Intuit’s New “Enterprise Suite” and Xero’s Acquisition of Syft: What These Moves Mean for Ablaze Collective and the Future of Embedded Analytics

Team Ablaze Collective
September 20, 2024 • 8 MIN READ

In the fast-paced world of accounting and financial technology, major announcements often come back-to-back, and recently, we saw two of the industry's biggest players—Intuit and Xero—make significant moves that are bound to shake up the landscape. On the heels of Xero’s acquisition of Syft, a leading financial reporting tool, Intuit quickly announced the launch of its Intuit Enterprise Suite, a new solution designed to provide more powerful tools for mid-market and enterprise-level businesses.

At Ablaze Collective, we’re paying close attention to these developments, not just because they reflect the evolving needs of the industry, but because they underscore the growing importance of data-driven insights and real-time decision-making—key areas where embedded analytics truly shines.

Here’s what these announcements mean for Ablaze Collective, the future of accounting technology, and why embedded analytics will continue to play a central role in the growth of CPA firms and the services they offer.

Intuit’s Enterprise Suite: A Big Move Toward Enterprise-Level Solutions

With Intuit Enterprise Suite, Intuit is clearly signaling its intent to move deeper into the mid-market and enterprise sectors. The new suite promises to deliver more comprehensive tools for businesses that require advanced financial reporting, inventory management, and greater scalability across multiple entities. This marks a significant expansion from Intuit’s core focus on small businesses and entrepreneurs, positioning them as a stronger player in the larger enterprise space.

Key features of the Intuit Enterprise Suite include:

• Enhanced financial reporting and analytics capabilities for mid-sized and larger businesses.

• Improved inventory and supply chain management tools, designed to support more complex business operations.

• Integration with third-party apps to offer a more robust solution for growing businesses.

This move by Intuit follows hot on the heels of Xero’s acquisition of Syft, which is itself a major step toward bolstering Xero’s reporting capabilities for multi-entity businesses. Together, these announcements highlight a broader trend in the industry: the increasing demand for more powerful, real-time financial tools that can scale as businesses grow.

The Bigger Picture: Data-Driven Insights Are Becoming Non-Negotiable

Both Intuit’s and Xero’s announcements reflect the same underlying reality: businesses and CPA firms need better, more data-driven insights to thrive in an increasingly competitive market. Whether it’s Xero enhancing its multi-entity reporting with Syft or Intuit launching an enterprise suite with stronger analytics, the future of accounting is moving beyond basic financial reporting and into the realm of real-time decision-making and proactive advisory services.

At Ablaze Collective, we’ve been championing this shift toward real-time, embedded analytics as the next evolution in financial reporting. While Intuit and Xero are making bold moves to meet the growing demands of businesses, we believe that embedded analytics offers CPA firms and their clients something even more transformative: the ability to see, understand, and act on data in real time without needing to leave their core accounting platforms.

Why Embedded Analytics Is the Next Step Forward

So what do these announcements mean for embedded analytics, and more specifically, for Ablaze Collective?

Here’s why we believe embedded analytics will continue to be the driving force behind the future of financial insights and advisory services:

1. Real-Time, Actionable Insights vs. Traditional Reporting

While both Intuit and Xero are enhancing their financial reporting capabilities, much of this reporting is still based on historical data—providing insights into what has already happened. These tools offer valuable information but are often retrospective, meaning firms and businesses are still making decisions based on what has occurred, not what’s happening now or what’s likely to happen next.

Embedded analytics, on the other hand, is designed to provide real-time, actionable insights. By integrating directly into core accounting platforms like QuickBooks Online (QBO) and Xero, embedded analytics allows firms to:

• Track financial KPIs in real time, giving them the ability to react immediately to any changes in the financial landscape.

• Set up custom alerts (through webhooks) for key financial events, like a sudden drop in cash flow or an unexpected spike in expenses.

• Monitor and forecast future financial performance, helping clients not only understand their current position but also prepare for what’s ahead.

For CPA firms, this means moving beyond just delivering reports at the end of the month and instead becoming proactive advisors who can offer timely, data-driven insights as changes occur.

2. Embedded Analytics Eliminates the Need for Multiple Tools

One of the biggest challenges firms face when adopting new technology is the need to manage multiple tools. Both Intuit’s Enterprise Suite and Xero’s acquisition of Syft aim to streamline workflows by offering integrated solutions for financial reporting, inventory management, and more. However, firms will still need to navigate between various apps and platforms to get the full picture.

With embedded analytics, these insights are delivered directly within the platforms firms are already using, meaning there’s no need to switch between apps or manually pull data from multiple sources. This makes the entire process more efficient and allows firms to focus on delivering insights rather than just managing tools.

For CPA firms managing hundreds of clients or multiple entities, embedded analytics offers:

• Consolidated dashboards that provide a real-time view of client portfolios across multiple businesses or entities.

• Seamless integration with the tools they already use, reducing the friction of moving between platforms.

• The ability to customize reporting based on each client’s specific needs, offering more personalized insights that go beyond the one-size-fits-all approach.

3. Harnessing Internal Data for Tailored Advisory Services

Another key advantage of embedded analytics is the ability to leverage internal data from your firm’s own QBO or Xero portfolios to create custom benchmarks and KPIs. Unlike traditional reporting tools, which often rely on external datasets, embedded analytics allows firms to use their own data—data they already manage for their clients—to offer tailored, actionable insights.

This means:

• CPA firms no longer need to rely on third-party benchmarking data. They can use real-time data from their own clients to create internal benchmarks, offering more relevant and customized insights.

• Firms can offer more personalized advisory services, comparing client performance against similar businesses within their portfolio to provide specific recommendations and forecasts.

• Predictive analytics can help firms forecast client performance, allowing them to take a more strategic role in helping clients grow, manage risk, and make smarter decisions based on their data.

What This Means for Ablaze Collective and Our Vision

The back-to-back announcements from Xero and Intuit signal an exciting future for financial reporting and business intelligence. Both companies are clearly investing in stronger, more scalable tools to meet the growing demands of businesses and CPA firms alike. But while these moves are a step forward, they also highlight the continued need for embedded, real-time analytics that can take financial insights to the next level.

At Ablaze Collective, we’re focused on helping CPA firms harness the full potential of their data by embedding real-time insights directly into the tools they already use. We see these announcements as a validation of the broader trend: data is more valuable than ever, and the ability to act on that data in real time will be what sets firms apart in the future.

Conclusion: The Future Is Data-Driven—and Real-Time

As Intuit and Xero continue to innovate and expand their offerings, the role of data-driven insights will only grow. While Intuit’s Enterprise Suite and Xero’s acquisition of Syft will undoubtedly enhance financial reporting and provide more streamlined tools for mid-market and enterprise clients, we believe embedded analytics represents the next evolution in this journey.

At Ablaze Collective, we’re here to help CPA firms move beyond traditional reporting and into the future of real-time, proactive advisory services. If you’re ready to explore how embedded analytics can transform your firm and the value you offer to your clients, we’d love to chat.