Small businesses are the focus of a new initiative by Microsoft and financial software firm Intuit, which will be linking their cloud-based efforts to better appeal to SMBs and the software developers targeting them. Datamation has the full story.
Microsoft and Intuit on Wednesday said they will integrate their respective cloud platforms in an effort to encourage software developers to write new applications for the financial reporting software firm
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s QuickBooks software.
In addition to merging the cloud-based Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU) Partner Platform with the Windows Azure platform, Intuit will install Microsoft’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) cloud-based productivity applications in the Intuit App Center for small businesses.
Windows Azure will be the “preferred platform” for small business cloud application development on the Intuit Partner Platform. Company officials said they expect the pact will spark development and distribution of new Web-based applications for small businesses.