Acumatica vs. VAI ERP

I think it’s a great product. I think it’s very customizable, which is a big plus.
For manufacturing, it’s excellent because of creating the inventory, turning it into an actual product to sell, and also tracking the status of each process within that system.
I can’t think of any areas where it’s not suited, because otherwise we would be looking for something else or making changes, and at this time, we’re just growing with the system.

VAI base package software has a lot of productive tools that can be used for a lot of different types of businesses. At first I was taken back by this saying it would just be more efficient if they would just build it more specific to a certain business type, but now stepping back i see why they don't. They are able to customize it more to my needs

Incentivized

• Particularly well is just the ease of it being able to be used. We're coming from Sage, that's the product that we used before. Sage was limited, five people could get into the system at a time. Acumatica is unlimited.
• The amount of information that's so easily accessible has made us more efficient, more productive, and it just makes for an easier workday when everybody can see the same information real time.

Incentivized

• Design and ease of entering data into screens.
• Drill downs provided as you move around screens.
• Help Text for each screen.
• Back end programming easy to follow - good documentation.
• Interfaces to third party software - ex. Mark Magic Forms.
• Great Help Desk.
• Training Videos.
• Workflows and Triggers.

Incentivized

• Acumatica's open API is very powerful but doesn't get integrated cleanly across every external system, challenge arises with integration of legacy systems
• Some of the platform feature's requires third-party add-ons or custom developments like advance finance report & BI.
• Sometimes it gets glitch in the system leading slower processing speed

Incentivized

• There will most likely be customizations made for a particular niche site to integrate with their system.
• Product reviews, up sells, and cross sells are not built into the website functionality. Customization to the offerings would be needed.
• Very little documentation or open source resources on instructions or development in regards to the website design and integration with the ERP.

We are highly likely to renew because Acumatica has become the foundation of our ERP strategy replacing another ERP system with a more flexible, scalable platform while improving governance, planning, and operational visibility. Ongoing stabilization, roadmap investment in IBP and automation, and strong alignment across Finance and Operations give us long‑term confidence in the platform.

Incentivized

S2K is easy to use, has room for growth, and serves the company's needs as a whole

The processes are very intuitive and easy to use. Whether you are entering AP bills, timecards for payroll, or AR invoices, the processes are similar and easy to use. The drill-down capability is also a huge plus as you can easily toggle between different modules without having to leave the screen you are in and navigating through a menu to get the information you need. We found that the standard reports out of the box are lacking. Our implementation did not go so well and when we were finally ready to run financial reports, it was both disappointing and frustrating to discover that the P&L was highly summarized and to get a detailed report required having to do a lot of formatting myself. I was able to figure it out on my own, but when our financials were already delayed getting published, I did not really have the time to spend trying to figure out how to build my own P&L.

Incentivized

Often times it seems people want to learn a platform in seconds and if they can't they say it is not "user friendly." There are some platforms that can do so much that it is just going to take time to learn it all. To me that is a good thing. S2K takes time to learn but it is worth it. It can transform your organization.

Incentivized

It's always available.

there have been some performance issues

Incentivized

I would rate the overall support for Acumatica an 8 out of 10. The support team is generally responsive, knowledgeable, and helpful when resolving issues or answering questions. Documentation and community resources are also useful. However, response times can occasionally vary depending on the complexity of the issue or support queue, which slightly affects the overall experience.

Incentivized

Great support. The staff is very knowledgeable about the platform and the capabilities within the IBM framework

Very helpful for end users

Incentivized

Online training has gone away. Need to bring back the webinars. Live webinars are so benficial to training new employees.

Incentivized

I'd say the partner selection is critically important. I think the software is very easy to implement. It's very customizable to your business. Finding a partner that will work with you to understand your business and your needs is the critical piece to make sure that the system goes along with it.

Incentivized

If this is someone's first ERP implementation, I strongly suggest you ask for services to help implement. Ask for training on every aspect of the implementation. Make sure this is put into the overall ERP quote

Having used Pastel for a long time in the business, it lacked certain features, or the system was not probably setup for our business needs and requirements at the time. It was also not 100% cloud based and needed to be used through remote desktop which had its limitations. Zero just had 10% of what our business needed.

S2K offered a system that could be used by various departments. There were modules for accounting, customer service, order entry, and web development. The ability to customize the website integration was a plus. S2K allows the option to have products in different warehouse locations. This allowed us to better manage inventory and see in real time what the stock status was

No, annual invoices are fine. I do like that unlimited users are included.

From my understanding, the P.O. module is not very robust, at least the last time I inquired about it. At the time, it had a one-to-one match, with one invoice for one P.O. and that isn't practical for many businesses. I don't believe it would be an easy system to use for sending out invoices, if we had thousands of retail utility customers. We do a small number of invoices because we sell wholesale power, not retail, so we only Invoice the municipality. Not each utility customer.

They are very responsive and knowledgeable about the product. If the rep doesn't have the ability to solve the issue, they quickly get someone else involved to assist us.

• We are able to send automated notifications through business Events, which ensures that information travels seamlessly and without the possibility of someone forgetting an email.
• We save time being able to read our demand and level it against our current inventory qty on hand and our supply to make better strategic decisions when purchasing.
• Better our business and see our pitfalls that were once hidden in our factory by establishing an On-Time Delivery system within a generic inquiry that uses data that is readily available in Acumatica.

Incentivized

• Sales - since all screens are real-time, S2K helps keep our salespeople up to date with customer sales and their overall sales for each period/year.
• CSR - tracking of customer orders from point of entry to invoicing, being able to give the customer current information on their order by viewing a single screen.
• Purchasing - with multiple locations, tracking, and having inventory in the correct location to meet the customer demands that are shipped from their home location.
• Warehouse bin/item management makes picking orders a fast, accurate process, with the addition of order verification.
• Accounting - being able to see real-time information across all applications. A/R, A/P, and G/L.

Incentivized