Timeline to Discontinue the QuickBooks Desktop REST API

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5 responses to “Timeline to Discontinue the QuickBooks Desktop REST API”

1. 

   trial1

   September 8, 2014

   The irony of this post appearing less than two weeks after the post entitled “Why ‘Partner’ is such an important word” is sickening… yet typical of the type of “partner” Intuit is.

   Responding to market shifts and demands is part of business. However, that response can and should be done in a thoughtful and responsible manner. While it is understandable that Intuit might decide not to build out the QBD IPP according to the original vision, it is irresponsible and bad partnership to sunset a technology that as recently as 12 months ago Intuit was insisting developers use when integrating to QBD. Developer “partners” have invested thousands upon thousands of man-hours developing applications based on Intuit’s insistence and commitments. Now is when these developer “partners” expect to recupe their investment, and hopefully to make a return on that investment. Pulling the rug out from underneath their “partners” (yet again) is just plain wrong.

   There are many apps running in production on the QBD IPP, with developer and customer “partners” relying on them. Intuit has a fiduciary responsibility to provide a stable and functioning platform for their development and customer “partners”… as well as to protect Intuit’s own reputation. It is irresponsible and bad partnership for Intuit to abandon support of that platform so soon.

   When an existing QBD customer decides to move to the cloud, they will investigate options (Xero, Freshbooks, QBO, etc). To the extent that a QBD customer is using IPP apps, the likelihood increases that that customer will move to QBO instead of a competitive product. It is short-sighted to shut off new QBD IPP app users in 6 months, and existing QBD IPP app users in 18 months. Give the cloud time to build the functionality that QBD users need… those functions simply aren’t there yet for whloesale distributors and manufacturers… and once they are there, it will take some time for QBD users to research and make the transition. Meanwhile, Intuit should continue support of the QBD IPP and demonstrate that they value their QBD customer and developer “partners” so they make the transition to the cloud with Intuit. Don’t cut off new QBD IPP app users at all. And extend the support period for QBD IPP and sync manager to 48 months. That is a reasonable amount of time to expect QBD users to be able to move to the cloud.

   This announcement — as well as the numerous commitments made and reneged on over even just the past 10 months (not to mention the past 4 years) — smacks of desperation and appears to be a knee-jerk reaction to competitive pressures rather than a well-considered and smooth re-direction. This is just one more example of Intuit leaving their “partners” bloodied and raising serious questions about the value of Intuit as a partner, not to mention Intuit management’s acumen. Come on Intuit… put your money where your mouth is and show your customer and developer “partners” “Why ‘Partner” is such as important word.”

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2. 

   Stephanie Allemann

   September 8, 2014

   I realized I was logged in under the wrong username when I posted the previous comment. For clarity, I posted the comment. I can be reached at steph [at-sign] crik-it.com.

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3. 

   Joe Dwyer

   September 10, 2014

   Hi Steph,

   I can sympathize with you on this. I know that all involved, especially Intuit, sees the trouble they’ve had with their sync manager and attempts to make QuickBooks desktop sync fully to the cloud.

   As a long time QuickBooks developer, we’ve built dozens of integrations for people using the desktop SDK and IPP. Having to change directions back to enabling the desktop SDK can be a bit of work for people who invested in IPP for QBD. Fortunately, their support of the desktop SDK has not waivered over the years and has lots of capabilities within it. As an integrator, we’ve also taken a bunch of steps to ensure QBD connects really well with cloud apps. The sync manager from Intuit just didn’t get great traction.

   Considering Intuit as a partner, I’m on the opposite end of your comments. Of all the companies we work with to connect data to QuickBooks, Intuit is BY FAR the easiest to work with. They have super easy access to the whole developer relations team. Their marketing team is super helpful. And, they are way in favor of helping to make a successful ecosystem. A small example of this is an 18 month sunset period for the sync manager. That’s way longer than the vast majority of companies would support a struggling technology.

   As for next steps, the desktop SDK is great. Our Autofy system has connected to it for over a decade and it’s super solid. We connect it to on-premise and cloud apps. So, it’s a good choice for QuickBooks desktop integration.

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4. 

   Stephanie Allemann

   November 10, 2015

   Update:As mentioned above, Intuit is discontinuing the QuickBooks sync manager. Because we have many QuickBooks Desktop users relying on our Crik-IT B2B Portal and CRM app, we have written our own sync manager, called Crik-IT Sync Manager (CISM). If there are any developers out there looking for a replacement for the QuickBooks sync manager, feel free to contact us to learn more about CISM and whether it might work for your application. Call us at 207- 956-0685 or email us at info [at sign] crik-it.com.Notes:CISM offers REST and SOAP interfaces.CISM does not use Intuit’s Web Connector. Why not:1) We have had feedback from several developers that the Web Connector has significant performance issues, especially noticeable in high volume applications. The underlying design of the Web Connector is the cause of the performance issues.2) Having worked as an Intuit Development “Partner” over the past several years, we have seen Intuit change direction many, many times. These reversals result in developers having to scramble to retrofit their apps according to Intuit’s latest dictates, investing thousands of hours and tens of thousands of dollars to reinvent the wheel. To reduce exposure to future Intuit direction changes, we are using as few Intuit tools as possible to accomplish our goals.

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5. 

   Claire Milligan

   November 18, 2015

   If you’re a QuickBooks developer concerned about Sync Manager and are looking for a replacement, SpringAhead recommends that you take a look at AccountingSync. You can find them at AccountingSync.com. Feel free to send me a message if you’re interested in speaking with the sales team!

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