I'm currently using Digita virtual office (alongside Onvio for tax return signatures) and at present pay approx £500 pm. I have about 160 clients.
I've been looking about at other options as their pricing is getting too high and the software has a rather dated feel. Not only that, I'm encountering lots of glitches with it. Not to mention the whole system went down on 31st July making is unusable until after office hours.....great on a deadline day - clearly no backup plans for the hosting.
Now I've found out that the accounts production can't deal with the latest FRS102 and I will have to upgrade to accounts production extra which sint actually available on the virtual office yet so I can't file the ct600s. I find this absolutely ludicrous that I'm paying for software to deal with legislation changes and It doesn't.My contract doesn't expire until March.
So my questions are:-
1) has anyone else been experiencing issues with Digita.
2) has anyone been able to exit their agreement early.
3) anyone elses recommendations for an intergrated system?
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Replies (10)
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Are you sure Accounts Production extra costs more? I didn't see an increase although I am smaller than you
I had some similar thoughts to you after been a customer for about 4 years. Prices were going through roof and they seemed to hanging their On Onvio which for me is a few years off being a useable product.
You sign a years contract with Digita and I terminated it ok, not sure what would happen if you wanted out in middle of year,
If you are looking for alternatives look At BTC and Taxcalc both between £1250 and £1500 per year for unlimited clients and very good.
In the end I went for Taxcalc as I liked the cloud connect product which keeps your data in cloud but allows you to work on laptop or desktop with full functionality but with access from anywhere. This is the best way to do it as any cloud accounting suites I have seen are seriously lacking in what they offer and a few years away from being ready.
You shouldn't be charged extra for AP+ though as AP was discontinued so you had to upgrade although the migration process is a shambles for existing clients which was main reason I moved on.
OK brilliant thanks, I know they won't let me downgrade my license mid year and reading through things on their website I can't terminate til renewal time. Guess I can just get through the busy season with a system I know.
Haven't heard of btc so will look at that but have trialed tax calc and really liked it...esp the price lol I have someone working with me who will be taking on more work so Def need a cheaper program. Thank you
Accounts Production 'advanced' is anything but.
If you like spending an extra four hours on a basic job, or certain disclosures changing inexplicably at the last minute, then you could be in for a real treat though!
They've now decided to add it to my DVO but I haven't used it yet as at clients and it seems I can't license it from here! (bit weird considering it's a cloud product). Look forward to the challenge, though already unimpressed that I had to ask them about it to have access to it!
I have to disagree with Glennzy about cloud products not being up to the desktop level. Products like Taxfiler and Gbooks are fully cloud and do pretty much the same job as BTC and Taxcalc at a slightly lower price. Certainly worth considering if you are happy with a cloud solution.
I have to disagree with Glennzy about cloud products not being up to the desktop level. Products like Taxfiler and Gbooks are fully cloud and do pretty much the same job as BTC and Taxcalc at a slightly lower price. Certainly worth considering if you are happy with a cloud solution.
You cant really disagree that cloud products aren't up to the desktop solutions then go on to say that they do 'pretty much' the same job 'if you are happy with a cloud solution'.
At the moment, based upon pure functionality, I am yet to see a cloud package up to the standard of the best desktop solutions, and heartily agree with Glennzy that cloud offerings are a bit behind, maybe the 'couple of years' he suggests. That doesn't mean that the cloud offerings are crap (although many are) or that they don't have a place - in many cases the reduced functionality is a price worth paying for the positive aspects.
The only reason I'm embracing the cloud right now is because I accept that if I don't make a real effort with it, I'll get left behind and/or miss out on a whole host of opportunities. In the meantime, I have to accept that they won t be anywhere near as good as any desktop solutions I currently use.
I looked at Taxfiler and for the money it looked decent but was put off by the accounts side and the fact you could not do journals or edit accounts heading, which I am sure will come with time.
Like most cloud products its about compromise improved access V reduced functionality, you have make a decision which is more important.
The cloud connect from Taxcalc gives you want you without the compromise which worked for me. I use Brightpay in the same way without issue.
It would seem its a massive technical task to make the legacy products we have been using for years fully cloud, like Line50 IRIS practice suite etc. I suspect some of the software houses were hugely relieved at the delay in MTD as they are just not ready for it yet, not that we still dont really know what "it" is.
I always found Digita Sales and Marketing people (who seem to have more influence in Digita than they do in most businesses) to be quite aggressive and inflexible. Having said that, they might be influenced by bad publicity on AWeb, so it's worth a try