QuickBooks is an on-premise accounting software package developed and marketed by Intuit. Extremely useful for start-ups, micro- or small businesses; there comes a point when many businesses outgrow a simple accounting software package and need to consider an ERP solution. In our blog we look at 10 signs that your business has outgrown, or is outgrowing, QuickBooks.
1. Your business is either moving or wants to move towards cloud-based technology
In order to access QuickBooks, you have to download and install the software package onto the device you want to use it on. This goes against the modern “24/7, anywhere” approach of software-as-a-service (SaaS) services offered by not only Microsoft but many other software providers today. If you are moving towards this SaaS approach in other operational aspects of your business, you may want to consider moving to a native, cloud-based ERP such as Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.
2. You have multiple entities that need to be tracked
Since starting out with QuickBooks, you may have added multiple companies and/or multiple locations to your corporate identity. QuickBooks allows you to set up multiple company files but it will not allow you to track multiple entities in one place. The result is that you may well be struggling to get a consolidated view of your corporate finances. A modern ERP, such as Business Central, will give you the consolidated overview of the financial health of your overall business. Click here for our blog, Top tips for creating a consolidated company in Business Central.
3. Customisation requirements are not being met
QuickBooks has extremely limited options when it comes to customisation. For example, you are unable to customise processes such as purchase requisition approvals. Moving to a modern ERP will eliminate this problem. A system such as Business Central allows you a range of different ways to customise the application. These will give you and your colleagues access to the features, functionality, and data that you need most, in a manner that bests suits your daily work processes.
4. You’re wasting time entering duplicate data into multiple systems
As businesses grow, so does the volume of data that they need to handle on a daily basis. The result is that you may spend a great deal of time entering data into QuickBooks and then needing to manually re-enter it into unintegrated systems (such as a customised billing system, a jobs management system, or an ecommerce software solution). The result is wasted time and the risk of manual input data errors. Moving to an integrated all-in-one business management solution, such as Business Central, will save you time and mitigate the risk of errors in your system.
5. Your business requires Inventory or Manufacturing functionality
QuickBooks is not able to support functionality related to inventory management and advanced manufacturing requirements. For example, it is difficult to track back order and partial shipments in QuickBooks and its inventory tracking has a maximum of one million items. If your business requires this kind of functionality, you need to move to a system that can offer you this and more. Click here for details of Business Central’s manufacturing and inventory capabilities.
6. You need real time business data in your decision-making processes
With QuickBooks, getting the key financials for each month can be a long and laborious process and, as a result, it is difficult to get a true idea of the business’s cash position at any one time. In this day and age, businesses want and need more agile and up to date business metrics so that they can make fast and accurate business decisions at any time. With modern ERPs, you can see up-to-the-minute information from across your business at any time and then use this to influence your decision-making processes.
7. You need more users than QuickBooks can offer
As your business grows, you may require more and more users to be added and/or you need to have some users that have full access while others only need read-only access. QuickBooks’ largest licence type is 30-users and there is no differentiation between full access and read-only licence types.
8. Your business has particular compliance requirements
Another limitation of QuickBooks is its ability to ensure compliance with industry-specific audit and reporting requirements. With Business Central you can be assured that it contains the functionality and is built on a platform that makes it easy for customers to comply with compliance and regulatory legislation. Business Central supports GDPR, includes Making Tax Digital functionality/extensions, and complies with relevant national and international financial standards.
8. Your business needs a more robust financial reporting system
QuickBooks has very narrow financial reporting capabilities. As a result, you may spend a great deal of time collecting and interpreting data but you get very few real-time business insights as a result. A key selling point of modern ERPs, such as Business Central, is that it offers real-time business insights at every level of your business, from a high-level overview of your entire business to practical analyses using so called “Dimensions” of individual customers, products, departments, sales teams, etc.
10. You have security concerns
With QuickBooks you are not able to automatically maintain records on all transactions. The result is that it is difficult to identify fraudulent behaviour and put a stop to it. Moving to an ERP, such as Business Central, will ensure that your financial and accounting software has a built-in security system that helps protect your database and the information that it contains from unauthorised access. Click here for our blog, 24 tips to help with your Business Central security.
Life after QuickBooks: what about a move to Business Central?
If reading this article has made you realise that you have outgrown QuickBooks and you feel you are in need of a more robust and modern business management solution, TVision Technology can help you make the next step.
We are the largest and most experienced providers of Business Central and NAV in the UK. Our team take real pleasure in working with our clients to develop, implement and support the best possible ERP implementation for their needs, and it’s this enthusiasm for our work which sees us keep our relationships with clients long after the initial implementation is complete.
If you want to know more about Microsoft Business Central and how TVision could help you, please feel free to contact us to arrange a demo to see how moving from QuickBooks to Business Central could be the right business move for you.
