5 Signs That Your Business is Outgrowing QuickBooks

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Logo of Intuit QuickBooks, which works with Acctivate for business who are outgrowing QuickBooks
Small business owner at on laptop realizing the business is outgrowing QuickBooks capabilities.
For businesses outgrowing QuickBooks, inventory and order management software streamlines operations, controls inventory, and optimizes order processing.

Are you a manufacturer, wholesaler, or distributor feeling you are outgrowing QuickBooks?

QuickBooks is a reliable and efficient solution during the early stages of a business, providing essential features to manage finances, track expenses, and generate reports, which are crucial for small to medium-sized enterprises.

However, as your business thrives and expands, you may find that your business is gradually outgrowing QuickBooks. While QuickBooks has been a valuable asset, the growing demand now requires additional horsepower to keep up with your flourishing operations. Good news – the solution doesn’t entail replacing it with a six-figure ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system. Instead, there are strategic ways to enhance and optimize QuickBooks – without leaving QuickBooks – to cater to your evolving needs.

Sign #1 that your business is outgrowing QuickBooks: Overreliance on spreadsheets

Faced with the challenge of outgrowing QuickBooks, many businesses rely on countless spreadsheets to fill the gap. This overreliance on disparate spreadsheets makes maintaining up-to-date inventory, order, and customer information arduous, causing inefficiencies and hindering seamless collaboration across the organization.

The limitations of QuickBooks become apparent as data fragmentation hampers productivity, impedes decision-making processes, and increases errors due to manual data entry and reconciliation. As a result, businesses need help maintaining a unified view of their operations, hindering their ability to respond swiftly to market demands and making it challenging to keep ahead of the competition.

To address this issue, businesses outgrowing QuickBooks should adopt a more integrated and robust solution that centralizes product information and customer data. By transitioning to a comprehensive inventory and order management software solution built for QuickBooks, companies eliminate spreadsheet chaos and achieve a streamlined flow of information across departments. With data accessibility and accuracy improved, employees focus on value-added tasks rather than spending valuable time sifting through numerous spreadsheets, ultimately fostering business growth and maximizing efficiency.

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Sign #2 that your business is outgrowing QuickBooks: Inaccurate inventory records

Have you ever dealt with an angry customer asking about an item that shows as in stock but is really not?

One of the telltale signs that your business may be outgrowing QuickBooks is a persistent issue with inaccurate inventory records. As your company grows and handles higher volumes of products, relying solely on QuickBooks’ basic inventory management features can become increasingly inadequate. You might find discrepancies between the actual physical stock and the numbers recorded in QuickBooks, leading to frustration and confusion among your staff. Inaccurate inventory can result in overselling out-of-stock products, leading to dissatisfied customers and potentially a damaged reputation. On the other hand, excess inventory due to miscalculations can tie up valuable resources and increase carrying costs, impacting your cash flow and overall profitability.

To address this challenge, businesses outgrowing QuickBooks should upgrade to a more robust inventory and order management software that integrates with QuickBooks. Advanced inventory management software provides real-time visibility into stock levels, updates inventory quantities with every transaction, and predicts demand accurately. By centralizing and streamlining inventory management through a software solution, businesses can gain better control over their stock, reduce errors, and ensure that accurate inventory data is readily accessible to all relevant stakeholders.

Sign #3 that your business is outgrowing QuickBooks: Out-of-stocks and over-stocks

Business owner taking inventory of products manually is sign business is outgrowing QuickBooks

As businesses outgrow QuickBooks, procurement managers face a significant challenge in predicting their inventory needs accurately. Relying on outdated methods like cobbling past purchase history and making educated guesses often leads to inventory inefficiencies, resulting in excessive stockpiles or inadequate supplies. These inventory management issues can lead to increased holding costs, missed sales opportunities, and dissatisfied customers. The consequences of such imprecise ordering can ripple through the entire supply chain, impacting the company’s bottom line and overall performance.

To tackle this predicament, integrating inventory and order management software becomes a game-changer for procurement managers. By harnessing the power of technology, purchasing managers can transition from relying on gut feelings to making data-driven decisions based on accurate and up-to-date information. The software analyzes historical data, current sales trends, and demand patterns to generate forecasts and empowers procurement managers to determine precisely what and how much to order, optimizing inventory levels to meet actual demand while minimizing excess inventory and stockouts.

Furthermore, the software’s alert system ensures that purchasing managers are promptly notified when it’s time to reorder specific products. This proactive approach eliminates the risk of running out of crucial items or overstocking unnecessary goods. By striking the right balance and maintaining optimal inventory levels, businesses can improve their overall supply chain efficiency, reduce carrying costs, and enhance customer satisfaction by fulfilling orders reliably and on time. Adopting inventory and order management software enables businesses to operate more smoothly, adapt to changing market dynamics efficiently, and stay competitive in a rapidly evolving business landscape.

Sign #4 that your business is outgrowing QuickBooks: Not understanding your true COGS

As your business outgrows QuickBooks, one evident sign is needing help comprehending your true Cost of Goods Sold (COGS), including the complexities of landed costs. As your operations expand and involve international trade, you may encounter additional expenses beyond the initial purchase price of goods, such as customs duties, tariffs, freight charges, and handling fees. QuickBooks’ basic accounting features may not adequately account for these landed costs, leading to incomplete COGS calculations and potential financial discrepancies. This lack of visibility into the total landed cost of your products can hinder your ability to accurately determine profit margins and make informed pricing decisions, potentially affecting your competitiveness in the market.

To gain a more comprehensive understanding of your true COGS, including landed costs, it’s crucial to implement inventory and order management software that effectively tracks and allocates these additional expenses. By factoring in all landed costs associated with the procurement of goods, you can obtain a more precise and accurate picture of your COGS. This enhanced visibility empowers you to make well-informed decisions regarding pricing, inventory management, and supplier selection, ultimately optimizing your cost efficiencies and bolstering your business’s financial performance in the competitive global market.

Sign #5 that your business is outgrowing QuickBooks: Struggling with orders from multiple sales channels

Struggling to manage orders from multiple sales channels indicates that your business is outgrowing QuickBooks. QuickBooks’ limited order processing capabilities make it challenging to handle the increased volume and complexity of managing orders from multiple sales channels, such as e-commerce websites, online marketplaces, wholesale channels, EDI, direct sales teams, and more. Manual order entry and fulfillment are time-consuming and error-prone, leading to delays in processing and shipping orders, dissatisfied customers, and a strained workforce. Additionally, with different sales channels, you may face difficulty tracking inventory accurately across platforms, risking stockouts or overselling, and impacting overall operational efficiency.

To overcome the challenges associated with multi-channel order management, utilizing inventory and order management software designed to handle orders from various sales channels seamlessly is essential. Businesses automate tasks, track inventory in real-time, and efficiently manage fulfillment across all channels from a single interface by centralizing order processing from all channels. Streamlining the order management process reduces errors, improves order accuracy, and enhances customer satisfaction. Moreover, integrating with different sales channels and shipping carriers ensures a smoother and more cohesive workflow, ultimately facilitating growth and success in a diverse and expanding market.

From outgrowing QuickBooks to an inventory and order management software built for QuickBooks

Business owner happily working on laptop after moving forward from outgrowing QuickBooks

The journey from outgrowing QuickBooks to embracing a specialized inventory and order management software designed for QuickBooks marks a transformative step for businesses. As companies expand and face the limitations of QuickBooks in managing their growing demands, this transition becomes essential to optimize inventory operations.

With Acctivate, built for QuickBooks, businesses bid farewell to inaccurate inventory, manual guesswork, and multi-channel order struggles. Instead, they gain access to powerful tools that empower procurement managers to make data-driven decisions, optimize inventory levels, and streamline order processing across various sales channels. This integrated approach ensures better inventory control, reduces costs, and enhances customer satisfaction, ultimately enabling businesses to thrive in a dynamic market landscape.

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