QuickBooks is a popular accounting software, especially for start-ups, micro and small businesses, due to its user-friendly interface and affordability. However, as businesses grow, they often encounter limitations with QuickBooks that prompt them to seek more robust solutions. Here are some of the primary reasons growing businesses within the alcoholic drinks industry move away from QuickBooks.
1. Scalability Issues
QuickBooks is designed for small to medium-sized businesses and can struggle to meet the needs of larger, growing companies. Issues that many businesses face as they start to grow include:
- Decline in system performance – As the volume of transactions and data increases, QuickBooks can become slow and less responsive.
- User limitations – QuickBooks has a cap on the number of users who can simultaneously access the system. This can hinder team performance if the number of team members outnumbers permissible users.
- Data limitations – The software may not handle large data sets effectively, leading to potential data integrity issues.
Ambitious and growing businesses require software that can scale with their growth, both in terms of performance and user and data capacity.
2. Limited Functionality
While QuickBooks offers essential accounting functions, it lacks the advanced features needed by growing businesses, such as:
- Advanced financial reporting – QuickBooks’ reporting capabilities are limited, making it difficult for businesses to generate detailed financial insights.
- Comprehensive ERP functionality – Growing businesses often need enterprise resource planning (ERP) features like inventory management, customer relationship management (CRM), and supply chain management, which QuickBooks does not offer comprehensively.
- Customisation capabilities – QuickBooks offers limited customisation options, which can restrict a business’s ability to tailor the software to its specific needs.
- Industry specific features – QuickBooks does not offer any features such as duty management and distribution costs management, which cater specifically for needs of the alcoholic drinks industry.
Growing businesses often move away from QuickBooks because they need a more comprehensive solution that offers a wider range of features and customisation options.
3. Integration Challenges
As businesses grow, they typically use multiple software systems for various functions (e.g. CRM, e-commerce, HR). QuickBooks often struggles with integration:
- Limited Integrations – QuickBooks may not integrate seamlessly with other critical business applications, leading to data silos and manual data entry.
- Complex Integration – When integrations are available, they can be complex and require additional tools or third-party services, increasing costs and administrative overhead.
Businesses moving away from QuickBooks often seek solutions that offer better integration capabilities, allowing for a more unified and efficient tech stack.
4. Compliance and Security Concerns
Growing businesses face more complex regulatory requirements and higher stakes for data security, areas where QuickBooks may fall short:
- Regulatory Compliance – Another limitation of QuickBooks is its ability to ensure compliance with industry-specific audit and reporting requirements.
- Data Security – As businesses grow, the need for robust data security measures increases. QuickBooks’ security features may not be sufficient to protect sensitive financial data at scale.
Businesses often switch to more robust solutions that offer enhanced security features and better support for compliance needs.
5. Support and Training Limitations
As businesses grow, their support and training needs become more complex:
- Support Availability – As businesses grow, the support that QuickBooks can offer may not be sufficient as they cannot offer dedicated and immediate assistance.
- Training Resources – Growing teams and ontroducing new employees to the system requires extensive training to ensure all users can effectively use the software. QuickBooks’ training resources may not be comprehensive enough for larger organisations.
Companies often move away from QuickBooks to software solutions that provide better support and more extensive training options tailored to larger teams.
Life after QuickBooks: what about a move to Bevica?
If reading this article has made you realise that you have outgrown QuickBooks and you feel you are in need of a more robust and modern business management solution, Bevica may be the one for you.
Bevica is cloud-based drinks industry-specific business management solution. Powered by Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and its essential ERP functionality, Bevica has a unique feature set specially tailored for the drinks industry.
Want to find out more about Bevica and how it could modernise and improve your business processes and productivity? Book a demo with one of our expert team today.
