Pax8 Partners With Intuit: ‘It Was A Long Time Coming’

‘Partners have been talking about this, even before QuickBooks Online was really out there and available to them,’ says Ryan Walsh, chief operating officer at Pax8. ‘But it was something that we knew that demand was there, so our eye was on it.’

Pax8 has partnered with business software firm Intuit, giving partners access to QuickBooks Online. The platform provides customers with a streamlined suite of financial management tools to combat financial challenges.

Ryan Walsh, chief operating officer at Denver-based cloud distributor Pax8, said the partnership was a long time coming and long overdue.

“Partners have been talking about this, even before QuickBooks Online was really out there and available to them,” he told CRN. “But it was something that we knew that demand was there, so our eye was on it.”

He said that this partnership gives Pax8 a sense of what’s next.

“There’s a lot of options,” he said. “You look at the shows and there’s always new vendors on the rise, but partner demand is a big part of that.”

[Related: PAX8 SECURES $185M FUNDING ROUND, SAYS MORE ACQUISITIONS ON THE HORIZON]

Financial terms of the partnership were not disclosed.

Intuit and QuickBooks is “different,” as it serves as an anchor product for Pax8 and their partners, he added.

QuickBooks Online provides the flexibility to review and update financial data from anywhere. It includes integrated tools to track income and expenses, invoices, payments, sales and sales tax, inventory and more.

Bobby Morrison, senior vice president and chief revenue officer for Intuit, said the products have been a perfect fit to serve the SMB market.

“When we look for partners that can help come along our side and grow with us, there aren’t very many that are out there that wake up every day with the same passion for SMBs like Pax8,” he told CRN. “Combine that with the cloud marketplace go-to market strategy that matches very, very well with how we think about the small-to-medium customer.”

Walsh said the partnership is important, now more than ever, because of inflation.

“So how do I operate efficiently? How do I operate remotely in a hybrid workforce?” he said. “A tool like QuickBooks Online is something you have to have. And then for an MSP, you build around it. You’ve got to back up the data, you’ve got to secure it, you’ve got to build the rest of your tech suite around it.”

Morrison said the Intuit financial system hub is used for many other aspects, including payroll systems, which creates a broader platform base offering.

“What‘s most important is listen to the partner, build what they need, keep it simple and operate at scale,” he said.

Zac Paulson, CEO of Fargo, North Dakota-based MSP TrueIT, said the Intuit partnership has been great.

“Getting more connected to Quickbooks for billing and support has been something MSPs have wanted for a long time,” he told CRN. “Pax8 bringing this to the MSP community is a fantastic addition.”