As our client's business has grown their paper based system has reached its limit. They buy in goods and retail to mainly business customers, some large items £1-5k each but also multiples of smaller items £2-10 each. Construction and fencing supplies. They'd like to be able to raise quotes, then convert to invoices as well as manage stock (plus the usuals VAT, debtors, creditors, etc). They'd like to be able to access from home as well as the business premises, hence looking at cloud based systems.
Looked at Sage Instant plus which allows stock management but it is restricted to one computer.
Kashflow looks good from the mobility issue, but doesn't seem to manage stock.
Would be grateful for any recommendations
Replies (11)
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Xero has a basic stock facility, although I haven't used it so not sure how well it works. I think if you need anything more sophisticated then you will be better off using one of the add-on systems.
Sage drive?
The latest version of Sage Instant comes with Sage Drive which will allow the client to access from home and office.
QBO
Try QuickBooks Online
Great stock module built in - although with most depends how much information they would like to get out of the stock module.
Hosted Server?
You could consider a hosted server/network. That way you can have whatever software you wanted. More expensive, I know, but more flexible.
Some options
In addition to Xero which someone has already mentioned I would suggest taking a look at Aqilla which has inventory as an option. Netsuite is another option to take a look at.
Look at the whole requirement
What other cloud functions would benefit the business? How many transactions per month? How many users and how many user roles? Do they want integrated HR and payroll?
Xero, QBO, Clearbooks and Sage would all probably be contenders but the devil's in the detail. If the sales/stock process is more complicated then for example you could look at using Xero plus an inventory add on like Unleashed.
Cloud platforms are getting more complicated so its important to have clear business requirements.
Zoho's integrated Inventory and Accounting Solution
Managing inventory for your business and accounting for it can be tricky if you do not have the right tools in place. Last year, we had launched the inventory management feature in Zoho Books (online accounting software) and it’s used by a lot of small businesses in UK. For advanced stock management, we have Zoho Inventory (soon to be released ) which is completely integrated with Zoho Books. Tracking orders and invoicing for them is easy with Zoho Inventory. And any transactions created in Inventory is instantly made available in Zoho Books for accounting purposes. Of course, Zoho Books also takes care of VAT and has all the accounting functionalities needed by small businesses, including EC sales list report and inventory related reports like FIFO cost lot tracking report.
If you have more questions, I’ll be happy to setup a demo of Zoho Inventory and Zoho Books, so you can see how it will work for your client’s needs. Do drop me a comment here or send an email to support[at]zohobooks[dot]com.
Regards,
Reshma Roy
Product Marketing Manager
Zoho Books
https://www.zoho.com/uk/books/
Why cloud
Can't it be hosted internally and just have RDP access to the server/pc it's installed on?