Intuit sells Quicken to private equity firm in management buyout

33-year-old personal finance software will be bolstered by more Mac development, improvements in reliability on Windows, says current Quicken manager

Credit: Intuit

Intuit yesterday said it had sold its Quicken personal finance software unit to H.I.G. Capital, a Miami-based private equity firm.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The announcement put an end to a sales process that went public last August, when Intuit told customers it was unloading three parts of its business -- Quicken, QuickBase and Demandforce -- to focus on its most profitable software and services, the QuickBooks small business accounting division and the seasonally-skewed TurboTax tax preparation group. In January, Intuit sold Demandforce to Internet Brands for an undisclosed amount.

Last summer, Intuit's CEO explained that Quicken, which unlike QuickBooksand TurboTax lacked a cloud-based service or subscription offer, was essentially a dead end for the company. "Quicken is a desktop-centric business and it doesn't strengthen the small business or tax ecosystems," said chief executive Brad Smith in a conference call with Wall Street last year. "Our strategy is focused on building ecosystems and platforms in the cloud."

Quicken's contributions to Intuit's bottom line have been minuscule: In the 12 months preceding the August announcement, Quicken, which starts at $35.10 (Amazon price), contributed just $51 million to the firm's total revenue of nearly $4.2 billion, or slightly more than 1%.

But the company pledged to find a buyer who would invest in the 33-year-old Quicken software. That buyer turned out to be H.I.G. Capital, a global private equity firm that manages some $19 billion.

Eric Dunn, the head of Quicken, announced the sale in amessage and video posted to Intuit's website.

"[H.I.G. is] confident, as am I, that Quicken will thrive with increased investment, leading to product improvements and advances that will allow Quicken to continue to serve you well for decades to come," Dunn said.

The sale, said Dunn, will allow Quicken to double the number of engineers working on the Mac version -- which has long lagged behind the Windowsedition in features and functionality -- and devote more resources to improving the program on the dominant platform, Windows.

"We all know that Quicken could use some TLC, some tender loving care, to be as great as it can be. I'm very aware that Quicken isn't perfect," said Dunn. "Quicken [for Windows] could probably use some attention to the fit and finish, the polish, usability, resilience and reliability."

Dunn has his work cut out for him.

In many ways, Quicken is software that users love to hate. With years of data in the company's proprietary format -- and few alternatives -- they not only feel trapped but also regularly rail about the product. Quicken's listing on ConsumerAffairs.com, the consumer advocacy organization's website, makes for dismal reading: The overall satisfaction rating is one star out of a possible five.

"Like many other Quicken users, I ran into problems with Quicken 2016," complained someone identified only as "John" last month on ConsumerAffairs.com. "Quicken has the worst customer service of any major company with which I have had to deal. Their representatives are uninformed and untrained in the most simple issues."

The sale was a management buyout: Dunn confirmed that he was a "significant personal investor in the transaction." How that will work out over the long term was, not surprisingly, unclear.

Typically, a private equity firm that has partly financed a management buyout -- in such deals, managers are required to make personal investments to guarantee that they have a vested interest in success -- wants out after several years to recoup their investment and, assuming the transition has worked, to take a profit. At that point, the firm may be in the hands of management; or the equity firm's stake could be sold to another buyer or investor.

H.I.G Capital has invested in other software or software-based services recently. In January, H.I.G. was among the investors that bankrolled the purchase of Salary.com, a Wellesley, Mass. firm that focuses on employee compensation data, software and services. That was a management buyout as well: Salary.com's founders bought the company from IBM, which had acquired it in 2012 as part of a larger purchase of Kenexa.

The Quicken sale is expected to close by April 30.

Reference & Courtesy: http://www.computerworld.com/article/3041032/desktop-apps/intuit-sells-quicken-to-private-equity-firm-in-management-buyout.html

Ubuntu convergence finally impresses me

Image: Jack Wallen

It's taken me a long time to get on board the Ubuntu convergence train. I've been very pessimistic about the whole platform, based on the terrible state of Ubuntu Phone (as run on the Bq Aquaris handset).

But then, I happened to watch a video, by the wonderful people of XDADEVELOPERS, from Mobile World Congress, in which John Lee (of Canonical) demonstrates convergence with Ubuntu Phone running on an older Nexus 4 handset.

This video came just a week or so after Canonical made the first official announcement of a Ubuntu tablet to be released. This table will be manufactured by Bq and will be a part of the same Aquaris line as is their Ubuntu phone. The specs for the tablet aren't too shabby:

• Display: 10.1-inch IPS touch display (1920×1200 pixel resolution at 240 ppi)
• CPU: 64-bit MediaTek MT8163A 1.5GHz quad-core processor
• RAM: 2GB of RAM
• STORAGE: 16GB (micro SD memory card is included, adding storage expansion of up to 64GB)

All of this is fine and good...but up until now everything I have seen from Bq has been less than impressive

Let me explain.However, after digging around a bit (and watching the above video from WMC), I realize that all the criticism tossed at Ubuntu Phone has been premature.

First and foremost, we get what convergence is. You use a single device for all your needs:

• You carry your phone with you all day
• You work on your phone
• You plug your phone into a monitor and switch it to desktop mode
• You work at your desk with your phone
• You unplug your phone, switch it to phone mode
• You go home
• You plug your phone into your monitor at home and switch it to desktop mode
• You play on your phone at home
• Wash, rinse, repeat

For some of us, this doesn't make sense. Why? Because we're of an older mindset that precludes us from making a smartphone or tablet our only device. I do things that require some serious power (rendering videos and audio). But the truth of the matter is, a large percentage of people (especially of the millennial generation) have forsaken the tried and true form factor for their mobile devices. So when you consider this, convergence makes perfect sense. And, after watching the Canonical demo, the light goes off over my head and I can finally shout, "Ah ha!"

But what about...

The first question that comes to mind, when you consider this relative newcomer to the mobile space, is that of apps. As it stands, there are very few apps available for the Ubuntu Phone platform. To settle that issue, there is one thing you must consider:

Ubuntu Phone is still very much in development.

In fact, I would go so far as to say Canonical was quite premature in the releasing of devices. You see, this whole schmear isn't going to spread properly until Unity 8/Mir is released. At that point, everything changes. Once the Ubuntu desktop is in conjunction with the phone/tablet space, everything will be running the same platform, the same code. That is when things get interesting. When we finally see phone/tablet/desktop running the same release of Ubuntu, we'll see convergence finally work as it should. Why? Because all those apps we depend upon (LibreOffice, Audacity, Gimp, etc) will run on the convergent platform.

It should be noted, however, that the Bq Aquaris M10 will ship with LibreOffice, Mozilla Firefox, The GIMP and Gedit pre-installed. That's right, full-blown legacy apps running on the mobile platform. The current release date of the M10 is set for March, 2016.

Premature release of the platform

Lots of work still must be undertaken before this will come to fruition. That is why I believe Canonical was premature in releasing any devices. So far everyone has been less than kind to the Ubuntu Phone platform. What we really didn't understand (even though it was staring us in the eyes) was that we were seeing software very much in beta...maybe even alpha. It's a very rare occasion that a piece of beta software is ready for release. That was the disconnect. Ubuntu Phone has not (and is still not) ready for release.

The good news is that Unity 8/Mir are just around the corner. Canonical has given us every indication that Ubuntu 16.10 will ship with the new platform. I will, however, offer up this piece of advice. When Ubuntu 16.10 does ship (October, 2016), make sure Ubuntu Phone is ready to deliver on the promise of convergence...completely. If Canonical can pull off the full blown convergent experience (as in all legacy apps run on the platform), then they will have a major victory on their hands (as well as a platform ready for public consumption).

I hope this happens. Canonical and the Ubuntu Phone developers have been working tirelessly on this project and it needs (nay, deserves) a win of this magnitude.

Do you think Canonical's take on convergence will succeed? If not, why?

Reference & Courtesy: http://www.techrepublic.com/article/ubuntu-convergence-finally-impresses-me/

Trump says ‘I’m changing’ H-1B position -- then says he isn’t

During Detroit GOP debate, Trump says one thing and then clarifies it after

Credit: Gage Skidmore/Flickr

Early in his quest for the Republican nomination for president, Donald Trump promised major H-1B reforms. But Thursday night, at a debate in Detroit with his fellow Republican candidates, Trump said he was "softening" his position.

The move created an instant mess for Trump. So early this morning, his campaign issued a statement condemning the H-1B program and stressed the need to "hire Americans first."

But the damage was done.

Norm Matloff, a computer science professor at the University of California at Davis and a leading critic of the visa program, noted in a post-debate blog post: "I'm getting e-mail messages from some absolutely furious supporters of Donald Trump — who are now FORMER supporters of Trump."

The trouble began with a question from Fox News Reporter Megyn Kelly about inconsistencies in Trump's statements. Said Kelly: "Mr. Trump, your campaign website to this day argues that more visas for highly skilled workers would, quote, "decimate American workers." However, at the CNBC debate, you spoke enthusiastically in favor of these visas. So, which is it?" (see transcript)

"I'm changing. I'm changing," said Trump, in response. "We need highly skilled people in this country. In Silicon Valley, we absolutely have to have."

He also said: "I'm changing it, and I'm softening the position because we have to have talented people in this country."

Trump's post-debate statement suggested that Kelly's question wasn't specific to the H-1B program: "Megyn Kelly asked about highly-skilled immigration." Then the statement goes to attack the visa program:

"The H-1B program is neither high-skilled nor immigration: these are temporary foreign workers, imported from abroad, for the explicit purpose of substituting for American workers at lower pay. I remain totally committed to eliminating rampant, widespread H-1B abuse and ending outrageous practices such as those that occurred at Disney in Florida when Americans were forced to train their foreign replacements. I will end forever the use of the H-1B as a cheap labor program, and institute an absolute requirement to hire American workers first for every visa and immigration program.

"No exceptions," wrote Trump.

Trump's statement appears to argue that he was discussing green cards, permanent immigration, for university graduates and not H-1B visas.

But Kelly was asking Trump about the H-1B program. She used the word "decimate," in her question, citing the same word Trump's platform uses in its criticism of the higher H-1B visa caps sought in the I-Square bill, co-sponsored by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), one of Trump's GOP presidential rivals.

Trump, in response to Kelly's question, spoke about how foreign students will go to Harvard, Stanford and Wharton and "as soon as they're finished they'll get shoved out. They want to stay in this country. They want to stay here desperately, they're not able to stay here.

"For that purpose, we absolutely have to be able to keep the brain power in this country," said Trump.

Pressing for clarity, Kelly asked Trump: "You are abandoning the position on your Website?"

Trump's H-1B position has two main features. It raises the pay of visa workers to keep employers from paying entry-level wages. Higher salaries "will force companies to give these coveted entry-level jobs to the existing domestic pool of unemployed" workers "instead of flying in cheaper workers from overseas."

A second major feature is the campaign's "hire American workers first" edict. Trump wrote that H-1B "petitions for workers should be mailed to the unemployment office, not USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service)."

During the debate, Kelly also quizzed Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) about his inconsistencies on the H-1B program. She pointed out that Cruz supported a major hike in the visa cap, and did not join the group of bipartisan Senators seeking an investigation of the program following Southern California Edison's layoff last year.

"The abuse of the H-1B program has been rampant," said Cruz, in response.

Cruz is co-sponsoring legislation with Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) tosubstantially hike H-1B wages, tighten program rules and eliminate non-disparagement clauses that serve to keep IT workers from speaking out.

As president, Cruz said he would impose a 180-day moratorium on the H-1B program and "implement a comprehensive investigation, because "you got U.S. companies that are firing American workers, bringing in foreign workers, and forcing them to train their replacements."

Trump recently received the endorsement Sessions, who also heads the Senate immigration subcommittee. Two former IT workers, who each said they had to train a foreign replacement, spoke at a recent Trump rally.

Are Your Kids The Latest Target Of Hackers?

The short answer is yes. V-Tech and Hello Kitty join the depressingly long list of companies to have been hacked in 2015. This time, however, the data taken were overwhelmingly about children – their usernames, passwords, addresses, birthdays, photos, and other personal information.

At first glance, you may be wondering why hackers would bother, but there are three major reasons for targeting toy companies. First, they are an easy target. V-tech representatives admit that the company’s security was subpar. Second, children tend to reuse passwords just like adults do, so getting a password for one site may unlock most, if not all the sites that child uses, and of course, some sites require payment for various features to be unlocked, or are purchasing portals, so the child’s information may inadvertently expose a parent’s credit or debit card information.

Third, and perhaps most chillingly, it could well be about the long game. A hacker need only wait until the child is old enough to get a credit card and then steal his or her identity. It’s not like it costs anything to store the data and wait, and given how easy it was to breach V-Tech and Hello Kitty’s security, that’s as good as being handed free money.

There are two tragedies rolled into one here. The first and most obvious is that not even our kids are safe from hackers, and nothing seems sacred to them. The second is that the breach could have been avoided. It’s not like V-Tech or Hello Kitty didn’t have ample warning or ample opportunity to protect themselves against such things. Online tech portals have been screaming from the rooftops all year about the dangers, and outlining the steps companies need to take if they want to be secure. V-Tech and Hello Kitty simply opted to do nothing with the information. That makes it somewhat difficult to feel sorry for them. They got lucky for a while, skating by with minimal security. Looks like their luck ran out. How’s security at your company? If you are unsure, a network audit is probably your best first course of action.

5 tips for turning a business unit into a startup

Turning a business unit like IT from internal to external-facing is tricky. Here are five keys to make it a successful change.

Large and mid-sized companies are particularly well-suited for enhancing existing products or for coming up with new ones that are directly within their lines of business. However, a trickier proposition is commercializing a business unit like IT, which traditionally is viewed as an internal cost center that serves the needs of other company departments.

First, there is a natural bias against turning IT (or any other administrative function) into a business unit that has external as well as internal customers. This is because there is fear and trepidation that IT cannot serve more than one master—and that, inevitably, service levels within the company will fall if IT also has to worry about pleasing outside customers.

There is also the problem of who is going to head up an entity that has always been an internally focused department, and that now is being tapped to serve outside customers. CIOs and IT'ers in general tend to be technical and introspective. They do not always make good salespersons and promoters.

Nevertheless, there are companies that have successfully spun off profitable businesses from internally focused departments like IT, and from these efforts we have learned what works. Here are five best practices that characterize these successful startups:

1. Perform the upfront due diligence to validate that there is a viable business

There has to be an extremely compelling business case to transform an internal business unit into an external business. On the financial side, there must be sufficient commercial opportunity to at least produce breakeven results in a very short time. Most likely, this means that outside customer commitments are already lined up. The new spinoff organization will likely be drawn from internal personnel, and the impacts of such a move need to be weighed so that they don't present any risk to corporate service levels.

2. Decide who is going to staff this business unit

The individual heading the startup must have a combination of business savvy and technical knowledge in the set of services being sold. He or she should have the skills bandwidth to work with both innovators and administrators. This is a difficult hybrid set of leadership skills to find, but it's almost always required, or the startup will be in jeopardy. Second, the internal staff that is identified to work in the startup should be fully assigned there—and not function with a split of responsibilities between the startup and the enterprise. This can best be affected (and afforded) when the organization has solid bench strength behind these key individuals. Finally, the startup must have a very service-oriented staff with business acumen and an ability to empathize with their customers' needs. If the startup can't provide excellent service, it will have difficulty getting (and retaining) customers.

3. Determine the legal framework that the new company will operate under

Will the startup be a subsidiary, a new line of business unit within the enterprise, or a totally independent company with an independent board? How will the enterprise be represented on the board, and who will fill any board positions that are not occupied by the enterprise? There are pros and cons to each approach, and it is important for startup promoters, legal counsel, the CFO, the CEO and others to review all of these scenarios and to determine "best fit."

4. Sell the idea to the CEO, the CFO, other C-level management and the board

Startups are fraught with risk, even with customer commitments and the ability to leverage enterprise resources and personnel that already exist. Whether it is the CIO, a line of business managers, or any other manager in the enterprise, business viability due diligence, customer commitments, projected staffing and operational expenses of the organization, the services the startup will offer and how they will be priced, the potential opportunity risks, etc., should all be thoroughly discussed with C-level managers, the board, attorneys and any other stakeholders in the process. These discussions should begin as informal what if meetings that graduate into more serious discussions—until they reach the level of a board meeting, when the proposal comes up for approval. A consensus-building process like this can take months, but it is well worth it because those promoting the startup must get everyone on board.

5. Focus the startup on service and innovation

Customers coming to the startup, especially if it is an IT endeavor, are looking for technology solutions, excellent service and a fair price. The startup must be equipped with a compelling solution that immediately meets pressing customer needs. The startup must possess the skills and talents to continuously innovate and build on this solution. Pricing must also be competitive. More than anything, however, startups can move toward the head of the class if they can provide consistently excellent service. Good service is the Achilles heel of many vendors in the IT marketplace, but an area of concern that customers never overlook.

Reference & Courtesy: http://www.techrepublic.com/article/five-tips-for-turning-a-business-unit-into-a-startup/