*Note: In this article, figures assume mid-level range deployment of Intuit Enterprise Suite over a three year period. Findings are based on a composite organization, created from Forrester interviews with 8 Intuit Enterprise Suite customers and survey responses from 150 QuickBooks Online customers. This composite organization represents a mid-market business consisting of 10 entities, $12 million in revenue and 23 total employees. For results and ranges, please view the full study and appendix.

Intuit commissioned a study from Forrester Consulting, a leading independent global research company, to quantify the impact of Intuit Enterprise Suite on complex and growing businesses. Intuit Enterprise Suite is an all in one, AI-powered business management solution that offers enterprise-level financial management, payroll, HR, payments, bill pay, and marketing to help growing businesses streamline and automate operations and boost productivity. The solution brings data together across these functions to enable real-time business intelligence for better decision making that further increases profitability. 

Forrester's Projected Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) study details the third-party research company's objective with quantitative and qualitative findings of the impact of Intuit Enterprise Suite. The benefits, time savings, and efficiencies are projected to create a 299% return on investment and $446,824 savings in net present value over three years when Intuit Enterprise Suite is deployed at a mid-range level, according to the study.

A note on Forrester's methodology. To find the new tech total economic impact of Intuit Enterprise Suite, Forrester used its proven research methodology to create a composite company based on eight interviewees using Intuit Enterprise Suite in pilot or beta. In this scenario, the composite company is assumed to make $12 million in revenue via 10 entities while employing 23 staff, including a three-person finance team comprising the CFO and two bookkeepers. Forrester also interviewed 150 current Intuit QuickBooks customers who are potential customers of Intuit Enterprise Suite to calculate projected costs, benefits, and risks.

This article uses figures from the mid-range value impact for the composite company, which assumes that the organization adopts all Intuit Enterprise Suite accounting and workforce management solutions.

Key benefits of Intuit Enterprise Suite

As organizations grow, they often find themselves managing a complex array of disparate systems and tools, resulting in time-consuming manual efforts to bring together fragmented data. This can make it difficult to gain an accurate view of the organization's financial standing, hindering effective decision-making and future growth. 

Intuit Enterprise Suite offers a solution to these challenges by streamlining operations and enabling real-time business intelligence decisions that can significantly enhance profitability. Forrester found that interviewees were relieved to be able to stay within the Intuit ecosystem through company growth.

“When Intuit Enterprise Suite came around, it was really an answer to prayer versus a question of: 'Should we do this or should we not?'" said the founder and CEO of a landscaping and construction business. "We don’t need super advanced functionality for where we’re at [in terms of organizational size] today. We just need to have a vision that [Intuit] wants to take care of those of us in this midsized space."

The Forrester study's findings bear out the benefits of Intuit Enterprise Suite for growing companies that aren't yet ready for the financial, technological, or migration-related commitments of an ERP platform. All together, the key benefits total a projected present value of $596,024 in three years at a mid-range level (see full study for projected ROI breakdown). The key benefits of Intuit Enterprise Suite at such mid-range level are:

1. Unlocking better decisions through data consolidations.

• Intercompany transactions can save $127,334.
• Reporting efficiencies of $139,940 in savings.
• Recovered revenue of $193,974 from better decision-making.

2. Streamlining operations and financial decisions.

• Invoicing efficiencies saving $18,782.
• Payroll efficiencies saving $73,163.

3. Creating cost savings on technology of $42,831.

Not all benefits of Intuit Enterprise Suite were quantifiable. Forrester's study highlights additional benefits that provided the composite company with substantial value:

• Influencing revenue and profit due to better decision-making using project forecasting and by expediting project issue identification and resolution.
• Reducing risk and meeting compliance standards.
• Collaborating better across departments and functions.
• Enabling a more attractive working environment for current and future employees.
• Feeling confident in the Intuit partnership while avoiding a more costly technology systems upgrade project.
• Flexibility to adapt with the suite in the future, including using pay-enabled invoices or influencing decisions outside of the finance department (e.g., marketing spend).

Below are more details on each of the three key quantifiable benefits, their supporting data, and direct customer feedback.

Key benefit 1: Unlocking better decisions through data consolidations

Prior to implementing Intuit Enterprise Suite, Forrester found that the growing companies were facing challenges revolving around manual processes and disparate systems. Nearly 6 in 10 (59%) of Forrester's survey respondents experienced data fragmentation with their current financial ecosystem. These issues resulted in slow processing times and resource bottlenecks, due to manual data entry and reconciliations. Furthermore, inconsistent and inaccurate data hindered the CFO's reporting capabilities and obscured stakeholders' visibility into company operations.

The study found that Intuit Enterprise Suite can unlock better decision-making through streamlined intercompany transactions that unlock reporting efficiencies and data accuracy and enable the company to recover revenue.

Intercompany transactions

Among accounting tasks, intercompany transactions are among the most painful, manual, time-consuming, and error-prone processes. Disparate systems, applications, and browser windows can make intercompany transactions time-consuming and error-prone. They too often require manual data entry and reconciliation across multiple accounts and entities.

Intuit Enterprise Suite consolidates financial systems and accounts into a single login and window, streamlining data entry and reducing errors for businesses with multiple entities. 

Efficiencies from intercompany transactions could save bookkeepers significant time, with a projected three-year present value of $127,334 at a mid-range level.

Reporting efficiencies

Generating reports and providing access to financial data can be a bottleneck when data is fragmented and systems are disjointed. CFOs running reports with outdated information from disparate tracking systems puts nimble decision-making with accurate-to-the-moment reports out of the question.

Intuit Enterprise Suite's real-time data and enhanced reporting capabilities, including Spreadsheet Sync, allow for faster report generation and broader data access. Eight in 10 Forrester survey respondents said they can envision generating better insights and reporting with Intuit Enterprise Suite. By extending access to financial reports and dashboards to roles beyond finance, organizations can empower employees, reduce ad hoc report requests, and improve decision-making.

The projected three-year present value of these reporting efficiencies is $139,940.

Recovered revenue from better decisions

C-level executives and other key stakeholders often depend on the CFO and finance team for reports that drive crucial decision-making for the business. A financial system that is inaccessible to users outside the finance department creates company bottlenecks. Delayed reporting and poor data quality from outdated or disparate sources can lead to missed revenue opportunities.

Intuit Enterprise Suite provides better data and insights all within a single platform, enabling organizations to make more informed and timely business decisions. With role-based access control and dashboards, stakeholders can retrieve the information they need, when they need it, without unnecessary dependency on the finance department. Housing all the data in one system with automated and customizable reporting, as well as project-level views, creates instant access to needed business intelligence. 

Real-time data for better decision-making can lead to the recovery of lost revenue, with a projected three-year present value of $193,974.

Key benefit 2: Streamlining operations and financial decisions

Forrester found the administrative burden of tedious financial tasks and the lengthy timelines for time-intensive processes created significant challenges across departments in meeting the demands of a growing business. Operational processes like invoicing and payroll can require multiple levels of review and can be a burden on cash flow. Intuit Enterprise Suite enables more efficient processes for growing businesses.

“We felt like Intuit Enterprise Suite was the best system to allow us to grow and support a large number of organizations underneath us without a large staff,” the founder/CFO of a landscaping and construction company told Forrester.

Invoicing

Manual invoicing processes can be time-consuming for bookkeepers as well as CFOs, and they can ultimately delay the collection of revenue in a hit to cash flow.

Intuit Enterprise Suite automates invoicing activities and expedites invoicing schedules, saving bookkeeper time and providing a more accurate view of company financials. Taking a proactive approach to invoicing allowed Forrester's interviewees to unlock capital sooner than they would have otherwise.

The projected three-year present value of these invoicing efficiencies is $18,782.

Payroll

Managing payroll across multiple systems, software solutions, and entities can be complex and inefficient. The workarounds required to complete such payroll procedures can extend payroll processing times.

Intuit Enterprise Suite streamlines payroll processes by housing them on the same platform as the company's accounting, saving time for both bookkeepers and C-level resources. Fifty-three percent of Forrester survey respondents expect to see improvement to the payroll process with Intuit Enterprise Suite. Better payroll efficiencies extend into better employee experiences, one Forrester interviewee noted, saying the company can run payroll more often now that Intuit Enterprise Suite makes it a less "laborious" process.

The projected three-year present value of these payroll efficiencies is $73,163.

Key benefit 3: Creating cost savings on technology

A medley of back-end financial systems and digital services are often cobbled together by finance departments that are outgrowing their current solution. This can lead to high technology costs and vendor management overhead.

By consolidating functionality onto the Intuit Enterprise Suite platform, organizations can decommission redundant solutions and systems, saving on technology costs and reducing time spent on vendor management. 

A majority of Forrester survey respondents envision saving on technology costs with Intuit Enterprise Suite: 82% say they'll save on accounting-related costs, and 63% say they'll save on email solutions by using Mailchimp through Intuit Enterprise Suite. The Forrester report projects that companies using Intuit Enterprise Suite save up to 16 hours per month for technology resources by cutting back vendor management.

The projected three-year present value of these technology cost savings is $42,831.

Intuit Enterprise Suite solves common issues facing complex businesses

Through data consolidations, time-saving efficiencies, better decision-making, streamlined business and operational processes, and technology cost savings, Forrester's study found Intuit Enterprise Suite provided measurable ROI and an answer to challenges that impede growth and profitability.

Before interviewees found Intuit Enterprise Suite, Forrester noted their significant aversion to the effort of migrating to a full ERP platform; ERP systems were too complex, a migration project was too costly, and the risk of getting locked into a vendor contract that wasn't working was too high.

"I didn't want to go leap off a cliff and sign some three-year deal, spend a quarter million dollars migrating data, and have to have somebody on staff to run the project [of moving to a competitive ERP]—I mean, the barrier to entry is so high," a CTO/CMO in the hospitality space told Forrester. The cost savings of effort, money, and peace of mind were clear with Intuit Enterprise Suite.

The Forrester study demonstrates that Intuit Enterprise Suite can provide significant benefits to organizations by consolidating data, enabling better decision-making, streamlining operations, and creating technology cost savings. These benefits translate into a substantial return on investment—with a projected ROI of 299%—making Intuit Enterprise Suite a compelling solution for growing businesses looking to optimize their business management and drive financial growth.

Get Forrester's detailed findings and the methodology by downloading the full study to help drive your decision to adopt Intuit Enterprise Suite. Or schedule a call with the Intuit Enterprise Suite team to discover how your business can keep growing with a more powerful suite.