Comparing Cloud Accounting Solutions:
Acumatica Cloud ERP vs. Sage Intacct Financials

Cloud Accounting Solution - Acumatica vs Intacct

Find the Right Cloud Accounting Solution for Your Needs

 

Considering upgrading to cloud accounting solutions for your business? Smart choice. Today’s highly agile, mobile-ready, and easy-to-manage cloud solutions provide the flexibility your company needs to stay competitive in the modern business landscape, while eliminating the hassles and business headaches that older legacy systems can cause.

But which cloud accounting solution is right for you?

If you aren’t well-versed in “geek speak,” all cloud solutions sound pretty much the same. However, with a guide who can help you look “under the hood” at various solutions, you’ll discover critical differences between your cloud options.

This blog from SWK Technologies is here to help you look under the hood at Acumatica Cloud ERP and the Sage Intacct financial management software.

5 Top Comparisons for Cloud Accounting Solutions

Cloud software experts understand that cloud accounting solutions come in a lot of forms. Some companies throw the “cloud” buzzword around even though they’re only offering wannabe cloud ERP, whereas other companies deliver true cloud solutions.

The way to distinguish between these two very different approaches is to investigate five key areas.

 

  1. Cloud

Of course you want to make sure your cloud accounting solution has true cloud functionality, so you don’t end up with a wannabe cloud ERP, but since the point of cloud is to have flexibility, you also don’t want to box yourself in with a rigid, cloud-only solution.

The key here is to have all the cloud freedom, without being restricted to using the public cloud for your data if you don’t wish to.

  • Sage Intacct offers only public cloud deployments, which may not work for businesses that face strict regulations or compliance requirements.
  • Acumatica offers your choice of deployment options, including on-premises, private cloud, or public cloud – as well as the ability to seamlessly transition back and forth between deployment methods.

According to a 2019 InformationWeek article, Is Hybrid Cloud the New Standard for Future Infrastructure?, “Plenty of young organizations may be cloud native with public services, but many incumbents cannot go that route.”

 

  1. Functionality

According to the 2018 Gartner report, “Critical Capabilities for Cloud Financial Planning and Analysis Solutions,” functionality is the key to cloud accounting software success. As Gartner put it:

“Product functionality is the most important decision factor in cloud core financial management suite evaluations, according to survey respondents, with a vendor roadmap a key ingredient for success.”

This means that whatever cloud accounting solution you choose, you need to make sure it can meet your specific company and industry needs, now and in the future.

During your evaluation, consider functionality across all your departments. Since Acumatica is a full cloud ERP suite, it includes integrated CRM. Sage Intacct has no built in CRM; it is simply a financials solution.

 

  1. Customization

One of the biggest cloud “tells” that experts focus on is the product’s ability to integrate with additional products and solutions. After all, one of the greatest benefits of cloud ERP is the ability to mix and match tailored, complementary solutions in order to meet your exact needs as your company evolves.

One of the key factors in cloud customizability lies in the product’s flexibility.

  • Sage Intacct imposes strict limitations on how much a customer can modify the solution.  Web Services limits what customers can expose and the degree of customization allowed.  User defined field limits are imposed for most objects. More complex integrations need to be created by the manufacturer directly which becomes costly.  Sometimes maturity just means old.
  • Acumatica was developed with industry-standard code known as the .NET framework, which provides easy interoperability, customization, and integration. Many developers know how to program in .NET, which can keep your development costs low, should you need to customize your cloud ERP. Acumatica allows unlimited user defined fields and the flexibility to modify the interface to meet your needs.  There is no extra charge for the tools to create customizations. Customers can build their own solutions using the Acumatica xRP Platform which uses .Net, C# and HTML 5.

 

  1. Scalability

Employees are the single largest investment your company must make, and training is a costly part of the hiring process. The ease of use, anywhere / anytime access, and clear configurability of cloud accounting solutions simplifies the process of setting up and training new users in the system, which makes it a great fit for companies that are rapidly scaling.

However, not all cloud accounting solutions make it cost-effective to add more employees or more entities as you grow.

  • Sage Intacct charges for each user you add to your system and requires different kinds of licenses for different functions. While you can add users (and costs) at will with Sage Intacct, you have to wait until your annual renewal to remove users (and costs).
  • Acumatica allows unlimited users of any kind for free: executives, developers, supervisors, employees, business partners, customers… you name it. Additional users do not require additional licenses; you can add or remove as many as you want, whenever you want.

In addition, Acumatica is more cost effective for companies that have (or expect to have) multiple entities or facets, because Acumatica comes with five tenants at a single price point, whereas Sage Intacct only comes packaged with a single allowed tenant, which can make growth with Intacct cost prohibitive.

 

  1. Headaches

You know the feeling: you have an important task to accomplish on a very tight timeline and your computer decides, right then, that you need a critical update. Or you need to export or print a file and your computer refuses to comply.

You don’t want your business operations to grind to a halt because your cloud accounting solution causes these kinds of headaches.

  • Sage Intacct releases updates quarterly and installs them on their timeline, which means you and your employees are in for a surprise every quarter. Their updates may interfere with any customization you’ve implemented (necessitating a costly fix), and if you decide you’re fed up with those surprise updates, it’ll cost real money for you to cut ties with Sage Intacct and transfer your data somewhere else.
  • Acumatica releases multiple, cutting-edge updates a year, but lets you choose when you want to install them. And, if you wish to export your business data out of the cloud ERP for any reason, Acumatica makes that simple and free to do. After all, it’s your data.

 

Ensure Your Cloud Accounting Solution Provides Cloud Agility

As you’re evaluating your cloud accounting solution options, consider if you need:

  • True cloud flexibility
  • ERP functionality
  • Affordable customization options
  • Simple, cost-free scalability
  • Hassle-free operation

If the cloud financial solution you’re looking at doesn’t have these features, you’ll have to wonder what you’re really paying for and if that solution can truly meet your business’s long-term, ever-evolving needs.

There’s a reason why Acumatica is the fastest-growing cloud ERP – and a reason why manufacturers and distributors are starting to Question Sage.

 

Learn more about how Acumatica compares to other cloud accounting solutions when you request a consultation with the cloud experts at SWK Technologies.

 

Still have questions? Then take your time and learn more about cloud ERP, research ERP solutions, or evaluate the ERP systems you’re considering.

 

 

 

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