Intuit is making its company name more visible under a new brand for its professional tax preparation applications. The company is bringing the ProSeries and Lacerte applications under the Intuit ProConnect label while changing the name of Intuit Online Tax to ProConnect Tax Online in June. The company says it is not changing the names or features of either Lacerte or ProSeries.
"We have these brands that have no connection to each other or to Intuit," says Patti Newcomer-Simmons, VP of marketing for the company's Professional Tax Group,. in explaining the decision.
It is the first change to the name of the desktop products since the company became the owner of ProSeries via the acquisition of ChipSoft in 1993 and the purchase of the Lacerte Software Corp. in 1998.
Intuit will establish ProConnect as one of four product brands. The others are Mint, QuickBooks and TurboTax. A ProConnect logo will be introduced to be used on product websites and literature and then in the products with the release of the 2016 versions in the fall.
Newcomer-Simmons says the term "ProConnect" is also designed to emphasize the connection to other company products and also to the importance of tax professionals to the company and the market.
Intuit has established a website explaining the new brand at https://taxpro.intuit.com/proconnect
Bob Scott has provided information to the tax and accounting community since 1991, first as technology editor of Accounting Today, and from 1997 through 2009 as editor of its sister publication, Accounting Technology. He is known throughout the industry for his depth of knowledge and for his high journalistic standards. Scott has made frequent appearances as a speaker, moderator and panelist and events serving tax and accounting professionals. He has a strong background in computer journalism as an editor with two former trade publications, Computer+Software News and MIS Week and spent several years with weekly and daily newspapers in Morris County New Jersey prior to that. A graduate of Indiana University with a degree in journalism, Bob is a native of Madison, Ind