QB on Amazon, and other tech stories you may have missed

January 15, 2025 9:30 AM

From Amazon partnering with Intuit, to 1-800Accountant and LegalZoom teaming up, and all things AI, here are 10 things that happened in technology this past month and how they'll impact your clients and your firm.

1. 1-800Accountant and LegalZoom join forces

Andrey Popov/Andrey Popov - stock.adobe.com

LegalZoom and 1-800Accountant have entered into a multiyear strategic partnership to offer full-service tax and bookkeeping solutions for small-business owners. According to the press release, LegalZoom customers will have access to year-round, expert-led bookkeeping and tax services provided by 1-800Accountant. A recent survey revealed that tax management, liability protection and legitimacy are key motivations for small-business owners, making advisory services critically important. This collaboration aims to enhance LegalZoom's ecosystem of products, partnerships and services that support small-business owners' legal, compliance and business management needs. The new product offering is expected to launch in January 2025. (Source: GlobeNewswire)

Why this is important for your firm and clients: It's a nice idea for businesses that use either service to take advantage of the other service. Hopefully this partnership will provide for a more cost-effective solution. But this is going to be for very small businesses, maybe those with less than 10 employees. As companies get bigger and more complex, their taxes need to be done by CPAs and other knowledgeable professionals who are more intimately familiar with their clients' activities, and not just an "800" accounting service with a revolving staff.

2. Amazon brings QuickBooks to millions of third-party sellers

Intuit's Ariege Misherghi speaking at QuickBooks Connect

Amazon and Intuit have announced a multiyear strategic partnership to integrate QuickBooks into Amazon Seller Central. Set to go live in mid-2025, this integration aims to provide third-party sellers with comprehensive financial management tools, including real-time insights into profitability, cash flow, inventory and tax estimates. Sellers will also have access to personalized loans through QuickBooks Capital directly from Amazon Seller Central. The partnership is designed to help sellers better manage their finances, streamline operations and ultimately grow their businesses more efficiently. (Source: CNBC)

Why this is important for your firm and clients: For starters, there exists third-party software that already does this. Also, many e-commerce platforms like Shopify and Magento have deep integration with QuickBooks and other tools. So this isn't ground-breaking. But Amazon entering into a formal partnership with Intuit, the maker of QuickBooks, could be a better option for many small merchants.

3. AP takes the high road to AI-powered growth

Colinda McKie - stock.adobe.com

Accounts payable departments are leveraging AI-powered solutions to transform their operations and drive business growth. Some of the key benefits include legacy inefficiencies, as many AP teams still rely on outdated processes, such as paper invoices and checks. AI and automation are helping AP departments overcome these legacy issues by streamlining workflows, reducing errors and improving efficiency. Automating AP processes can significantly reduce the costs of using paper checks, and fraud detection is strengthened. Businesses are encouraged to adopt a step-by-step approach to modernization to improve overall efficiency. (Source: PYMNTS)

Why this is important for your firm and clients: If your clients are running businesses where they process more than 50 accounts payable invoices a week, then I strongly recommend looking into products like Bill, Ramp and AvidExchange. These AP automation platforms can receive suppliers' invoices through email and other means, scan them, and input with minimal errors into the accounting system for approval and payment. They are faster and more accurate than humans. They save time and cut overhead. My experience is that they're a pain in the neck to set up, but once done the benefits are tremendous.

4. Don't trust ChatGPT Search

Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto

Sabrina Ortiz of ZDNet reported on concerns about the accuracy of ChatGPT Search. Citing a report by Columbia's Tow Center for Digital Journalism, their results found that ChatGPT Search did not provide accurate data, with some results being described as "partially or entirely incorrect." A random selection of articles and publishers were selected to test the search tool, and the results showed the AI at times misattributed quotes and cited incorrect sources. The report also highlighted a "false confidence" — instances where ChatGPT did not indicate it was unsuccessful in retrieving accurate information. The article advises users to verify information from ChatGPT Search by checking the sources themselves. (Source: ZDNet)

Why this is important for your firm and clients: I couldn't agree more with Ortiz, but let's not stop at ChatGPT. I've used Gemini, Copilot, Claude and Perplexity and have been similarly underwhelmed with their searching capability and the results they've produced. I've worked on articles where I've asked these chatbots to provide me with information and then cite their references, and on further questioning they've all admitted to making mistakes or including the wrong information. Of course, these generative AI tools are powerful and can help productivity and we all know they're going to get better over time. But proceed with caution for now.

5. A 10x surge in scientific AI breakthroughs?

Sam Altman

David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

OpenAI's Sam Altman shared his predictions about the future of AI. Altman distinguishes between AGI — artificial general intelligence — and superintelligence, noting that superintelligence will far surpass AGI's capabilities. Altman anticipates this will lead to a surge that accelerates scientific progress and technological breakthroughs at a rate "10 times faster" than current expectations. He suggests that superintelligence might be just "a few thousand days away," potentially arriving sooner than anticipated. Altman believes that while these changes will revolutionize society in how it functions, it won't alter fundamental human values. (Source: Windows Central)

Why this is important for your firm and clients: You can consider "superintelligence" as a great or terrifying thing, but regardless, it's coming and there's no one better to make that prediction than Altman. For businesses in the scientific fields, applications using super-intelligent AI will leverage that technology to speed up research and development and create better products. While commercial use of this technology is still a few years away, the timeline is getting shorter and shorter.

6. New software will be key for small biz in 2025

Software will be a key theme for small businesses in 2025. Small-business service platform Hello Alice has assessed what 2025 will look like for small businesses, with co-founder Elizabeth Gore saying, "There's going to be about five times the amount of small businesses launching in 2025 than at any time in our history."

Small-business owners are focused on tools that will help them operate more efficiently and sell their products or services. Citing companies like Square, Shopify and Nerdwallet, these are prime examples of companies that offer software tools to support small-business efficiency. "AI is going to be huge for small businesses," Gore also said. (Source: Yahoo Finance)

Why this is important for your firm and clients: The number of startups is already exploding. New apps will proliferate. As I write this, there are companies that we are not yet familiar with that will soon become household names, thanks to the growth of AI. I don't think these changes will fundamentally impact small businesses as soon as 2025. But they're coming and I'll be doing my best to keep you informed.

7. The most popular AI tools of 2024

Linda Bucklin/AlienCat - Fotolia

David Gewirtz of ZDNet reported on the most popular artificial intelligence tools for 2024. Highlighting data that was gathered in August, the most utilized AI tools by market share are the following: ChatGPT (54.96%); publishing tool Canva (14.92%); translation platform DeepL (5.38%); Google Gemini (4.75%); and Character.AI (3.90%). Gewirtz noted that measuring the popularity of each is challenging, as some tools are standalone while others are embedded in products. Metrics from platforms like Semrush and Similarweb were used to estimate traffic volume. Claude, Perplexity AI and Microsoft Copilot were also on the list. (Source: ZDNet)

Why this is important for your firm and clients: All are fine and fun. But this is like when the iPhone was introduced and then the AppStore came along and all these apps appeared. The good ones either became unicorns or were gobbled up by big tech. The list above? I'm betting when we look at it in just a few years it will be completely different. In 2024, AI was overhyped and unreliable and certainly not ready for prime-time for any business to use. But of course these applications will be better and smarter and likely replaced by more advanced offerings.

8. Microsoft sees big changes in AI in 2025

David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

According to executives at Microsoft, significant changes are coming to AI in 2025. Ashley Llorens — Microsoft's corporate vice president and managing director — said we can expect AI to handle "a more sophisticated set of tasks." Companies will release more powerful and energy-efficient AI models. AI agents will become more prominent, performing specific tasks autonomously or semi-autonomously (e.g., extracting specific information from expense reports or simulating conversations to analyze which company processes are most efficient). Efforts to bring AI features to more consumers will be stepped up. Microsoft is developing AI agents to connect employees and facilitate tasks like scheduling "coffee chats" with colleagues. (Source: Yahoo Finance)

Why this is important for your firm and clients: I've written here about agents. And I've written here about how some industries — particularly financial services — are already replacing people with AI applications. All of this will be rolled out in 2025. But before you get too excited, just remember the oldest law in technology: Never buy the first version of any software application, particularly if it's been made by Microsoft. Agents will need a year or two to get rid of the bugs and become more pervasive in our business applications. We'll need that time to fully understand what they can do and how they can be best used in our businesses.

9. No, Microsoft isn't using your Office docs to train its AI

Users have posted their concerns that Microsoft has been using their private data from Word and Excel documents to train its AI models. Microsoft has officially denied these claims, stating that the Connected Experiences feature in Microsoft 365 apps does not use customer data for training AI. Instead, it enables functionalities like co-authoring documents and checking spelling. Microsoft has emphasized that the settings in question are meant for enabling internet-based features and not for AI training. (Source: The Verge)

Why this is important for your firm and clients: Do you believe Microsoft? Do you trust big tech? I think you'd be naïve if you did. But that's really no matter. When I speak about AI to industry groups I often get asked about whether our data is secure and confidential, and even though the big tech companies promise that it is, I'm never completely sure. But this is a risk/reward exercise. Are you willing to risk the security/confidentiality of your data in order to reap the rewards of the AI automation that products like Copilot and Google Gemini can provide? To me, it's worth the risk. I'm not sure who really cares about my little, puny, microscopic company's data, so I'm willing to let the big tech companies have it in return for more productivity.

10. OpenAI launches Sora video generator for all users

Viral ChatGPT Spurs Concerns About Propaganda and Hacking Risks

Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto

OpenAI has announced its launch of "Sora" — a new AI-powered video generator. Users can generate videos up to 20 seconds long in resolutions up to 1080p. The tool supports various aspect ratios and allows users to incorporate their own photos and videos. A new interface has been introduced, making it easier to create prompts and manage video projects. Early reviews suggest that while Sora produces impressive results, it still has some limitations — such as unnatural physics and occasional inaccuracies. Sora is now available to ChatGPT Plus and ChatGPT Pro subscribers. (Source: Gizmodo)

Why this is important for your firm and clients: This is significant. There are other, smaller, less reliable and more dubious AI apps that claim to generate videos from text, but Sora is more powerful and flexible. OpenAI took a while to release this so they could be sure that it met some level of acceptability, and they've achieved that. For creators, this is a game changer. For businesses, this is an excellent platform to create marketing, training and technical content.