As your business grows, you may find your organization struggling with the limitations of software designed for smaller concerns. Everyone has to start somewhere, so it’s only natural that you will eventually outgrow the systems you had at the beginning. This is particularly true of accounting packages. QuickBooks, for example, is a fantastic resource for a new startup or small-scale venture. When business processes and scope grow more complex, however, it’s usually time to upgrade. You may want to look at software that is capable of taking you from small business operations to functioning like a big company.
How will you know when you’re ready? Here are 10 reasons why it could be time to upgrade from QuickBooks.
- You need ERP, not just accounting—When you can no longer keep track of your suppliers and orders with a spreadsheet, your own eyes and QuickBooks’ limited order management capabilities, you’re probably ready for Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software. ERP enables you to manage vendors, orders, logistics, and finance in a single application.
- You can benefit from having more hosting options and scalability—How big will your business be next year? Will you have new facilities? The right financial software for a growing business is one that offers multiple options for deployment and scalability. For example, it might be useful to have the ability to run accounting/ERP completely in the cloud or on-premise. The choice should be yours, without any tradeoffs in features and performance.
- You need full functionality in a mobile version of your ERP software—Your employees are becoming more and more mobile. To keep the business running while people are on the move, it’s critical to give them a complete accounting/ERP solution in a mobile form factor.
- Your teams can drive growth by means of customized workflows and reports—Your business is generating a lot of data. Some of it is necessary for operational management and some of it is useful for gaining financial insights. Some of it is useless. Customized workflows and reports give your people the tools they need to conduct processes efficiently and leverage data to take your business to the next level.
- Your processes will go better with embedded document management—Having documents attached to relevant transactions makes your people more productive. They don’t have to go searching for missing items in workflows. Auditors also like having documents linked to transactions.
- Your organization requires flexible access controls—Not everyone in your company needs access to the same system elements and data.
- Your people can benefit from customized dashboards and UX—Customized User Experience (UX) and dashboards, with data access restrictions based on role, drive improved productivity and security.
- Your need to be GAAP compliant—QuickBooks is not compliant with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) because you can delete transactions and restate results in a given accounting period without leaving an audit trail. This may not be a big deal, but if you work with auditors, lenders and investors, they will insist on it.
- Your customer service will benefit from integrated Customer Resource Management (CRM)—When a customer calls about an order, it’s very helpful if the customer support team can have a complete view of the customer, including their current order status and purchasing history.
- Your IT department can leverage APIs and customized source code—If your business needs to integrate accounting/ERP with other point solutions (Salesforce, HR, inventory, etc.) it makes sense to have a system with Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and a Software Developer Kit (SDK) that enables custom-coding and simple connections with other applications.
QuickBooks does have some of these features, but usually not with enough power and versatility to meet the needs of a growing business. Making the step to more advanced accounting/ERP software may require some external guidance and internal change management. Only you will know when it’s time to make the move.
Upgrade and Thrive
Perhaps you experienced one or more of the 10 reasons to upgrade from QuickBooks? To be sure, there are many other reasons including productivity, real-time reporting, faster accounting closes, and total cost of ownership (TCO).
So how do you upgrade? Crestwood is a leading software implementation partner for Acumatica ERP, a great option for QuickBooks users experiencing growing pains. Take a look at a QuickBooks/Acumatica comparison. And contact Crestwood to discuss your unique requirements, request a Free Demo, or browse the additional resources below:
Three Reasons It May be Time to Depart QuickBooks
Outgrowing QuickBooks: You Can’t Move Forward When You Keep Looking Back
