Whether you have an established or new medical business, you’ve worked hard, from conceiving the idea to successfully bringing your product(s) to market. However, if you’re relying on Intuit’s QuickBooks as your financial solution, then you may be putting your medical business at risk. Though there are reasons to use the popular accounting software, there are also reasons not to use it (it’s not medical supplies software or medical devices software, for one—more on that in a moment).
And the negative outweighs the positive.
Today, we’ll take a look at what QuickBooks can and cannot do, and why it may be time for you to consider implementing Acumatica and its comprehensive, industry-specific Cloud ERP solution.
The Pros and Cons of QuickBooks
Released in the early 1980s, QuickBooks is a flexible, user-friendly software package. It’s a ground-level system that has successfully helped millions of small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) manage their initial financial and accounting needs. There are different versions of QuickBooks, but for the sake of brevity, we’ll look at QuickBooks Enterprise, their more extensive offering.
QuickBooks Enterprise has a number of features and characteristics that fall into the pro column, including scalability of up to 40 users, payroll, payroll tax filing, payment acceptance, automated price calculations, inventory tracking, customizable reporting, time tracking, dashboard views of the business and product versions tailored to specific industries. It’s also easy to use, affordable and has good accounting reports.
In the con column, QuickBooks lacks:
- Many reporting options outside of accounting
- Deep production, inventory, and manufacturing control
- Ability to track multiple entities in one place
- Personalization capabilities
- Extensive customer management functionality
- Automated procedures for business operations and quality and conformance needs
DAS Medical Holdings, LLC (DAS Medical) has first-hand experience with QuickBooks. According to their NexTec Customer Story, the company began operations using the accounting software, but it quickly outgrew QuickBooks’ capabilities. In addition to having limited access to the software (due to the high cost of additional user licenses), DAS Medical grappled with getting necessary reports. The decision was made to look for a more sophisticated and all-encompassing solution.
Says CFO Houston Lee, “We knew we wanted a Cloud ERP. We’re a small and growing company with multiple locations and without a dedicated IT staff. So, having a hosted ERP solution is ideal.”
What is ERP Software and How Does It Help?
An ERP solution is a complete business management solution that connects every area of a business. It gathers departmental data in one location—making data-driven decisions possible—and streamlines processes. If cloud-based, the ERP solution is accessible from anywhere at any time.
Here are four of the major benefits of ERP software for medical devices and supplies businesses:
- Track production and inventory
Keeping track of production and inventory with basic accounting software is difficult. While QuickBooks provides some functionality, such as tracking by bin locations, serial numbers and lot numbers, complex product structures and changing requirements quickly overwhelm it.
DAS Medical needed a solution that fit their specific production and inventory needs. They chose Acumatica based on NexTec’s recommendation. “[Acumatica’s] manufacturing, inventory control and MRP capabilities are right in line with what we need,” said Houston.
In addition to cutting the time it takes to report on production activity by over 50%, the DAS Medical team members now trust their inventory numbers and are able to keep their stock at optimal levels. They also access their production data in real-time, helping them increase response times to customer inquiries.
- Connect departments from finance to sales to purchasing and production
By connecting every department within your medical devices and supplies business with ERP software, you will be able to see the health of your organization from top to bottom. This increase in insight, visibility and control, as well as the increase in reporting and inventory accuracy, becomes a game changer.
Like DAS Medical, InBios International chose Acumatica to replace their current business management solution. Though the company was using software built in-house, it had many of QuickBooks’ shortcomings, including its inability to manage inventory and raw materials. Bryan Deszell, InBios International Manufacturing Manager, says in their NexTec Customer Story that they couldn’t keep up with growing demand due to inaccurate inventory numbers.
“Previously we did hand counts frequently to determine exactly what we had on hand and what we needed to order. Now, the software can analyze prior years’ sales to help us identify seasonal trends for our products. We can now track lot numbers within the system with forward and backward traceability. Before lot tracking involved too much time, too much paper, and lots of manual tasks.”
He also says, “[With Acumatica,] we’re able to connect purchase orders to production orders through to sales orders. We trust our numbers. That’s something we didn’t have before.”
- Streamline the warehouse
Proper warehouse management is essential for medical supplies and devices organizations. This includes knowing what materials you have in stock, easily locating those materials, maintaining material quality, and accessing them quickly. With ERP software, you’ll have the ability to streamline processes through automation and achieve real-time visibility across all departments.
Additionally (and unlike QuickBooks), the right ERP software provides picking and packing functionality, helping you deliver your product to customers faster and more accurately.
- Ensure quality and compliance
Finally, ensuring quality and compliance should be top priority for your business. Your customers must be able to trust your product, and that trust is supported by your meeting FDA, ISO, GMP (and more) standards.
Cross-organization documentation in QuickBooks is non-existent, but a cloud-based ERP solution stores auditable data for each governing agency within one system. As noted in our free ERP Selection Guide: Medical Supplies and Devices, “With an ERP solution, you cut down on the risk of human error and simplify your compliance measures by automating quality checks and audits and ensuring every item can be traced for increased visibility and precision.”
From QuickBooks to Acumatica Cloud ERP
It’s clear that QuickBooks provides critical accounting software for SMBs at the beginning of their journey. It’s also clear that it’s unable to scale with growing businesses and to meet their increasingly complex needs.
Acumatica’s ERP software provides the medical supplies software, medical devices software and distribution software that helps you manage your requirements, from manufacturing and inventory to financial and compliance. The real-time reporting and analytics allow for easy assessment of your business’ health, as well as for seamless integration with third-party applications.
At NexTec Group, we recommend choosing Acumatica’s industry-specific solution for superb medical devices management. To learn more, download the ERP Selection Guide and contact our experts today. We’d love to chat.