When starting a business, every dollar counts. Every transaction, sale, customer, expenditure… they all count. And while your accounting solution did the job in the beginning, now it’s barely keeping up with your growing business.
So if you’re running your Small to Mid-Sized Business (SMB) on that entry level accounting software like QuickBooks, sorry, I know you feel the pain. And maybe you have to rely on that server in the back closet. Sure, things are okay until the server goes down, again. Of course, you have a protocol to follow if such an event occurs: call IT and wait. But what’s happening while your server is down? What happens when your accounting software freezes your operations faster than a Midwest cold front? Well, here’s a short list of the dreaded freeze:
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Downtime, waiting for IT to come and fix whatever needs fixing.
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Valuable and precious time lost that could have been spent assisting a customer, completing a sale or other transaction, or even time spent on proactive analysis to actually grow your business.
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You spend an inordinate amount of time trying to pull a routine report together because the system is just slow.
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You lose a sale, because of response time.
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Lost revenue due to inaccurate inventory levels.
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Capital expenditures go up and more overhead.
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Increased customer attrition.
Not a very efficient way to run your SMB. Come on. Really? The truth: all that takes place, and more. In short, your operations, when overly reliant on outdated accounting technology, put a burden on your employees. If your employees have to log in and out of databases to manage each company or separate business unit, there is definitely a margin for error. Also, your operations will grind to a halt and freeze faster than you’d expect.
Shut the front door
You’re no longer the startup with 5 vendors, 10 customers and 400 square feet of potential. Now you’re growing, and that means more customers, revenue, and vendors with varying terms of payment. And there’s inventory: before, you could track inventory by looking on the back shelf and have a 100% accurate count. Now, inventory is everywhere, with multiple locations: a warehouse, an assembly plant, even a retail store. You’re in full-on SMB mode, complete with growing pains. Your business now requires more features, security and functionality than your current entry level accounting software can provide. You have to ask yourself . . .
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Are your reports taking longer to produce? And by the time you get them, is the data five days old?
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Do you have to plan upgrades with so many 3rd party providers?
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Are you having to stay on an old version because of the cost and time to upgrade?
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Are your Financials and CRM fully integrated in one database, one platform? Or, are you having difficulty managing all your data in separate islands of information?
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Is your financial and customer data safe and secure?
If any of the above sound familiar, then it’s time to start looking around for a new accounting solution. And if you’re still feeling a little bit hesitant to ditch your old accounting software, because you’re telling yourself, We can just deal with it. We’ll wait and figure it out. Well, guess who’s not going to wait around for you to figure things out: your customers. Don’t wait for your old accounting software to thaw out. Because it won’t. Instead, let’s give your valuable customers every reason to stay with your business.
Time to bundle up
By now, almost every solution out there is cloud-based, and for good reason. A cloud-based solution gives you real-time data, better collaboration, while reducing your business overhead costs. What if you could . . .
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extract information with just a few clicks?
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schedule reports in a timely manner?
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have 24/7 access to your information with real-time insights into your operations?
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automatically upgrade to new features with no loss of time?
Operating on a robust cloud-based solution with proper security measures in place, allows you to access data anywhere, at any time, so you’re no longer left in the cold.
Scalability
With any growing business, the best accounting solution allows you to scale up or down based on your business needs. In short, you need a solution that lets you go from 3 users to 30 users to 300 users in just one day. If you choose to go to an expensive enterprise application, you might be biting off more than your business can chew, or use. Don’t take an unnecessary plunge into a solution designed for an army of 5,000 employees, especially when you’re running a company of 25.
Secure data
Operating your business with the knowledge that your data is both properly secure and accessible is no longer a perk, but a necessity. You need to control access to your company’s data to ensure that users cannot see information or create documents that you do want them to see. Look for a solution that allows you to control and designate varying levels of user access, down to the field attribute level.
Ease of use
In the same way that the most powerful system isn’t necessarily the best, the best fitting solution is one that is easy to use. When choosing an accounting solution, dig a little to see how easy (or difficult) it is to navigate. Choose a solution that allows you to process transactions in just one screen.
Stay warm with Gravity Software
When it comes to a cloud-based solution, consider Gravity Software® (Gravity). Built on the Microsoft Power Platform, Gravity is structured to help manage and efficiently operate your business. By implementing a cloud-based solution like Gravity, you’ll reduce those dreaded overhead costs while increasing operational efficiencies across the board. In short, you’ll never have to worry about your operational system freezing or grinding to a halt. Learn more and schedule an online demo today. My business is connected. Is yours?
Gravity Software
Better. Smarter. Accounting.
