How I Moved My Business Into The Cloud
I consider myself an early adopter of new technology. As primarily a QuickBooks consultant, when I learned that there was a newer (and hopefully better) updated version of QuickBooks Online (QBO) in April of last year called "Harmony", I saw the writing on the wall. Having worked at Intuit, I knew that they were very strategic when it comes to putting most of their resources into specific products. For years, technologists have been talking about the "cloud" as if it was some place in the netherworld and it seemed like everyone was intrigued but skeptical. I can remember only a year prior when Quicken 2013 added a mobile app where you can sync your data into their cloud and I was reluctant to "share" all those years of my financial history. And let's not forget that QuickBooks Online has been around for many years, but was always considered the worst choice and never recommended by consultants, having even less features than QuickBooks for Mac.
Up until this point, there was a lot of recent disruption in the computing world. Windows 8 came out and it was a disaster. And I hated the look and feel of Office 2013/365. As someone who was dedicated to the Microsoft platform over Apple, this was a speed bump for me as an early adopter. Since the smartphone was becoming more prevalent and I worked mostly remotely with my clients, the need to access my data anywhere became the higher priority. Like many millions of users, I loved Microsoft Outlook and had been using it for years. However, I struggled with Google calendar syncs and the major pain of moving to a new computer. Then,
Google was no longer a search company with the Android and Chrome operating systems. I had already been using Gmail for my personal emails and loved the fact that it came with me on my smartphone, along with other Google services. So why couldn't I take my work with me?
Most of my stuff was already in the cloud, scattered among various services like Dropbox, SmartVault, and Picasa but tethered to data in my desktop.
was a godsend as it took my QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions into an even more robust web-based database management system. Being fully customizable, I was able to create and track different aspects and processes of my business, all linked to data that was already in my QuickBooks. But I was still coming back to the office to do the major email and accounting work. I had known about Method CRM's Gmail Gadget, released in the prior year, but Outlook and the fact that I had to move my work domain to
, was holding me back, but only temporarily.
I like the idea of signing into a service anywhere and on any device and there is my data. I am very technical, but I was tired of the time-consuming tasks of installation, migration, backing up and recovering data. I didn't have to do this with my Chromebook: a clean, simple OS with apps and extensions that you can install and remove in seconds.
But I wanted all of my services available and able to talk to each other. And then it dawned on me: Google Apps for Work + Method CRM with Gmail Gadget and Google Calendar Sync + QuickBooks Online.
It was hard for me to dump Outlook to move to what I criticized Microsoft for doing with simpler graphical user interfaces, but once I started using Gmail for work, I never looked back. I loved the Google ecosystem of emails, calendars, shared documents, storage and more all tied together under one single login and available on my desktop, smartphone, and laptop. Adding any new device was going to be a no brainer.
And now I was able to create new leads, track activities with existing clients, and see transactions and balances from QuickBooks all within my email. Now, I just needed to test out QuickBooks Online, which I did while still working in QuickBooks for Desktop in tandem for several months. I didn't miss the latter's issues with QuickBooks Payments sometimes not coming in, Intuit Online Payroll's One-Click Export for Windows not working without reverting back to an older version of Internet Explorer, and other headaches. QuickBooks Online was truly freedom in the cloud.
I dumped the desktop in October 2014. While most of my colleagues and users would complain about its lack of features compared to the desktop versions, I had Method CRM to fill in the gaps, although I learned sadly shortly thereafter that their version for QBO didn't have a full sync and currently still doesn't. There are QuickBooks vendors and bills, but no checks, bill payments, expenses, etc. on the costs side of things. But this was not major for my business. Besides, Intuit was updating and improving QBO practically monthly, so new features were becoming available on a regular basis. No more waiting a year for a new version of QuickBooks. And now with the recently
, I no longer have to worry about QBO going down, which it has in the past, as I can now access and work in data offline.
The last holdouts on my desktop are Microsoft Word and Excel, which I use sometimes out of habit for manipulating photos and text for quick image snipping in the former and quick exports with the latter. I no longer have a physical phone on my office desk, which has been replaced by a Bria softphone on my computer. And sadly, my dear friend and longtime favorite, Quicken, is being dumped by Intuit, which was what that company was founded on. What's next? Probably the actual PC, monitor and keyboard...but I'll be ready!
Cloud Review: QuickBooks for Desktop vs. QuickBooks Online vs. Xero vs. Method CRM
Everyone keeps talking about the cloud these days, and for the most part, most of my data is in the cloud. I have been hearing a lot about QuickBooks Online (QBO) and Xero, so I thought I would test them out to see how they compare to QuickBooks for Windows (desktop version, which I'll abbreviate as QBs), which I have been using for almost a decade now. I have used QBO and Xero for several months and there are some similarities and some differences. I was going to put together an extensive spreadsheet to compare the features of both, but this has already been done. What is really interesting to me is their comparison to what I have been using for years, QBs; however, that is like comparing apples to oranges. And going through the hundreds of differences really isn't going to tell you which one
is the best,
so I'll just give my
opinion.
It was very easy to setup QBO by exporting from QBs and importing into QBO. Intuit is probably probably wanting to get rid of QBs in favor of QBO, so I suspect they are going to try to make this process as simple as possible to get people to convert. Overall, QBO has come a long way in improving; however, it still doesn't have all the features of QBs (not that it ever will). I won't go into detail, as I really like this product, but would I give up my QBs to change to it? Probably not, at least not yet. There are only a few programs that I must have on my computer and those are Outlook, QuickBooks, and Quicken. I've looked at Outlook.com and even Office 2013, but I hate their interfaces. There is so much that Outlook 2010 can do that I will hold onto it until something
better
comes along. And the same goes true for Quicken and QBs. They can do so much and their mobile "apps" are so limited, that I can't part with them.
Xero is very cool, with a very simple way of doing things. For a business that really only needs to code transactions, Xero works very well. They are from New Zealand so a lot of the verbiage is in the Queen's English. This doesn't bother me, but I could see how this would prevent someone from using it. But the data is stored in US data centers, so no worries there. I had a harder time with the trickier transactions that I am used to doing in QBs and there are some simple features that are still missing, such as being able to calculate (as in a calculator) within a data field. While not huge, this is a feature that I use
all the time
in Quicken and QBs. But of course, this shouldn't be a reason for anyone else not to use it.
And then there is Method CRM. I have been telling my clients about it for years and have nicknamed it, "QuickBooks on steroids." It brings your existing data from QuickBooks (and QBO) into the cloud. And the best thing is that you can fully
customize
how the program works! This includes custom screens with only the buttons, functionality, and accessibility that only you want your users to see. Even better, you can add other types of data that may have nothing to do with accounting but are more related to how you run your business. Of course, for someone techie like me, this is a plus, but may be more challenging for others. But the costs of hiring someone like me for the customization is so much cheaper than customizing and training on a full-fledged mid-market solution such as Oracle or SAP. And Method CRM is the most cost-effective way to do accounting in the cloud
and
act like a mid to high-end market business. So if I am traveling with my Chromebook (all web-based), I may not have my Outlook and QuickBooks (unless I remote into my office computer), but I can still check my e-mail via webmail and still enter QuickBooks data via Method CRM. I am fully aware that eventually in the future there will be no more desktop computers and programs to manage, but until then, I will hang on to my desktop.