With so many QuickBooks® solutions out there—all of which are powerful and help streamline your accounting and financial management processes—selecting one can be difficult.
QuickBooks Enterprise, QuickBooks Desktop and QuickBooks Online each have their own set of unique benefits that are important to consider based on several factors.
Suffice it to say: QuickBooks solutions aren’t “one size fits all.”
Here are some factors to consider:
- How complex is your business?
- What type of industry are you in?
- What are your specific accounting needs?
Your answers will help guide you to what your business requires.
Keep reading to learn:
- Key features and capabilities of QuickBooks Enterprise, QuickBooks Pro Plus and Premier Plus, and QuickBooks Online.
- What each of these QuickBooks solutions is primarily designed for.
QuickBooks solutions: A variety of options for every business need
QuickBooks Enterprise
QuickBooks Enterprise is designed for businesses that have more complex needs or plan to scale, such as:
- Increased data capacity: Depending on the age and size of your business, your QuickBooks subscription may need to handle a large amount of data. In these cases, QuickBooks Enterprise would suit that need most effectively.
- Advanced inventory management: QuickBooks Enterprise offers advanced inventory management features that QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop don’t offer, such as the ability to track inventory across multiple locations and manage inventory with multiple units of measure.
- Enhanced user controls: QuickBooks Enterprise offers more advanced user controls, allowing you to customize user access and permissions when needed.
- Industry-specific features: QuickBooks Enterprise provides industry-specific versions for contractors, manufacturers, wholesalers, nonprofits and retailers. If your business falls into one of these industries, QuickBooks Enterprise may be the best fit.
- Increased collaboration: QuickBooks Enterprise allows up to 30 simultaneous users, providing ample capacity for your business as it scales.
There is another important factor to consider when deciding between QuickBooks Enterprise, QuickBooks Desktop Pro Plus or Premier Plus, and QuickBooks Online. Intuit is increasing prices on QuickBooks Pro Plus and Premier Plus to encourage customers to adopt QuickBooks Online. Still, Intuit will continue to invest in QuickBooks Enterprise. If you prefer the experience of QuickBooks’ desktop products, but want the flexibility of working online, consider cloud hosting. Hosting QuickBooks in the Rightworks cloud offers a variety of benefits; learn about them here.
As evidenced above, QuickBooks Enterprise is a powerful solution. But your business may not need some of the advanced features it offers…which brings us to solution number two: QuickBooks Desktop Pro Plus and Premier Plus.
QuickBooks Desktop Pro Plus and Premier Plus
QuickBooks Desktop Pro Plus or Premier Plus may be a better fit if the following cases apply to you:
- You’re a small business owner with simple accounting needs.
- You don’t need more than five users working in QuickBooks at the same time.
- You have multiple company files. (Both QuickBooks Desktop and QuickBooks Enterprise allow unlimited company files at no additional cost.)
QuickBooks Online
Now, let’s look at QuickBooks Online, which has made headway in recent years.
Here’s when to consider QuickBooks Online:
- You have specific job costing or project needs (such as field service or mobile access).
- You need to geofence a work area to automate time tracking.
- You have specific inventory needs: FIFO (first in, first out), mobile access for invoicing, products or services lists, customers and vendors.
- You only need access to one company file.
- You need multiple profit and loss budgets or need to track by location.
Selecting your QuickBooks solution doesn’t have to be hard
Deciding which version of QuickBooks is right for your business takes time and effort.
The great news is that whether you need a simple accounting solution or a robust, industry-specific platform, there’s a QuickBooks solution to fit your needs.
Rightworks offers the entire QuickBooks ecosystem and has a team of QuickBooks experts available to help you make the best decision. If you need help figuring out which solution is right for your business, give one of our experts a call.