Spruce vs. Sage 500 ERP

I think my single most surprising and satisfying experience with ECI and its RockSolid Maxx and then Spruce products was the ease of implementation and rollout -- both on the hardware and software side. ECI seems to have mastered the idea of using an integrated team along with robust tutorials to make that process easy.

Incentivized

Sage is wonderful for payroll and employee management. Although it has the capabilities to be a one-stop-shop program, it seriously lacks the interface necessary for wide use. I've had to consult Sage professionals on numerous occasions to explain and walk me through the program as there are so many redundancies. This program has wonderful potential, but they need to update the software and user interface before I can recommend it to any colleague.

Incentivized

• We have particularly pleased with the 'Payables' part of the Spruce suite. It's easy to use and functionality is light years better than our previous software.
• Shortly after making the switch to Spruce our business underwent a detailed sales tax audit. Spruce's reporting functions were a godsend to us as we were able to easily address the questions posed us by our auditors.
• Our sales force is staffed by multiple people with years of construction experience but little familiarity with computer. The ease with which they mastered the POS system surprised me.

Incentivized

• Payables and receivables handled beautifully
• Projects has the reporting capabilities we need
• Cash management is easy to do

Incentivized

• Quick response to support tickets.
• Access to a SPRUCE support technician when calling.
• More support personal so you are not waiting days for a response.
• Available support customer service when you call, even for small items.

Incentivized

• The application is very functional, but the interface is a little "stale" compared to more modern applications.
• The underlying client software is written in an old version of Microsoft Visual Basic. I suppose SOME DAY, Microsoft will be discontinuing, although Microsoft has its own ERP software written in that same code.

Incentivized

We will renew our investment in Sage 500, mostly because the competition is very expensive and are bloated with options that are not needed.

Incentivized

I have been using Intacct for almost 10 years in 2 different companies and I just simply love it. I tried SAP (GUI) and Netsuite and they dont come close to what Ive seen.

Incentivized

For the most part when there is internet, we are able to log in and proceed to do our daily tasks which is very helpful, but we have also encountered a glitch on our laptop that we use to do inventory that switches to the last branch that was used. This, in combination with Spruce logging out of the remote connection daily, can cause issues if the person accessing Spruce does not have the remote connection password.

Incentivized

The online training courses are not up to date. We experienced technical issues with two of the classes.

Incentivized

Keep your database and application in different servers.
Install Microsoft Office on your application server so you can use some of the data analysis tools in Sage.

Incentivized

Spruce is possibly just above average. Not super impressed with usability and especially not impressed with tech support who is rarely able to answer questions on the first call.

Incentivized

500 seems much smoother at handling some of the basic accounting tasks, for example both issuing and later reconciling checks in Dynamics AX seems a little tedious.

Incentivized

• Solid operations.
• Handles inventory.
• Cloud based.

Incentivized

• Efficiency - enhanced automation
• Cost reduction - simple workspace is enough

Incentivized