Top 4 Signs You’re Outgrowing QuickBooks

Jan 16

When meeting with prospective clients, we are often asked: “When is the right time to move from QuickBooks to cloud financials?” QuickBooks is an excellent and cost-effective solution when companies are getting started; however, many business owners we talked to found it was not the right choice for them long term. Once companies start experiencing accelerated growth, the limitations of QuickBooks become more apparent. Based on conversations with company leaders over the last 25 years, I put together a list of issues that many of them face before making the switch to a cloud ERP solution.

Wasting Time with Manual Processes

In order to address specific operational needs, many business owners purchase separate applications (such as CRM) or implement manual processes in spreadsheets to keep the business running. We met many company leaders who were wasting valuable time re-keying data (many times double entry in different systems), which can sometimes lead to mistakes or delays in reporting. Manual processes work fine when organizations have a small customer base and few transactions, but as volumes grow, companies are faced with a decision between hiring more employees to maintain manual processes or investing in a technology solution that can grow and scale with them. NetSuite, a true cloud ERP system, takes the place of many separate applications with its fully integrated modules, such as CRM, complex billing, inventory, distribution, and e-commerce. By bringing all your data into one system, you will no longer need to re-key or compile data from system to system.

"As volumes grow, companies are faced with a decision between hiring more employees to maintain manual processes or investing in a technology solution that can grow and scale with them.

Too Many Work Arounds

QuickBooks was designed to automate just a few core accounting functions. As businesses grow, leaders often find that QuickBook's limited functionality doesn't scale with their business. The companies we spoke to were creating manual processes or using add-on tools for things like revenue recognition, employee expense reimbursements, and consolidated reporting. The lack of advanced features was creating frustrations in their accounting teams and slowing down growth potential.

No Access to Real-Time Data

Since many of the companies we spoke to were using disparate spreadsheets and applications, it was difficult to view real-time data when needed. These companies were spending too much time collecting, distributing, and analyzing data in spreadsheets — which quickly became outdated. Account managers didn’t have visibility on project or billing statuses and executives had to wait until month-end to view financials and performance KPIs. With NetSuite, all data is real-time and all aspects of the business are connected and available (based on role permissions) on-demand to end users. Business owners are able to monitor metrics from their KPI dashboards all day, and notifications can also be set up based on user-defined parameters. With timely data access in NetSuite, our clients are reacting quickly to market events or internal alerts.

"With NetSuite, all data is real-time and all aspects of the business are connected and available on-demand to end users."

Difficulty Managing Updates, Back-Ups, and Database Performance

We met with a business that was pushing QuickBooks way past its limits and the database was crashing regularly. Their business was booming, yet, they were put at risk by the limitations of their accounting database technology. Luckily, they always had good back-ups and never experienced loss of data (but that can happen), but they knew the time had come to make a move. QuickBooks support was getting more and more arduous. NetSuite’s cloud software platform is built from the ground up to be agile and flexible, without the additional overhead complexities of maintaining the underlying platform. When we moved this company to NetSuite's cloud ERP, they had no more servers or databases to maintain, security patches to implement, or heavy reliance on IT. They were able to focus on moving the business forward.

"When we moved this company to NetSuite, they had no more servers or databases to maintain, security patches to implement, or heavy reliance on IT. They were able to focus on moving the business forward."

Take Your Business to the Next Level With NetSuite

I hope this information about NetSuite and its true-cloud platform is helpful to you as you investigate next steps for your growing business. We know moving from accounting software to an ERP can be overwhelming.

Test driving NetSuite is the best way to visualize how this powerful ERP system can take your business to the next level by automating processes, increasing efficiencies, and lowering operating costs. We’d be happy to conduct a live NetSuite demo to see if it’s a good fit for your company.