About

Mike Branch has many years of experience (“many” means I’d rather you didn’t do the math) in business systems development, project management and consulting for businesses of all sizes, including a 10-year stint at Microsoft in both their internal IT group as well as the product groups.

Data Integration: In my work doing custom software development I’ve had several opportunities to make different systems talk to each other. I’ve come to enjoy this kind of work quite a bit (hey, somebody’s got to do it!), hence my branding as “The Integrator”. I started out doing this with QuickBooks, because despite QuickBooks being a fantastic accounting system there are a lot of other things that it can’t do, so many organizations want to connect other systems to QuickBooks. Since then, I’ve expanded to other platforms, including Salesforce.com.

QuickBooks: In 2005 I founded White Rabbit Services, Inc. to provide consulting services based on QuickBooks products, especially QuickBooks Point of Sale and Enterprise Solutions. In May 2009 White Rabbit joined forces with CFO Selections LLC (CFOS) of Bellevue, WA in a new team dedicated to providing QuickBooks-related consulting services and product sales. Today I do most of my QuickBooks consulting and Intuit product sales through CFO Selections in Bellevue, WA, and most software development through my own company, White Rabbit Services, Inc.

Custom Programming: In addition to the data integration work that I do, I also enjoy creating custom applications for clients. With my background in business systems and software design I’m often able to create lightweight add-ons to QuickBooks and other systems that meet business needs more cost-effectively than expensive add-ons.

Recent Projects: Examples of integration and programming projects I’ve done:

  • A custom application connected to QuickBooks and Microsoft SQL Server to help a wood stove pellet manufacturer manage raw materials inventory and manufacturing
  • A time and expense tracking application in Salesforce.com with a desktop integration program that syncs data between Salesforce and QuickBooks Online
  • Custom invoicing for a wireless data services provider. Customer and order information originates in Salesforce.com, and is used to create specialized PDF invoice documents with a custom program. Invoice data is saved QuickBooks.
  • A program to download a wholesaler’s product catalog updates into their customers’ QuickBooks Point of Sale item lists
  • Helped several companies with web-based services to integrate their product with QuickBooks
  • Connected custom data in Salesforce.com directly to Intuit Anywhere. Intuit Anywhere is Intuit’s cloud-based platform for allowing web-based services to connect to customers’ QuickBooks data (both desktop and online).
  • Built a web portal in Force.com (that’s Salesforce without the CRM) to allow a property management company to track time for their managers. Reimbursable expenses will also be entered in Force.com, and all this data will be used to generate PDF invoices from within Force.com. Invoice data will be sent to QuickBooks.

Looking To The Future: For the next few years my focus will be on bringing together several things that I’ve enjoyed working on throughout my career, for the benefit of businesses of all sizes. These areas include:

  • More integration!
  • Logistics and supply chain management
  • Software design (with a focus on fast, customized development at a reasonable cost)
  • The cloud – Interconnected online services

In addition to combining these aspects of my background for the benefit of my clients, I’m always looking for 3rd party products and services that I can recommend to enhance existing systems. In some cases I may earn a referral commission for recommending certain products, but my priority is always finding the right combination of products and services for my clients’ needs.