No Matter what you are looking for there is most likely an app for it.  When you really start to look at what all of these apps have in common, they all have some application integration connecting them to some type of accounting software.  Considering how important the numbers are to the success of a business it is no surprise that application integration services have become so popular.

Gone are the days of carbon paper invoices being paid by personal checks.  Instead services like PayPal, Strip, Square and countless alternatives fight to win your invoicing and payment business.  But what happens to all that information when the transaction is done, if you’re lucky it syncs to your accounting system and if you’re not, well you are manually typing it in.  

“It use to be that your accounting software had to be separate from everything else, but now everything wants to connect to QuickBooks. “

Enter QuickBooks Online and the birth of cloud accounting.  Now I know that Intuit was not the first player in the cloud arena, but it is safe to say that they helped shape it.  Why else would competitors like Freshbooks, Xero, and even Intacct draw comparison against the company in their own marketing. Now I am not saying that QuickBooks Online is the best thing since sliced bread, actually I think it is rather mediocre just like all the other accounting software out there. The real winners out of all of these cloud wars have been the consumer and it is all thanks to the countless companies and their application integrations. 

Having started with desktop software, we too were concerned about transitioning to a cloud environment for all of our clients, and like many others experienced a lot challenges along the way. During that process something interesting happened, we stopped expecting our cloud based software to outperform their desktop counterparts, and started to appreciate them as a malleable hub allowing us to connect to hundreds of unique applications custom designed for just about every industry.  Since then, we have made it our focus to stay apprised of the newest application integrations and how they can benefit our clients.