WMS for Companies Outgrowing QuickBooks – Part One

In this two-part article, we’re going to cover the ways Dynamics 365 Business Central is a logical path for companies outgrowing QuickBooks, specifically relating to organizations managing warehouses and distribution/inventory environments; first, we’ll go over how businesses can actually tell they’re outgrowing the product, and then move on to the second article which will shine a spotlight on how Business Central – and our own Warehouse Insight WMS – makes it easy for companies to upgrade to a true ERP.

How Do You Know When You’ve “Outgrown” QuickBooks?

If you use QuickBooks, you already know that it’s a great entry-level accounting system – in fact, back in 2008, it was reported that QuickBooks had some 3.7 million users, representing 94.2-percent of the business accounting market. While this solution may still work for your small business, it won’t accommodate your needs in the long-run if you have your sights on expansion and growth.

Here are the top signs that your warehousing/inventory operations have outgrown QuickBooks:

• You’re Experiencing a Lack of Lot Tracking Features – QuickBooks, in its online variant, does not allow your company to do lot tracking for your product within its software structure, and without an automated lot tracking system within your inventory management platform, you will need to begin looking at alternatives such as integrating it with a manual or spreadsheet-based lot tracking system (an extremely time-consuming process prone to human error).
• You’re Experiencing an Inability to Track Unshipped Orders – QuickBooks also doesn’t enable users to track sales order management, forcing you to use an alternative method like an Excel-based spreadsheet; without a proper way to track unshipped orders, confusion will result with regard to whether orders have been shipped to the customers or if the goods are still sitting in the warehouse.
• You Need a Multiple Warehousing Option – As your business has grown, it is likely that you have needed more than one warehouse to stock your inventory…but you have also found that QuickBooks is only able to support one warehouse location. The dilemma here is simple: It is not capable of tracking a significant amount of inventory across multiple sites and warehouses.
• You’re Experiencing an Inability to Perform “Batch Invoicing” – Are you finding that QuickBooks simply doesn’t have the right infrastructure to support sending invoices to clients for the purpose of carrying out “batch invoicing” and multiple client billing at the same time? Indeed, invoicing each of these customers separately does not represent a fun prospect and would likely result in a time-consuming process – especially if you find yourself with a copious amount of customers to manage – but this is yet another negative with regard to growing with QuickBooks.
• You’re in Need of Industry-Specific Features – We know from firsthand experience that businesses operating in different industries have different needs and requirements when it comes to inventory management. Without industry-specific features baked into a program, you won’t get the help you need to complete tasks unique to your industry, and QuickBooks Online does not offer any industry-specific features; what’s more, there is no robust support for inventory management for manufacturing or distribution.

In the second part of this article, we will focus on everything you get with Business Central and Insight Works’ own Warehouse Insight.

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