Ten months ago I wrote an article titled, "QuickBooks Business Network - 'It's About Time'." In the piece, I recalled my attendance at a press event during the first "QuickBooks Connect" in San Diego. During the event, I asked then Intuit CEO Brad Smith (and several QuickBooks product managers) if there was any intention to "connect QuickBooks users together so that payments made in one users' QBO showed up immediately in another QBO users' QBO as a payment received?"
Last April, I wrote about Intuit's introduction of the QuickBooks Business Network— its first step in helping establish the connection between the payee and the payor by offering a simpler, safer way to pay and get paid.
Well, over the last 10 months, the QuickBooks Business Network has gone through a series of Beta tests, and apparently went live about a month ago. Since then, the total network already has 3.8-million members, all of whom are using QuickBooks Online to connect with one another for accounts payable automation.
A QuickBooks Online Company can use the QuickBooks Business Network to search for one of its existing customers (shown below).
Source: Intuit QuickBooks Media Source Content
Once it finds its customer, it can send an invite to connect via the QuickBooks Business Network. Here, it can exchange invoice data that will automatically create a vendor bill without manual requirements. (See the bottom of the form below.)
Source: Intuit QuickBooks Source Media Content
Tens of thousands of businesses already are using the QuickBooks Business Network. They are able to send invoices directly from their QuickBooks Online company to other network users where they become bills (like the one shown below) in the QuickBooks Online company of those users.
How cool is that?
Source: Intuit QuickBooks Source Media Content
It substantially reduces the time by the receiving QuickBooks Online users having to manually create a bill, even if they used something like scanning or snap-capture, etc. The Invoice in one QBO Company file creates a Vendor Bill in another QBO Company file automatically.
There actually is a little more to it than that. The receiving QBO Company must review and accept or save the Vendor Bill being created.
It can schedule a payment for the bill just as it would any other vendor bill it created if it chooses.
But I know what you're thinking, "Murph, that's only half of what you envisioned long ago... what about paying the bill?"
Well, that's coming, too.
According to Or Zimmer, Senior Product Manager for Intuit's QuickBooks B2B Network, one of the next steps involves implementation of Wallets to streamline payments.
Wallets will allow for bills created through the QuickBooks Business Network to be paid without actually needing to exchange payment information. It will work like a direct transfer of funds from one QuickBooks Online user's wallet to another QuickBooks Online user's wallet via the QB Business Network itself.
And wait, there's more.
While the QuickBooks Business Network currently is built around QuickBooks Online users, eventually QBO users will be able to invite non-QBO users to sign-up for the Business Network for free.
Compliance will be another aspect of the QuickBooks Business Network. This includes the ability to meet the requirements of W9 tracking incorporated right into the network sign-up and authentication process.
If you want to learn more about the QuickBooks Business Network, head over to the Intuit QuickBooks Blog or this official Intuit website.
Disclosures:
Portions of this feature, including graphical artwork contained therein, have been adapted from Intuit furnished content provided through Intuit QuickBooks media sources. Adapted source materials by Insightful Accountant are furnished for educational purposes only.
As used herein, QuickBooks, QuickBooks Online (QBO) and the QuickBooks Business Network, refer to one or more registered trademarks of Intuit Inc., a publicly-traded corporation headquartered in Mountain View, California.
Any other trade names used herein refer to products which may be registered or trademarked, or otherwise held by, their respective owners; they are referenced for informational and educational purposes only.
This is an editorial feature, not sponsored content. None of the vendors within this article have paid Insightful Accountant or the author any form of remuneration to be included within this feature. The article is provided solely for informational and educational purposes.
The publication of this article, nor inclusion of this product within the related series, does not represent any endorsement by either the author or Insightful Accountant.
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