Scaling New Heights 2019 - One Size Doesn't Fit All Vendor App Peeks # 5

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It's true folks, 'One Size (App) Doesn't Fit All,' just as with clothes and shoes and almost everything else. While some App vendors would have you believe that 'they have the only App for you' or 'their App is one of a kind,' the reality is that you need to take a good look and compare similar Apps.

A great place to make such comparisons is on the Exhibit Hall floor at Scaling New Heights, but you need a little preparation before simply walking up to a vendor's booth and asking 'what's up with your App?' That's why we are going to outline a few details and give you some heads-up about 'different size Apps' (in Alphabetical Order, not by Vendor sponsorship level) within the same categories between now and the start of the conference.

By the way, we may not cover every similar App in any one article, but may have several similar articles covering different Apps within the same categories. This is definitely one of those cases because there simply are too many in this category to cram them all into one feature.

Fishbowl

Fishbowl is a software add-on for QuickBooks that maximizes inventory. manufacturing and warehousing processes. Fishbowl works with QuickBooks Online just as well as it does with QuickBooks Desktop.

There are three different flavors of Fishbowl built around a common core. One flavor is Fishbowl Inventory, the second is Fishbowl Warehouse and the third is Fishbowl Manufacturing. Fishbowl offers sales orders, work orders, production orders, purchase orders, outsource tracking and parts scheduling as well as pricing rule variability and several cost valuation methods (average, LIFO, FIFO, actual), as well as a built-in customer relations management feature.

As if traditional Fishbowl wasn't enough, they are now offering a Software-as-a-service (SAAS) application called Boxstorm that provides inventory features specifically for QuickBooks Online. This isn’t just Fishbowl running on a cloud server connecting to QBO; this is an application designed for cloud computing. You can access Boxstorm from any computer browser, as well as tablets and smartphones. Boxstorm offers a free-version of their software that allows you to save, scan, move, and cycle count your inventory. It is the first 'free forever' inventory solution to integrate with QuickBooks Online.

So, if you are looking for inventory, manufacturing or warehouse solutions that work with QuickBooks be certain to stop by the Fishbowl Booth in the Exhibit Hall at Scaling New Heights to learn more about their product offerings. And, if you want to find out more about  Boxstorm for QuickBooks Online, check out the Boxstorm landing page at the Intuit QuickBooks Apps Center.

MISys Manufacturing

MISys Manufacturing has been in business for 25+ years and their client-server-based software is frequently recommended by QuickBooks ProAdvisors to meet complex manufacturing requirements that QuickBooks simply can’t handle. MISys is fully modular in design and is simple to install, quick to implement and easy to use.

MISys provides functions ranging from multiple location inventory control, multi-level bills of material (BOM) revision control, bills of manufacturing (incorporating BOMs, resources and routing/staging), production work orders and scheduling, job tracking, multiple units of measurement, multiple inventory valuation methods (FIFO, LIFO, standard or average cost methods), shop-floor control, activity monitors, mobile device support (for inventory or shop-floor tracking), physical inventory cycle tracking, supplier pricing, material requirements planning and integration with QuickBooks Desktop accounting.

Using MISys you will be able to reduce inventory costs, eliminate purchasing errors, improve production efficiency, integrate manufacturing and accounting, and analyze production costs more accurately.

MISys will be exhibiting their newest version, their integration with QuickBooks Online, and the recently released, 'optional MISys EXT module' provides mobile capabilities to MISys Users by allowing them to perform real-time transactions for most MISys functions on any PC, tablet, smartphone or web-enabled device. So, if you are into manufacturing and inventory make certain to stop by the MISys Booth on the Exhibit Hall floor at Scaling New Heights to learn more about their product offerings.

SOS Inventory

SOS Inventory is a complete inventory, order management and manufacturing solution featuring tight integration with QuickBooks Online. SOS was built for QuickBooks Online from the ground up and was the very first inventory software to connect to QBO. SOS has a new and modern looking graphical interface, performance enhancements and improved manufacturing capabilities including process manufacturing.

SOS covers the entire life-cycle or your inventory-based or light-manufacturing business. SOS makes it easy to convert raw materials into finished goods and tracking work-in-progress. With SOS you can track serial numbers and lots/batches and sync them to QuickBooks Online. SOS allows you to receive, ship out of, and transfer stock within one, or any number of business locations. You can set customer-unique pricing and vendor-specific costs, add custom fields to track specific data you need, and much more.

SOS offers users two workflows. While most applications ‘take over’ key areas related to inventory when they are connected to QuickBooks Online, SOS is different. One workflow permits QBO users to continue to process most transactions normally within QBO, then SOS reads those transactions and generates the related SOS records automatically. The second, and more common workflow has day-to-day operations like sales, purchasing, shipping and manufacturing entered into SOS which synchronizes them QBO so that your financial data is up-to-date.

So, if this sounds like the software-as-a-service App you have been needing for QBO be sure to stop by the SOS Booth in the the Exhibit Hall floor at Scaling New Heights to learn more about what they can do for you. And if you want to try SOS for free, then head over to the SOS landing page at the Intuit QuickBooks Apps Center.