Let’s get philosophical for a second: sometimes ‘one size fits all’ doesn’t.
Whoa. Let that sink in and let’s think of some examples, or at least exceptions, where this claim doesn’t always hold water: Panty hose. Personal-sized pan pizzas. Garbage bags. Kids’ snowsuits.
It makes more sense, and maybe is a little more honest, for brands to recommend sizes and ages, rather than a universal “this is for everyone all the time.”
How about your company’s software? There’s no doubt that Microsoft’s Office is one of the more versatile products around for just about everything for basic and home and small business needs. For those who want to do a little more there are programs like Adobe’s InDesign that leaves Microsoft’s Publisher in the dust. In fact, a big selling point of the entire Adobe Suite is that it’s designed for those who want to do cool things beyond the boundaries of Office, like better editing of photos or creating cool graphics beyond the ho-hum clip art found in Word.
There’s a similar approach to accounting software. If you’re starting a business, pretty much every everyone is recommended QuickBooks. Intuit’s product has become a standard with plenty of features for all types of ventures.
Sure, you might be comfortable with how it all works, and it hasn’t steered you wrong since your tiny business first launched, but that doesn’t mean QuickBooks is still right for your company.
Signs Your Business Has Outgrown QuickBooks
Despite its ease of use and affordability, QuickBooks may be a little too elementary for your organization. How can you tell? Here are a few signs:
1. You Don’t Have Enough Control Over Your Inventory and Production
If it’s important for you to track inventory across all of your locations (and it certainly should be!), QuickBooks may not be robust enough to handle your needs. While QuickBooks does offer a good deal of inventory-related tracking abilities, but if you’re business relies on inventory valuations such as FIFO or LIFO, for example, QuickBooks likely isn’t giving you the tools you need to appropriately manage your inventory.
2. You Have to Input Data Into Multiple Places
This is a big one—if you’re wasting time on duplicate data entry, it’s time to revisit the idea of keeping QuickBooks around. QuickBooks is great for small businesses or companies that are just getting started, but as they grow, organizations take on other enterprise systems that often require data inputs from shared sources; QuickBooks doesn’t have the capability to talk to other systems like more robust platforms do. Besides, not only are you wasting time if you’re entering data into multiple systems, but you’re also exposing your organization to human error each and every time that data needs to be put into a system by a team member.
3. Your Accounting Product Hasn’t Upgraded in a Long Time (or Ever)
If you feel like you’re not getting innovation for your money, it’s time to start shopping around. Remember, QuickBooks was never intended to be an ERP platform, so, while it can offer you basic accounting functionality at a fair price, it isn’t really going to deliver radical innovation that enhances the way you run your business.
Looking for even more signs? Learn more in our eBook: 12 Clear Signs You’ve Outgrown QuickBooks.
Advantages of Switching From QuickBooks to a Modern, Cloud ERP Solution
There are some advantages from switching to another program, especially if you’re reaching the limits of what you can do in QuickBooks.
That’s why MIBAR recommends discussing options with them if you’re ready to learn about new products, such as Acumatica, a platform that utilizes the cloud ERP environment to help you keep better track of all your increasingly complex financial details.
For those considering moving up from QuickBooks to another accounting program to help with more detailed needs, such as Acumatica, the following list might help.
- No limit on licenses. Basic Quickbooks gives you up 30 licenses for you and your staff. More can be added, but it can be pricy. But an ERP-based platform can provide unlimited licenses with minimal changes to add more users. New employees can also download and install their own systems from the cloud, as opposed to someone manually installing every new license.
- Better insights. ERP-based programs can give you real-time dashboards keeping track of just about any metric that interests you. You also can get more details about every customer, more than how much they’ve spent in the past. While QuickBooks just gives the basic numbers, an ERP platform lets you blend information from your Customer Management System about what they’re ordering, the status of current orders, renewal info, or any important details that are important to your company’s relationship with them.
- Easy to customize. Part of the reason QuickBooks has so much appeal to new businesses is that it’s very structured, since everyone really should have similar needs when getting going. But as your business grows, you might want more control of different process, the ability to filter out certain metrics and focus on others. So, a customized ERP could present you and your company with more abilities to make the system the way you want it, beyond cosmetic changes like different fonts or colors.
- More information about inventory. QuickBooks can allow you to keep track of small details like valuation of different lots, plus different serial numbers for different processes. Data from an ERP system can track details like inventory valuation such as last in first out or first in first out, or expiration date tracking and support team item class hierarchies.
- Better recognition. Because QuickBooks is a common tool for newer, smaller businesses, customers and client may not mind seeing files or their data in this form. This could be seen as you trying to get the details right, for your clients as well as yourself. But as your business grows, you might attract more positive attention if you switch to something more advanced users. Plus, a full accounting system that isn’t QuickBooks can provide more audit trail info.
Overall, making the switch away from QuickBooks to another accounting program could be perfect opportunity to make other changes, including evolving into a full ERP system. Though newer versions of QuickBooks may offer limited Enterprise tools, it’s still doesn’t offer all the features that a full ERP can offer.
Get the Full eBook to Learn More: 12 Clear Signs You’ve Outgrown QuickBooks
Don’t let limited functionality hold you back. Find out how moving to ERP could help you take your business to the next level. In our eBook, 12 Clear Signs You’ve Outgrown QuickBooks, you will learn:
- How to enhance your customer service with better inventory tracking.
- Why the lack of an audit trail in QuickBooks could hurt you.
- How to get a 360-degree view of your customers.
- Why you never need to run out of user licenses
- How to make it easy to share accounting data across your organization.
Click here to download the eBook now.
MIBAR Can Help You Make the Move From QuickBooks to the Cloud
Your business has grown so much on QuickBooks. Don’t stop now. Build your platform for future growth by upgrading your operations to a true cloud ERP system.
Not taking any action is an option for QuickBooks customers, but the consequences are substantial. The delay in evolving your technology backbone increases costs, lowers profitability, and results in customer satisfaction issues, including customer churn.
If you’re consider making a switch, talk to the QuickBooks migration experts at MIBAR. With more than 30 years of experience helping clients create their own customized solutions, MIBAR is happy to assist any organization looking for ways to become more efficient and competitive.
