Intuit CEO Weighs In On Competition

Intuit Inc. INTU came out with better than expected first-quarter results on Thursday after the closing bell following which its shares opened strong on Friday. Intuit CEO Brad Smith was on CNBC recently to discuss the competition Intuit is facing from other players in the same space.

Opportunity To Expand Relationships

On the competition Intuit is facing on payroll products, Smith said, “We have a cloud based payroll product that grew another 20 percent this quarter,” Smith said. “We have several hundred thousand customers already using that product on top of the million payroll customers that we have and the other thing is we have an open platform so QuickBooks, our online accounting product actually works with Zen payroll and some of the other names you mentioned.”

He continued, “So customers can choose what solution is best for them and then they also choose one of our solutions like QuickBooks online and as long as we are part of that choice, we always have the opportunity to expand our relationship further every time.”

Constructively Dissatisfied

Smith was asked about the model that some of Intuit’s competition seems to be following, where they give some of the basic features for free and make money on other critical features. He replied, “Well we always keep our eye on competition and I really admire some of the companies […] Everyone is looking at different ways to approach their model in the cloud and we do have free solutions that then eventually you monetize in other ways, which is pretty similar to the way they approach their business.”

“And, so, I wouldn’t say we go to bed every night, we are completely comfortable. We are constructively dissatisfied. W e are always looking to re-imagine, but I feel confident that our team has the right strategy in place and we can continue to grow,” Smith concluded.