Business model of Intacct

Customer Segments

Intacct has a mass market business model, with no significant differentiation between customer groups. The company targets its offerings at organizations of all industries and sizes.

Value Proposition

Intacct offers six primary value propositions: accessibility, innovation, cost reduction, performance, risk reduction, and brand/status.

The company creates accessibility by providing a wide variety of options. Its system offers several features, including accounting, purchasing, inventory, revenue management, contract management, vendor management, project/fund accounting,and  financial reporting/consolidating applications.

The company embraces innovation as a part of its culture. Its groundbreaking efforts include:

• First consolidation system
• First to integrate with Salesforce
• First professional financial management system
• The only mid-market cloud ERP solution with a multi-dimensional general ledger

The company reduces costs by offering a free 30-day trial so customers can test out its solutions. The trial includes a personalized sample firm that visitors can use to try out top functionalities, see actual dashboards and reports, and view videos about specialized features. If customers obtain an AvailabilityPlus subscription, they get a credit of 10% for each percentage point below the availability target, up to 50% of that month’s subscription fees.

The company demonstrates strong performance through tangible results. It indicates that its clients on average achieve a 250% return on investment when switching to its solution and a less than six-month payback period. Specific positive outcomes for clients include the following:

• Cornerstone Information Systems used Intacct’s solution to support its complicated revenue recognition requirements, resulting in $150,000 in annual savings due to productivity
• Evariant used Intacct’s solution to streamline and enhance business operations, resulting in $75,000 in annual savings due to reduced consulting and auditing costs
• Haney Accountants used Intacct’s solution to centralize its clients’ accounting functionalities, resulting in a 100% increase in sales without adding headcount
• OnShift used Intacct’s solution to streamline and automate its billing, financial reporting, and revenue management processes, resulting in a 500% increase in customer acquisition
• SevOne used Intacct’s solution to automate its financial processes and gain real-time visibility into financial metrics, resulting in $50,000 in annual finance salary cost savings

The company reduces risk by maintaining high quality and security standards. It guarantees 99.8% system uptime. The data center that runs its solution is backed up by disaster recovery program Quality Technology Services, which means that in case of a disaster, clients‘ applications will be available within 24 hours, and no more than two hours of data will be lost. Lastly, it has completed SSAE 16 SOC1 Type II audits and received certification from Digicert and Trustwave.

The company has established a strong brand due to its success. Its ERP offering is the only one that the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) recognizes as the preferred provider of financial applications. Its applications are used by over 11,000 organizations, including Dimension Data, Indeed, Meetup, IndieGogo, Kayak, and GrubHub. Lastly, it has won many honors, including:

• Recognition as one of the 20 Coolest Cloud Software Vendors by CRN
• Recognition as having one of the Best Business Products by PC Magazine
• Recognition as one of 100 Best Small/Medium Workplaces by Fortune Magazine
• Recognition as a Leader in the G2 Crowd Accounting Software Report
• Recognition as a Leader in the Grid Report for Accounting Software

Channels

Intacct’s main channel is its direct sales team. It also sells its offerings through resellers. The company promotes its offerings through its website, social media pages, and conferences.

Customer Relationships

Intacct’s customer relationship is primarily of a personal assistance nature. The company assists customers in the following ways:

Support Services – The company provides phone and e-mail support from product experts, many of whom are also accounting experts. It acknowledges support requests within four hours and provides a resolution/update within 24 hours. It also offers 24x7 operations, upgrades, and enhancements.

Training Services – The company offers instructor-led virtual training and instructor-led classroom training at various locations across the U.S. It also offers customized on-site training for clients.

Professional Services – The company has project managers that develop customized plans, integrate the company’s applications with the client’s key business systems, carry out deployment, and provide business reviews and consulting assistance on an ongoing basis as needed. Its services deliver at or under budget over 90% of the time, and 80% of its managers have been in finance roles.

Despite this orientation, there is a self-service component. The company’s website provides interactive self-paced training, as well as short video tutorials on various Intacct topics. The site also features a “Resources” section that includes white papers, data sheets, product videos, and on-demand webinars and product demos.

Lastly, it provides a dictionary with common financial terms, answers to frequently asked questions, and real-time system status updates. There is also a community element in the form of a peer forum and real-world Meetup groups.

Key Activities

Intacct’s business model entails designing and developing its software products for customers.

Key Partners

Intacct maintains the following types of partnerships:

• Value-Added Resellers – The company works with firms that sell and implement its products in order to extend its reach. Most of them have a finance background. Specific partners include CompuData, BKD Technologies, JMT Consulting Group, Aktion Associates, and Synergy Business Solutions.
• Outsource Accounting Partners – The company partners with AICPA and CPA.com to provide accounting partners for its clients; they can choose from hundreds of CPA and accounting firms.
• Marketplace Partners – The company works with 200+ software solution providers to provide clients with functionalities to meet their needs. Specific partners include DataXu and the Knowland Group.

Key Resources

Intacct’s main resources are its human resources, who include the technology employees that design and develop its software, the sales employees that promote it, the training/consulting employees that provide instruction/advisory services, and the customer service personnel that provide support.

It maintains important physical resources in the form of data centers operated by Quality Technology Services in Sacramento, CA and Century Link in Santa Clara, CA.

Lastly, it has relied on funding from outside parties, raising $130.8 million from 11 investors as of May 2016.

Cost Structure

Intacct has a value-driven cost structure, aiming to provide a premium proposition through significant personal service and frequent service enhancements. Its biggest cost driver is likely cost of services, a variable expense.

Other major drivers are in the areas of customer support/operations and sales/marketing, both fixed costs.

Revenue Streams

Intacct has one revenue stream: revenues it generates from the sale of its products to its customers.