Is Intuit on a Slow Slide to Oblivion?

I've been a huge fan of Intuit for a long time.  I used Quicken throughout the 90's and thought of it as the absolute model for what easy to use consumer software should be.  My first two businesses started out using QuickBooks.  I've even given Turbo Tax and some of the other ancillary products a whirl.  Intuit was one of the few companies that actually competed with Microsoft (MS Money) and by most accounts, emerged as the category winner.

However, like most packaged software vendors, you have to wonder if Intuit will be able to transition their business model to something more sustainable.  I don't have any inside information, and I don't think the fall will be rapid, but you can see the erosion taking place.

Just a a few data points.

1. Last year Microsoft announced they were discontinuing MS Money.  It could be that Quicken is just kicking their butts all over the place and they gave up.  However, it's not really in Microsoft's DNA to give up on anything.  My guess is that Microsoft simply believed the category was contracting and it just wasn't interesting enough any more.  People are just not buying a lot of PC based software any more.

2. QuickBooks continues to dominate the small business category but Intuit has been unsuccessful building/buying a product for companies that need more.  In 2002 Intuit purchased a popular accounting system called Eclipse as part of their strategy to go more upstream.  After several years of not finding any real traction within Intuit, Eclipse was unloaded on Activant.  Our business has graduated from QuickBooks into the web based product Intacct. It simply is more robust and the SAAS model fits our business perfectly.  Even SAP, the giant ERP vendor is moving to the SAAS model with their ByDesign offering.  Intuit does offer an online version of QuickBooks but it doesn't even have the feature set of the regular QuickBooks.

3. TurboTax continues to lead in a number of Reviews, but really how long before these products are indistinguishable?  They all seem to be at the point now of adding all of those features that you'll never really use.

Intuit recognizes that they need to grow in other ways.  Last year they purchased the popular web site Mint.com for $170 Million.  This seemed like a massive overpayment for a free service, with a revenue model that was still evolving.  I've used Mint.com since a few months after their launch and while it's a cool service which aggregates your financial info from a lot of sources, it really didn't feel that much better than Yodlee was in the late 90's. However, Intuit must have felt like they had to do something to appeal to the younger generation that certainly wasn't out buying Quicken.

My biggest beef is more personal and it's with Intuit's lack of direction with Paytrust, the online bill presentment and payment company that I started in 1998, left in 2001, and that Intuit purchased in 2005.  I still use Paytrust, it's the only service on the market where you can both receive and pay ALL of your bills online.  Paytrust won all sorts of awards in the early 2000's but it's grown very tired under Intuit's watch. No new features have been added in years, and one of the killer features called SmartBalance, which automatically balances your checking account, has been broken for most banks for several years.  

So I was quite surprised last week when I logged into Paytrust and saw an announcement for a new feature called RealBalance powered by Mint.com.  Did someone at Intuit finally realize that this was the killer feature that made Paytrust users happy?  Apparently that was the plan, but not the execution. Not only did it not work for most users including me, but several days after launching, an email was sent out declaring:

Thanks for choosing to use our new Real Balance® Powered by Mint feature. The response to our partnership with Mint.com has been incredible—so incredible that we’ve realized we need to make a few technical adjustments to better enhance your experience. As a result, Real Balance® Powered by Mint will be temporarily unavailable while we make these updates.

Oh how the mighty have fallen.  Intuit, the trendsetter in personal financial management software, failing on their first attempt at integrating two of their popular services.  

As my kids would say - Seriously? Seriously?

Comments

[dsf]

Flint, another great post. I too saw the Real Balance come and go -- and even emailed customer service when it didn't work for me, and they emailed me back saying that it did work -- then I emailed back no it doesn't and never heard back until the same email you got. I will say that I have a lot of hope for Mint -- it is so much better than any of the online PFMs of the past.

[John]

One can only hope Paytrust is sold by Intuit to a company that understands customer service and how to execute IT changes. I have been a customer for almost 10 years and the product has gotten worse, not better under Intuit's ownership.
The concept of Realbalance and Paytrust is great, its the execution that is a real joke.

[Flint Lane]

At some point someone will do the automatically balancing check book correctly and that might just make this main stream.

[moving company]

That's what some experts are saying. The are so many factors that can be blamed for, but as for me, i think that intuit will never be a past thing.

[RJB]

Yes, Paytrust is definitely on a downward slope. Customer service is a joke. After using the service so 10 years or so I think I am going to have to get off after the latest interactions I have had with them about their bug. I suspect I'll have to go back to bank e-pay using Manilla to pull it together for me.

[Alejandro Ortiz]

Great comments. Mint is cute but funky...almost gimmicky. As for paytrust: wouldn't it be nice if one could pay a bill once, with quickbooks AND paytrust? After all they are the same company! It doesn't seem like it would take that much to integrate the two. They've had plenty of time. It does seem like they're asleep at the wheel, doesn't it?

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