Intuit just announced the new features for QuickBooks 2011. We'll have more detail on these features in the weeks to come (especially in our Technology Tuesdays).

This information is from an Intuit press:

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – Sep. 07, 2010 – Small businesses will find more ways to save time with the latest version of best-selling QuickBooks® financial software from Intuit Inc. (Nasdaq: INTU). QuickBooks 2011 includes several new features that help small business owners find important data quickly when they need it, perform everyday tasks more efficiently and access essential business information remotely. The software goes on sale Sept. 27.

"For every small business owner, time is money. They want to focus on their business - their passion - not on their books," said Dan Wernikoff, vice president and general manager of Intuit’s Financial Management Solutions division. "With QuickBooks 2011, we’ve focused on helping them put seconds, minutes and even hours back on the clock."

QuickBooks Pro and Premier 2011 build on prior versions by streamlining important accounting tasks, such as invoicing and collecting payments. The new Customer Snapshot and Customer and Vendor History features provide at-a-glance views of important customer and vendor details. Users can also take advantage of the power of QuickBooks Connect, a new service that lets small businesses access key QuickBooks data remotely via the Internet or a mobile device. Additionally, as with previous versions, QuickBooks 2011 helps small business owners stay organized by allowing them to have their business information in one place.

A simplified startup process makes it easier and faster for new small businesses users to get up and running in QuickBooks 2011. New this year, the Quick Start Center guides users through installation and lets them import business contacts directly from their Gmail, Yahoo or Hotmail webmail accounts. The center also recommends first steps to populate a new user’s account with key information to start quickly.

Get Faster Access to Insights

For many small businesses, QuickBooks is the hub of important customer, vendor, and inventory information. Accessing the right data at the right time can result in better business decisions and faster responses to customers. Upgraded features give customers quick access to important business information:

• Customer Snapshot offers a consolidated view of an individual customer’s purchase history, average days to pay, and outstanding balance. This helps small businesses make timely decisions on customer requests.
• QuickBooks Search lets users quickly locate any customer, account, report or invoice details within their QuickBooks repository with a simple keyword search.
• Customer and Vendor History provides at-a-glance views of important customer and vendor details, such as history, estimates and past orders, on a single screen.
• Balance Sheet by Class provides a way for QuickBooks Premier users to separately track multiple funds, departments or locations in a single, easy-to-access report.

"The new QuickBooks search enabled me to find three annual charges that had not been renewed on invoices and thus earned our company $300 that might have been missed altogether," said Kathy Zaroczynski of Zaroczynski and Associates in Rochester, N.Y. "It is a very robust tool and I am very pleased with its performance."

Make Everyday Tasks More Efficient

Administrative work, such as tracking and collecting payments, can be time-intensive and costly. A recent Intuit survey found that small businesses leave an average of $1,500 per month on the table from overdue payments. New features to increase efficiency in getting paid:

• Batch Invoicing lets small businesses owners who often bill many customers for the same service streamline the process by creating one template invoice to send to all related customers.
• Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail Integration allows businesses to easily send invoices, estimates, and other e-mails from their preferred webmail service directly from QuickBooks.
• Collections Center helps users to quickly identify overdue and almost-due invoices, and then directly e-mail collection notices from their Outlook, Yahoo, Gmail, or Hotmail accounts.
• Intuit PaymentNetwork (sold separately) provides a way for a small business’s customers to instantly pay their invoices.

"Every month I dread having to apply late charges to several hundred tenants in my storage units that haven't paid on time. It is a long, laborious task that requires hundreds of mouse clicks creating invoices," said Douglas Brockhouse of Bender Commercial Real Estate in Sioux Falls, S.D. "Today, I used the batch invoice feature and in just two minutes I had every invoice completed and applied!"

The Out Of The Box Technology team is headed to Los Angeles in October for an Intuit conference where more 2011 details will be laid out. Andrew and I will have more blog entries that week so check back here often!