In early February, FreshBooks CEO Mike McDerment revealed in an open letter to customers that the company was planning on launching a completely revamped platform. At the time, McDerment said that the change was prompted by the company raising $30 million almost ten years after its creation.
“When we built the original version of FreshBooks, SaaS didn’t exist as a concept,” McDerment told BetaKit at the time. “We go way back. So frameworks like Ruby on Rails, or some of the more modern web developer techniques, didn’t even exist when we started. And we haven’t been benefitting from those.”
While the company was mum on details of the platform at the time, the company announced the official launch of the redesigned FreshBooks. The company hopes that its platform, which targets self-employed professionals, will have a more seamless user experience that reflects the needs of users that may be running multiple businesses at one time.
Features include revamped project management tools that allow users and their teams to share files and communicate with clients right from the platform, seamless switching between multiple businesses, and the ability to communicate with clients directly on an invoice.
FreshBooks is also expanding its ecosystem of integrations, including a Google Apps integration that enables users to invoice Google Contacts and preview emails through FreshBooks, the ability to register for a GoDaddy domain through FreshBooks, and a revamped iOS app.
“We’re expanding our network of partner integrations, launching with 14 partners today, and will be rapidly adding more as we continue to invest in our platform,” said McDerment. “When your accounting data flows effortlessly between the apps you use every day –whether it’s your project management, your CRM, or your bank – you end up spending less time on administrative tasks and more time serving your clients. In fact, those who switched to FreshBooks report saving an average of 16 hours a month.”
