How Intuit is closing the growth gap for SMBs

Anthony Capano, Intuit’s Regional Director, explains how Intuit’s AI-powered connected platform supports growth while keeping human expertise central.

Small and mid-size businesses have been a constant throughout Anthony Capano’s career. The Regional Director at Intuit grew up seeing how busy local warehouses operated and started his career in the local newspaper advertising business before moving into the e-commerce and SaaS technology space.

Since then, he’s held roles across the UK, US and Australia and has witnessed first-hand how digital technologies have transformed the way businesses go to market. “It’s empowering SMBs with technology. I’ve had a long history of doing that, and it’s something I enjoy,” says Capano.

The common SMB ‘growth gap’

Now he spends much of his week with Intuit’s SMB customers and accountants. Through products including QuickBooks and Mailchimp, Intuit provides financial and marketing technology to small and mid-size businesses around the world. They are the engine room of the Australian economy: SMBs make up about 97% of all businesses, generate more than $500 billion for the nation’s GDP and employ more than five million people.

“I meet customers in their factories and their offices to understand the challenges they face every day. Technology and AI can do a lot to support them, but it’s human intelligence that decides what to do with it,” says Capano.

These businesses are united in a common purpose – serving their customers – while also facing a common set of challenges. They need to maintain positive cash flow and support business growth while having limited time to manage everything.

However, disconnected systems are hampering their ability to fully utilise their data, streamline processes and improve decision-making and automation. Intuit’s Growth Gap report found Australian small and mid-size businesses use an average of between six and nine different systems, with the company estimating that 48% of their potential growth goes unrealised because of disconnected tools.

“We always look at the systems our customers are using and how they help manage and grow their businesses,” says Capano.

“We can help drive an impact for their business and power their growth,” he adds.

Unlocking the ‘growth engine’

While fragmentation is a barrier to growth for many businesses, Capano knows that Australian SMBs and their accountants don’t necessarily need more software. What they need are smarter systems that work together. “They need an intelligent connected platform,” he says.

Within its central platform, Intuit’s flagship products QuickBooks and Mailchimp play a vital role in giving SMBs a bird’s eye view of their business. QuickBooks supports accounting, payroll and financial management, while Mailchimp provides marketing automation and customer engagement capabilities. Together, they connect parts of the business that have traditionally operated in separate systems – from finding and engaging customers to understanding revenue and managing cash flow.

Using Intuit QuickBooks, local business Margin Maximizers is turning complex financial data into actionable insights for mid-market businesses, improving cost management and identifying new growth opportunities. Margin Maximizers’ client revenue rose from $14 million to over $20 million AUD in a single year and strategic adjustments uncovered $500,000 in net profits in just eight months.

Meanwhile, Kimberley Manufacturing has reduced its finance workload by 75% and consolidated four applications into one. Using Intuit QuickBooks to automate processes, it’s boosted project profitability and is making more informed business decisions.

“The owner who used to spend hours doing simple tasks doesn’t need to do that anymore. They can instead grow their business and do what they went into business for in the first place,” notes Capano.

How AI can fuel SMB growth

SMBs are also seizing the opportunities from AI, with two-thirds already using the technology, Intuit research has found.

Intuit is expanding AI capabilities across its platform with the recently launched Intuit Intelligence, its system of AI agents designed to automate routine work and help businesses act on their financial data.

Within Intuit QuickBooks, those capabilities can turn a recurring task described through a conversation into a scheduled automation, while new invoicing functionality can use the data in QuickBooks to create draft invoices for review and, once approved, send them and manage follow-up reminders. Custom reports combine ledger history and bank activity to provide a forward-looking view of cash flow.

“It’s less about pulling some reports or looking at historical data. Business intelligence and AI show what needs attention, the business owner or accountant decides what to do about it, and then the AI agent can go ahead and execute it for these businesses,” says Capano.

“We’re also trying to solve the time pressures of accountants and how they can better serve their customers. It’s not just running administrative tasks; it’s how they can actually sit with a customer and help them grow their business,” he adds.

The broader shift is from AI that simply provides information to AI that can help businesses decide what to do next – and increasingly carry out that work – while keeping the business owner in control.

The shift matters for accountants as much as business owners. Intuit says accountants are spending 30% more time on client advisory work as automation takes on more of the routine tasks.

Intuit says millions of customers are already using Intuit Intelligence’s automations and insights each month. Early adopters report saving an average of 13 hours a month. The company is also building its AI capabilities through partnerships with technology companies including OpenAI, Employment Hero, Shopify and Anthropic, alongside a broader ecosystem of platforms used by small businesses.

But the key is that AI augments human decision-making rather than replacing it. “SMBs still have oversight and control of their business, and that’s a vital component. We combine AI with human intelligence,” says Capano.

For Capano, the opportunity is not to give businesses more tools to manage, but to bring those tools together in a single intelligent platform. By connecting financial, customer and operational data, businesses can get a complete picture of what is happening across the organisation, use AI to identify what needs attention and then act on it.

Explore Intuit Mailchimp at mailchimp.com and Intuit QuickBooks at quickbooks.intuit.com/au

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