Zebra. Definitely the zebra. No, the oxpecker. What is an oxpecker? Actually, it doesn’t really matter even if zebras are undeniably cooler. Why?
In a mutualistic business relationship, much like the zebra and the oxpecker, the organisms from two different species are working together, each benefiting from the relationship. And when that happens it’s truly a magical thing – regardless of which “species” you are.
Take TSheets and Intuit for example. In 2011, Intuit discontinued their employee time tracker. They narrowed their focus and resources on what they do best: providing small businesses with accounting and tax software that improved their business workflow and simplified payroll. Pretty black and white, right? (Dang, I guess Intuit is the zebra.) It was an effective move but quickly Intuit customers became irritated with the lack of a quality time tracking and reporting solution necessary to run their business. It felt a little like ‘ticks’ hovering over their payroll and invoicing processes – with errors and having to duplicate time entry and caught up-a-creek in the event of an audit.
Enter the ox-peckers. Err, TSheets! Seven short months after being added to the Intuit App Center, TSheets became the number one 5-star rated time tracking app in the Intuit ecosystem. As a result the annoying, parasitic payroll problems were all but eliminated with TSheets.
“… I love how it integrates with QB and makes payroll a breeze. ”
“TSheets is without doubt, the best time tracking software on the market.”
“I LOVE this service… it lowered my overtime costs 20% the day I got it!!!”
Our zebra of the story, Intuit, has since got it’s stripes back and again is being hailed the complete accounting solution for small businesses but only with the best 3rd party integration (and diligent feathered friend), TSheets, pecking away at the task of employee time tracking to simplify payroll.
So, whether your business is is the “oxpecker” and going about your business and in turn filling up on free parasites or the “zebra” with a lifetime of free pest control, Congratulations! You’re a part of a mutualistic relationship that’s a natural result of two like-minded, hard-working, and results-oriented organisms.
And who benefits the most from this situation? Your customers. So, it’s really a win-win-WIN!
