION OF QUICKBOOKS DESKTOP TOO?
While only Intuit knows what their product roadmap and timetable looks like, let’s review some recent happenings in the US QuickBooks Desktop space.
- As recently as the week of October 24, 2021, Ted Callahan who is the Accountant Leader at Intuit, was posed the question at Scaling New Heights – “What’s the future for QuickBooks desktop?” Here is the reply (read more excerpts from my friends at The Woodard Report) – “Based on his conversations with the Desktop team, which he does not lead, Ted reaffirmed Intuit’s commitment to providing Desktop for as long as people want to continue using Desktop, saying, “The future of Desktop is bright and focused.”
- Also according to Ted, the recent change to a subscription model for QuickBooks Desktop will:
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- Allow the Desktop team to focus on only one Desktop product, allowing them to develop and roll out premium features that will provide time- and money-saving opportunities
- Offer automated backup and data recovery
- Provide unlimited support
KEY WORDS FROM ABOVE – “AS LONG AS PEOPLE WANT TO CONTINUE USING DESKTOP”
To me, these words are where things really start to take shape – here’s why…
People are going to want to DIS-continue using QuickBooks Desktop sooner rather than later simply because of the economics in play (NOTE: I’m only referring to the dollars here, not the feature sets between products, of which we could talk for days!).
Let’s take a closer look at a few examples of the QBO vs. QuickBooks Desktop pricing (prices shown are list prices as they appear on the QuickBooks web site – discounts may be available in certain situations. Applicable taxes would be extra of course):
EXAMPLE 1: A business that has a 5 user QuickBooks Premier Desktop installation. The Premier 2022 subscription price = $1,750. Compare that to the QuickBooks Online Plus platform which allows up to 5 users. That is priced at $80 per month, or $960 per year. A difference of $790 per year. And this of course would be EVERY year, since Premier Desktop is now on a subscription basis.
EXAMPLE 2: A business that has a 10 user QuickBooks Enterprise Silver installation. The subscription price for Enterprise is $5,475 per year. Compare that to the QuickBooks Online Advanced platform which allows up to 25 users. That is priced at $180 per month or $2,160 per year. A difference of over $3,300 per year. And this of course would be EVERY year.
How many businesses are going to be real keen on paying that much more every year?
SEE WHERE I’M GOING WITH THIS?
Intuit can easily make the comment that QuickBooks Desktop will be available for as long as people want to keep using it. It’s just as easy to make it more expensive compared to QBO so businesses will gladly pay less to make the move.
And don’t think that Intuit can’t (or won’t) pull the plug in the future on the US version of QuickBooks Desktop just like they did in the UK. All they have to do is switch out the reference from UK to US in their recent statement – “sadly, we we have taken the decision to discontinue QuickBooks Desktop and Desktop Support for our UK customers.”
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN TO YOUR BUSINESS?
For those US businesses who are smart buyers, sensitive to their expenses, and who value their critical accounting software, the writing sure seems to be on the wall.
It’s time to begin looking into a potential move into QBO, and possibly the add-on ecosystem that attaches to it. And most certainly identifying and evaluating any speed bumps and potholes that may present themselves along the way!
Or even possibly a move to another platform (good luck with that idea – more to come on this soon).
I know, I know. You simply can’t (or won’t) let go of QuickBooks Desktop.
Or can you?
NEED HELP SORTING IT ALL OUT?
I’ve been knee deep in the QuickBooks ecosystem since 1999 and have watched all of their product development unfold over the last 22 years.
