Why would Michael Wight, the founder and CEO of RedTeam Software and the next developer in the Intuit Developer Spotlight series, find the Commercial Construction Index (which was at 72 for Q1 2019, indicating a “Healthy Market”) interesting? Because RedTeam is a leading cloud platform built for commercial construction professionals.

Today, Michael shares the app’s history and how integrating with QuickBooks Online was a smart move.

Built by Contractors, for Contractors

“RedTeam supports essential workflows for general contractors including business development, project management, construction accounting and document control. We help them capture, organize and share information that is critical to the successful delivery of their projects,” Michael explains.

Collaboration between RedTeam and its customers, as well as collaboration between the customers’ front office and field teams, is one of the many goals of this centralized, real-time, and online Project Management and Construction Financials solution. Michael and the team at RedTeam assure their users that the app has been “Built by Contractors, for Contractors.” They offer several levels of support—from submitting a ticket, to scheduling a call, to live chatting—backed by a team with construction expertise.

RedTeam’s construction experience and focus on customer requirements has led to features that contractors can use every day, which increase their efficiency and their bottom line. These features include:

• Paperless Invoices – Electronic routing of Vendor and Subcontractor invoices to members of your company for approval
• Automatic Compliance/Lien Waivers – Insurance and lien waivers for Vendors and Subcontractors tracked by RedTeam
• Mobility – Capture jobsite photos, access team contacts, and enter employee time and expenses on the go with a mobile app

And there’s one more “feature” the RedTeam designers knew would be important but didn’t expect to be so crucial to their success: integrating with QuickBooks Online (QBO).

“We already had a small percentage of our clients using QuickBooks, and we thought the connection might appeal to them,” Michael says. “To our surprise, our connection QBO is often described by our new customers as an important factor in their decision to buy RedTeam. Nearly  half our customers are connected to QBO.”

The Benefits of Integrating with QuickBooks Online

Integrating with QuickBooks Online brings with it substantial benefits, including introduction to 4 million+ QuickBooks Online companies and abundant resources geared to helping apps succeed.

“Technical support was extremely important as this was our first attempt to connect to another application via API. The penetration testing was challenging for us, but in the end, we think we have a better and more secure application as a result.”

He also says, “Understanding Intuit’s business strategy helps us ensure that our strategy remains fully aligned and focused on getting the most value from the connection.”

RedTeam also appreciates the review functionality on Apps.com. Here’s an example of one of RedTeam’s multiple five-star reviews: “This software provides full construction management functionality and is a great add-on for QBO. Process all your job-related costs and revenue and it automatically integrates to QBO. It produces a WIP schedule instantly and has a lot of reports. Lots of construction features.”

Sometimes, however, the feedback is less than stellar, but these seemingly negative reviews are valuable. Case in point, one RedTeam customer titled his review “Difficult to find things” and detailed out his frustrations. Six months later, he came back and updated his review, writing, “Update on this review. While we had some start up issues, I am happy to report that RedTeam has stepped up to the plate and made it right by me. I still run into an unknown here and there, but my staff has been able to communicate effectively with support to work past the issues. I’d bump this to a 5 star if I could.”

RedTeam’s responsiveness resulted in success, both for their customers and their app.

RedTeam’s Roadmap and Advice for Other Developers

This customer-first mentality is important for every developer, and Michael offers his thoughts on what it takes. “We all know intuitively that operational workflows affect accounting. However, it takes a significant investment of time and effort to bridge those two worlds, and patience to fully understand the needs of every constituent in the process.”

Great advice, and we appreciate Michael taking time to share RedTeam’s successful journey as part of the Intuit Developer Spotlight series. His experience, along with those of all our developers who have participated, provide invaluable insights to other developers seeking the same success. Stay tuned for another developer coming soon.

In the meantime, please feel free to utilize the many resources available to you as a member of the Intuit Developer community. This includes contacting the Intuit Developer team with any questions you may have about integrating with QuickBooks Online, checking out the Intuit Developer Support Community, and reading more posts in the Intuit Developer Blog for updated news and technical tips (e.g. using enhanced custom fields for QuickBooks Online Advanced).