Many small business owners and independent consultants use an assortment of different tools and products (e.g., spreadsheets, online banking, word processing software, checkbook registers/ledgers, paper forms, mobile apps, etc.) to manage their business finances. We call these people financial “duct-tapers” because their financial information and processes are “taped” together across multiple methods.

There are many hypotheses about why small business people may do this:

- they figure it out as they go, and add methods only as they are needed

- they perceive many of these methods to be free or lower cost than dedicated financial software or subscriptions to cloud software

- they have so many things to learn and do as they run their business, that learning financial software and basic accounting is not a priority

There is another twist. Most duct-tapers are dissatisfied with their current system, and know there is a better way. But ironically, many of them are proud of their duct-taped combination of ways to do financial tasks using the various software and service tools available to them.

We are a company that makes software to help businesses manage accounting, payroll, and payments. We operate in the same space as FreshBooks, QuickBooks Online, Sage One, and Xero. Businesses can use our cloud software using a web browser and mobile devices.

We would like ideas about how to convince these financial “duct-tapers” to use our cloud software. Consider both early stage companies who are just beginning to duct tape methods together, and also older companies who have been using a duct-taped solution for a while.