QuickBooks' AI makeover, and other tech stories you may have missed

December 18, 2024 1:23 PM

From QuickBooks' AI makeover and Excel's CoPilot to the best industrial ERP solutions, and seven other tech trends and developments from the past month, and how they'll impact your clients and your firm.

1. QuickBooks just got an AI makeover

Intuit's Ariege Misherghi speaking at QuickBooks Connect

Sam Becker of Fast Company reports that Intuit has introduced a new AI assistant called Intuit Assist to enhance its QuickBooks software. This AI-powered tool aims to speed up workflows and save users time with features like invoice generation; personalized briefings for business owners; and automated tasks like flagging unusual financial data and drafting emails. Senior vice president of QuickBooks platform Dave Talach said, "We've been thoughtful about approaching AI not just for the sake of AI, but we want it to show up in a cohesive way in the product that is coherent to the customer." (Source: Fast Company)

Why this is important for your firm and clients: If your clients are running a small business there's a pretty good chance they're using QuickBooks. Intuit is just getting started with its AI enhancements to its flagship accounting product and it will be exciting to see what's coming next. My strong suggestion is to either spend time directly with someone at Intuit or hire a competent QuickBooks advisor to walk you and your team through these new AI features. They will save time, increase productivity and make a difference to your profits.

2. You won't believe what Excel's Copilot can do!

Tech expert and founder of XelPlus Leila Gharani posted a YouTube demo of Microsoft's CoPilot capabilities in Excel. The first Gharani highlights is text summarization (such as online reviews) where the user can ask Copilot to summarize the information on a spreadsheet and extract key data. Another feature is data insights that Copilot can retrieve from sizable spreadsheets, highlighting valuable datapoints that can be added to the spreadsheet itself. A third feature is adding formula columns – users can ask Copilot to suggest a column based on the spreadsheet's dataset. Gharani gives a step-by-step demonstration for how to activate each. (Source: Leila Gharani/YouTube)

Why this is important for your firm and clients: Leila does a great job — and her channel is excellent too. If you've got Microsoft Copilot in your business (you will, even if you don't right now) then it's critical to lean in and fully understand all of its capabilities. Don't blow off training. The companies I know who are leveraging this stuff are already preparing themselves for productivity gains in the future. Start by watching this video and others that Leila does. There are plenty of similar instructional videos for Google's Gemini for Workspace too.

3. Hackers are targeting you small biz

Photographer: Vladimir Vitek/Kletr - Fotolia

Password manager NordPass posted their data breach trends report, which found small businesses are a prime target for hackers. Among the various reasons, the common misperception among owners that they are "too small to target," results in having fewer security protocols in place. Additionally, hackers see smaller entities as potential steppingstones to larger organizations, leveraging them as entry points to infiltrate larger companies. (Source: Tom's Guide)

Why this is important for your firm and clients: To safeguard against these threats, small businesses are encouraged by NordPass to adopt basic cybersecurity practices, including multi-factor authentication, regular employee training on phishing, data backups, and working with cybersecurity firms for added support. Oh, and buy their product too.

4. The best industrial cloud ERP solutions

Patrick Mouzawak/Bloomberg

Manufacturing Digital highlighted some of the most innovative cloud ERP companies in 2024. Examples include Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central for its comprehensive features and integration with Microsoft applications, while Odoo offers extensive customization options, allowing businesses to tailor the ERP system to their specific needs. SYSPRO specializes in manufacturing ERP, providing robust solutions for manufacturers and distributors. NetSuite is the ideal system for global operations, offering scalability and extensive features for large enterprises. To see the entire list, visit the link. (Source: Manufacturing Digital)

Why this is important for your firm and clients: If your clients are small businesses using small-business accounting software, and they grow, then they'll find themselves in need of a more enterprise, scalable platform. If they're manufacturers, their needs will be that much more unique. This is a great list of current platforms specifically focused on midsized manufacturers that need to address standard and job costing, bills of materials, process manufacturing, ordering, inventory management and other challenges for this industry.

5. The best laptops you can buy in 2024

R. Michael Stuckey

Engadget's guide to the best laptops of 2024 offers a range of options for different needs (11 laptops were tested). For most users, they recommend the MacBook Air M3, which balances performance and affordability with Apple's M3 chip and a retina display. For professionals needing higher performance, the MacBook Pro models — especially with M3 Pro or M3 Max chips — stand out due to their advanced graphics, high dynamic range displays, and large memory capacity. For those who prefer Windows, the Dell XPS 15 and 17 offer strong alternatives with high-performance specs, suitable for tasks like video editing and gaming. To see the others that made the list, visit the link. (Source: Engadget)

Why this is important for your firm and clients: I'm in the market right now and have always had good success with Dell's XPS product line. I may be back again.

6. Microsoft assembles largest AI agent ecosystem

Microsoft has steadily established the largest enterprise AI agent ecosystem, with more than 100,000 organizations creating or refining AI agents using its Copilot Studio since its launch. This achievement positions Microsoft as a leader in one of the most dynamic and closely observed segments of enterprise technology. "That's a lot faster than we thought, and it's a lot faster than any other kind of cutting edge technology we've released," Charles Lamanna, Microsoft's executive responsible for the company's agent vision, told said. "And that was like a 2x growth in just a quarter." (Source: Venture Beat)

Why this is important for your firm and clients: AI agents will be taking over the business world in 2025 and Microsoft has already positioned itself as one of the leaders. This should give the company a competitive advantage and push more businesses towards its Office, Windows and other product lines. If you want to see a few examples of how agents can and will be used in your business, check out the piece I wrote here.

7. Claude AI can now analyze PDFs

Lance Whitney of ZDNet reported on Anthropic's newest feature called Visual PDFs in its Claude 3.5 Sonnet AI model. The feature allows the AI to analyze both text and visual elements — images, charts and graphs — within PDF files. The AI can also extract important details from legal documents and translate content into other languages. Once a file is uploaded — no larger than 32MG — users can ask the AI about any text, pictures or charts contain in the file. This new tool is accessible via Anthropic's Claude Pro subscription at $20 a month. (Source: ZDNet)

Why this is important for your firm and clients: How is this applied in real life? Think of the complex files you get from your customers or suppliers that need to be better explained. Or research papers. Or diagrams for equipment. Or proposals, estimates and other documents that come from engineers, architects, other accountants and lawyers. Anthropic's new feature will allow us to take the most technical of information and have it better explained.

8. Chase expands its customer insights tool

Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg

Chase has expanded its Customer Insights tool, now available to nearly 5 million small businesses with Chase checking accounts. This tool leverages anonymized data to offer insights on customer demographics, spending habits, and geographic preferences. (Source: Small Business Trends)

Why this is important for your firm and clients: It's good to see banks become more proactive with our data. Features include sales tracking, demographic analysis, and purchasing behavior patterns, allowing businesses to refine their marketing and operational strategies more effectively. It's designed to help small businesses optimize customer engagement and make data-driven decisions at no extra cost.

9. AI is revamping customer call centers

David Pogue of CBS News reported on the "new age of customer service." In the clip, a random selection of people shared their customer service nightmares — and agents shared their stressful experiences in dealing with disgruntled customers. One solution has been offered by Gridspace, an AI voice agent developer based in Los Angeles. The company has developed an AI phone rep — "Grace" — that has humanistic qualities including empathy. Creators say that Grace can help human service reps by fielding incoming calls and taking basic information, alleviating time and stress on both ends. The creators gave Pogue a real time demo of how the bot handles an incoming call. (Source: CBS Sunday Morning)

Why this is important for your firm and clients: If you're having trouble getting your arms around how AI will impact your business, check out this short segment from CBS News. It's consumer-driven and easy to understand. The bottom line is that there are many companies developing AI platforms specifically for the customer service space and these applications will (if not already) provide quicker and more accurate service, but also help companies get customer service work accomplished even in these times of tight labor. These AI platforms will not replace people, they'll complement them. And we, as consumers, will enjoy their benefits.

10. Echo Frames for Amazon delivery drivers?

Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg

According to a Reuters report, Amazon is developing smart glasses for its delivery drivers, based on its Echo Frames. Codenamed "Amelia," these glasses aim to guide drivers to package delivery locations using augmented reality technology. The AR will offer turn-by-turn navigation, Alexa voice assistance, and a camera with an embedded display — allowing delivery drivers to carry more packages without having to be concerned with a smartphone. The project is still in development to achieve key functions like a full-shift battery life. Amazon hopes these glasses will improve delivery efficiency and reduce costs. (Source: The Verge)

Why this is important for your firm and clients: Look for more augmented reality glasses to proliferate throughout the transportation, construction and manufacturing industries over the next few years. Big companies like Amazon have the resources to develop their own solutions. But eventually these products will filter their way down to smaller organizations.