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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    BQE CORE

    Score8.8 out of 10
    Small Businesses (1-50 employees)
    BQE CORE is a business management solution built specifically for professional service firms. BQE CORE is a combination of a billing assistant, project management, and accounting solution. CORE is designed to do the hard work of delivering actionable insights directly to the user's dashboards or inbox. BQE CORE replaces the products Engineeroffice, Archioffice, and BillQuick; the functionality of these applications is now found in BQE CORE.N/A

    Salesforce Starter

    Score9 out of 10
    Small Businesses (1-50 employees)
    Salesforce Starter (formerly Salesforce Essentials) is a small business CRM that replaces the former SalesforceIQ product. It is priced at $35 per user, on a monthly basis, or at $25 per month for if billed annually ($300) and can be tried free for 14 days on a trial.

    $35

    per month per user

    Pricing
    BQE CORESalesforce Starter
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    BQE CORESalesforce Starter
    Free Trial
    YesYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    YesYes
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    BQE CORESalesforce Starter
    Considered Both Products
    BQE Software Inc.
    No answer on this topic
    Salesforce
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    94%
    Would buy again
    144 Answers
    80%
    Would buy again
    4 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    98%
    Delivers good value for the price
    106 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    98%
    Happy with the feature set
    150 Answers
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    5 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    92%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    70 Answers
    80%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    4 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    82%
    Implementation went as expected
    81 Answers
    80%
    Implementation went as expected
    4 Answers
    Features
    BQE CORESalesforce Starter
    Sales Force Automation
    Comparison of Sales Force Automation features of BQE CORE and Salesforce Starter
    Feature
    BQE CORE
    -
    Ratings
    Salesforce Starter
    8.7
    7 Ratings
    10% above category average
    Customer data management / contact management00 Ratings7.27 Ratings
    Territory management00 Ratings7.57 Ratings
    Opportunity management00 Ratings9.07 Ratings
    Integration with email client (e.g., Outlook or Gmail)00 Ratings9.46 Ratings
    Quote & order management00 Ratings9.65 Ratings
    Interaction tracking00 Ratings8.56 Ratings
    Channel / partner relationship management00 Ratings9.75 Ratings
    Marketing Automation
    Comparison of Marketing Automation features of BQE CORE and Salesforce Starter
    Feature
    BQE CORE
    -
    Ratings
    Salesforce Starter
    7.2
    6 Ratings
    7% below category average
    Lead management00 Ratings7.26 Ratings
    CRM Project Management
    Comparison of CRM Project Management features of BQE CORE and Salesforce Starter
    Feature
    BQE CORE
    -
    Ratings
    Salesforce Starter
    8.1
    5 Ratings
    5% above category average
    Task management00 Ratings9.65 Ratings
    Billing and invoicing management00 Ratings6.35 Ratings
    Reporting00 Ratings8.65 Ratings
    CRM Reporting & Analytics
    Comparison of CRM Reporting & Analytics features of BQE CORE and Salesforce Starter
    Feature
    BQE CORE
    -
    Ratings
    Salesforce Starter
    9.0
    5 Ratings
    16% above category average
    Forecasting00 Ratings9.05 Ratings
    Pipeline visualization00 Ratings8.85 Ratings
    Customizable reports00 Ratings9.25 Ratings
    Customization
    Comparison of Customization features of BQE CORE and Salesforce Starter
    Feature
    BQE CORE
    -
    Ratings
    Salesforce Starter
    6.6
    6 Ratings
    15% below category average
    Custom fields00 Ratings6.96 Ratings
    Custom objects00 Ratings6.95 Ratings
    Scripting environment00 Ratings5.65 Ratings
    API for custom integration00 Ratings7.25 Ratings
    Security
    Comparison of Security features of BQE CORE and Salesforce Starter
    Feature
    BQE CORE
    -
    Ratings
    Salesforce Starter
    8.6
    6 Ratings
    2% above category average
    Single sign-on capability00 Ratings8.66 Ratings
    Role-based user permissions00 Ratings8.66 Ratings
    Social CRM
    Comparison of Social CRM features of BQE CORE and Salesforce Starter
    Feature
    BQE CORE
    -
    Ratings
    Salesforce Starter
    8.7
    5 Ratings
    15% above category average
    Social engagement00 Ratings8.75 Ratings
    Integrations with 3rd-party Software
    Comparison of Integrations with 3rd-party Software features of BQE CORE and Salesforce Starter
    Feature
    BQE CORE
    -
    Ratings
    Salesforce Starter
    8.2
    5 Ratings
    8% above category average
    Marketing automation00 Ratings8.25 Ratings
    Compensation management00 Ratings8.15 Ratings
    Platform
    Comparison of Platform features of BQE CORE and Salesforce Starter
    Feature
    BQE CORE
    -
    Ratings
    Salesforce Starter
    8.3
    6 Ratings
    8% above category average
    Mobile access00 Ratings8.36 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    BQE CORESalesforce Starter
    Small Businesses
    Autotask PSA
    Score7.6 out of 10
    Salesflare
    Score10 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Workday Professional Services Automation
    Score8.2 out of 10
    Kintone
    Score9.7 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Planview AdaptiveWork
    Score9 out of 10
    Oracle Sales
    Score8.9 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    BQE CORESalesforce Starter
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.4
    (167 ratings)
    9.0
    (7 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    7.0
    (8 ratings)
    4.0
    (1 ratings)
    Usability
    9.7
    (117 ratings)
    8.4
    (4 ratings)
    Availability
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    7.4
    (90 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Online Training
    6.4
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    2.3
    (6 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    4.5
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    BQE CORESalesforce Starter
    Likelihood to Recommend
    BQE Software Inc.
    I would recommend this for our industry: architecture, engineering, or construction. I would recommend this for any larger firm with many employees or high number of projects. I would particularly recommend this for a company with projects that have budget constraints and where time tracking and expense tracking is very important. I would not recommend this complicated software for a small firm with a small amount of income or number of projects.
    Read full review
    Salesforce
    If you own a business that has complex selling processes or requires integrations with 3rd party tools/systems, you should look at Professional, Enterprise, or Unlimited editions. Salesforce operates very well across pretty much every industry, but not all sales, marketing, and operational processes are created equal. If your marketing process requires a long list of sendable contacts then I would recommend adding on Pardot or Hubspot. Always start small and scale up, to avoid boxing yourself in down the road.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    BQE Software Inc.
    • Invoice Collections within Billing is a great tool because of the ability to take notes and track contact.
    • Invoices are professional looking and easy for our clients to understand the overall progress within each phase of their project.
    • Dashboards are the best tool EVER!
    • The Contact List feature within Clients setup is the perfect way to track multiple project managers within a large company that also has multiple contracts with us.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Salesforce
    • Tracking phone calls is extremely easy when using the app on the iphone. After a phone call is complete it prompts the user to enter in call details.
    • SalesforceIQ also automatically logs emails for us. This has saved us time from entering in information manually.
    • SalesforceIQ was easy to set up and allowed us customization for fields that were relevant to our business.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    BQE Software Inc.
    • Customizable Reporting
    • Linking Project to Payment all together
    • Assigning contacts to particular roles - such as Invoicing, Contracts, etc.
    • Accounting Functionality - they are basically a project management accounting software, so in my opinion, they could learn some things from other accounting software such as QuickBooks etc.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Salesforce
    • Table views can be sorted by column. Filters can be applied, but only to one column. Multi-column filtering like Excel allows would be extremely useful and a big improvement.
    • The ability to quick copy data in a table view would also be helpful, like (ctrl ') in excel.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    BQE Software Inc.
    We have been using Core for a few years now, and honestly started to look at other software systems to see what was out there. What we chose was a nightmare for migration so we never left Core. Now we have added invoicing and payments from Core instead of double entry with QBO. Still only a few cycles in but looks like it will be up to speed soon and working smoothly.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Salesforce
    No answers on this topic
    Usability
    BQE Software Inc.
    The foundation is awesome, like I have said before, however the house being built on it, the educational resources being provided to us (more of sales pitches that don't work), and flexible workflow opportunities, is making us look elsewhere for how much we will be spending on per user. It's crazy to think how flexible they are not when it comes to user settings. Lack of integration with other sources is awful.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Salesforce
    The system is very user-friendly on a desktop but lacks mobile friendliness. The Customer relationship manager disappears after the deal is signed. We struggled to get the system in a usable format, which was not cost-effective. The CRM system on desktop was great but way more complicated than it should be.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    BQE Software Inc.
    I can only remember a couple of times in 4 years that Core has been unavailable.
    Read full review
    Salesforce
    No answers on this topic
    Performance
    BQE Software Inc.
    This is one area that does need some improvement. It can be slow at time, so we had our IT look at it from our side and we had no issues, so it has to be some slowness on their side.
    Read full review
    Salesforce
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    BQE Software Inc.
    As a new employee and CORE user, I talk to support on a weekly basis. I have never had to wait for more than 3 min to get connect with a support rep, and all my questions have been answered. The support representatives are polite and eager to help no matter how simple your question is.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Salesforce
    No answers on this topic
    Online Training
    BQE Software Inc.
    Make sure you have someone training you that fits your style of learning.
    Read full review
    Salesforce
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation Rating
    BQE Software Inc.
    It does take some time to understand the options and to find the best invoice template.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Salesforce
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    BQE Software Inc.
    Deltek Vision is far more advanced, more encompassing and offers more flexibility with what you want to do. However, it's also quite difficult to use, whereas BQE CORE is intuitive and user friendly. The trade off is worth it in some arenas but overall it's not suited for a larger fast paced company. Great for smaller companies.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Salesforce
    more expensive but as an industry leader and go, the learning curve pays for itself in ROI in lost time in onboarding
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Scalability
    BQE Software Inc.
    This software works on a small and large scale.
    Read full review
    Salesforce
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    BQE Software Inc.
    • Quick setup of new tasks under a parent project, with immediate hourly billing to it.
    • Monitoring of details of non-chargeable efforts in appropriate detail
    • Validation of hourly cost, billing cost, benefit cost, profitability by person and role
    • Company tracking of write-off's included in corporate and project reporting, no data is "lost"
    • Can track excessive work time as +PTO in lieu of pay for use as future vacation
    Read full review
    Salesforce
    • It made the job more efficient for staff so they can spend time doing other tasks rather than configuring and maintaining Salesforce Starter.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    BQE CORE Screenshots

    Screenshot of Core powered by BQE SoftwareScreenshot of BQE CORE Project Dashboard ViewScreenshot of BQE CORE 360* Firm Performance ViewScreenshot of BQE CORE Reporting & AnalyticsScreenshot of BQE CORE Project Time EntryScreenshot of BQE CORE Project Expense Tracking

    Salesforce Starter Screenshots

    Product screenshotProduct screenshotProduct screenshotProduct screenshot