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Has your business outgrown QuickBooks? 

 Along with Intuit’s various product offerings, QuickBooks has been the go-to accounting software for small businesses across North America for years. Today, small growing companies can consider Pro, Plus, Enterprise and even Online (QBO) versions of QuickBooks, with many add-ons to meet growing demands. Although Intuit has done an excellent job of providing different software options, the reality is that QuickBooks and all its versions are designed for small businesses but offer little room for growth. The lack of scalability and flexibility leaves owners feeling the limits of their accounting software. 

Business Growth

The growth of a business isn’t always measured by profit revenue or how many employees it has. Loss of time, productivity and employee engagement are contributing factors to why a business can be stagnant. Growth is also seen in changes to processes for meeting customer demands. Acquiring new equipment and product lines or ensuring regulatory compliance may also be considered “growth.” With the various ways business owners face growth, scalable software is needed to keep up and help the business maintain its success. 

Many small and medium-sized companies use one version or another of QuickBooks as their first financial software. It’s simple to use, well known and provides basic features that enable almost every organization to get up and running. However, when all goes well and your company expands, you quickly run into some limitations that will inevitably force many QuickBooks Desktop users to move to a more comprehensive accounting and business management solution.

Are you feeling the limitations of QuickBooks? 

Collecting and processing your financial and operational data becomes more complicated when your company expands. Your supply chain is not the fine-tuned machine you thought it was, and the many workarounds you have in place are beginning to make you fear that you may be unable to keep up. To help evaluate if you’ve outgrown QuickBooks and all its versions, ask yourself a few questions:

  • Do we need to be entering data manually? Are there more integrated or automated ways to get the information we need into the system?
  • Are we managing some or most of our inventory outside of QuickBooks? In spreadsheets or add-ons? 
  • Are we paying for more than one system or application to meet our requirements? 
  • Are we transferring data from one system to the next to keep everything current?
  • Do we have the flexibility to manage inventory between warehouses?
  • Can we easily update prices and projects based on accurate inventory counts? 
  • Can we customize quotes and manage partial shipments, backorders and RMA’s well?

If the answers to these questions are less than optimal, it might be a good sign that it’s time to look forward. However, moving forward isn’t always so easy. QuickBooks users will often consider staying within the QuickBooks family because the jump to a complete ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) solution is too much. Too much learning, too much time, too much money. Up until now. 

Spire is your upgrade from QuickBooks 

Switching to Spire from QuickBooks has never been so simple. Spire has become a solution to the problems QuickBooks users face. Our business management solution is designed to give your business ERP power without the hefty ERP ticket price. With all our modules fully integrated, Spire gives you the power of an ERP without requiring so many extra apps and add-ons. Spire includes a conversion tool specifically designed to migrate all of your current and historical QuickBooks Desktop (Pro, Premier and Enterprise editions) data without losing any information.

Now is the right time. Switch to Spire and start working with software that is made to grow with your company.

Schedule a free, no-obligation discovery call and let’s see if Spire is right for you. 

 

Real-Time Inventory Management For The Growing Business

Real-time inventory management is a way to streamline your operational business processes and gain more visibility into your inventory at any time. If you have not yet adopted real-time inventory management, here are five great reasons to start:

Reason #1: Greater Reliability

With software that provides real-time transaction posting, the data for your inventory provides your team with a more accurate count of quantities in stock. If an item leaves a warehouse shelf, it will immediately show up as a change to your inventory. As a result, your sales team will not be able to over-commit items when they are not on hand. Having reliable data empowers your employees by giving them greater confidence and ensures customer satisfaction by not overpromising and underdelivering.

Reason #2: Enhanced Visibility

Another reason to embrace real-time inventory management is that it creates a more detailed view of what’s happening within the organization’s operations. Having deeper insight is helpful, especially during peak periods, such as the busy holiday shopping season or a super sale. However, during busy times, businesses often overlook essential aspects of their inventory management to keep up with customer demands. Having insight into meaningful data on your day-to-day operations will better help the organization prepare for those busy times. 

Reason #3: Easier Reporting

Ever want to run an on-the-fly management report for a meeting or presentation and can’t because the whole process just takes too long? One advantage of using a real-time inventory management system is the ability to produce accurate reports at any time. Having on-hand access to the correct numbers allows your management team to respond to sudden spikes in supply or demand. When you can rapidly evaluate margins on item prices and immediately adjust your pricing if need be, your business owns a substantial competitive advantage. 

Reason #5: Better Scalability

As your business grows, investing in a system that can grow with you is a wise decision. Software solutions that allow your business to sustain that growth and continue it are solutions that will last you a long time. It would be best to have a solution that will not cap out or break down as your inventory grows. The ability to seamlessly replenish quantities of popular inventory items by rapidly issuing a purchase order is crucial. Immediately having that newly created PO and updating the expected amount on hand makes it so that your salespeople meet customer demands. 

Reason #6: Cost Savings

While there are upfront costs in implementing a new system, putting in the time to calculate what your expected ROI will be is worth it. Understanding the beneficial results from fewer stock-outs, shortages, and canceled orders has a financial impact on your business. How much time do employees dedicate to manually tracking inventory, producing reports, or waiting for accurate counts before placing orders? Consider how much you spend on software assurance, add-ons, and band-aid solutions to “make it work,”  only to be disappointed. In short, a new real-time inventory management solution can pay for itself in far less time than you might think. 

A practical and feature-rich inventory management software like Spire can drive significant value for your business. Spire can make your business more efficient, more productive, and better equip your team to respond to changing market conditions. 

Are you interested in hearing about Spire’s real-time inventory management to manage your business better? Get in touch with us!

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