OfficeTools

Was a good value, not anymore.

Pros:

The software has most of the workflow functions centralized. Time & Billing, Client Database, a watered down document management, and calendar.

Cons:

We have used it for 4 years now. The basic functions work well, unless they push an update and it breaks something. (2018.059) Lots of functions in the software are of zero use to us - Integration with Lacerte (We use Proseries) Integration with QB for billing/collections (We are cash basis in QB) Canon Scanners (We use large multifunction Ricohs) Portal (No better than our website portal) Cost - Abacus took over, gave us no communication, and a month before busy season help us hostage and doubled our cost. Here we are a year later and have doubled our cost again. ZERO improvement in the software since they took over and increased cost. The latest update Abacus pushed out literally broke the software. Printing reports and collecting payments now take extra steps. Doubling the cost twice with zero improvement to the product is how you lose business. We are actively looking for a replacement. Even if it costs the same as Office Tools, having communication, customer service, and trust is worth more. They completely fumbled this merger.

Office Tools has streamlined our office, we now only use 1 program where we used to use three.

Comments: Everything is in one place. I can track the progress of projects that co workers are doing, so when someone calls and can tell quicker where we are on there return or other accounting service.

Pros:

Can add To Do's in program for reminders to do several things. Keep track of appointments easily. Documents are easy to find. Can add notes about clients. Can track status of projects and set due dates. Can send documents out for esignatures securely and its easy for clients to sign and return.

Cons:

Wip and A/R balances don't match from end of month to beginning of next month. When adding Wip to invoices, system writes off balance to zero instead of showing profit if billed amount is still over the amount of WIP on bill. Documents for business clients is harder to sort, employees like to have folders.

Misleading Sales Information and Poor Support

Comments: OfficeTools Workspace is almost a hit if they could get the back end programing right. The slowness of the product, features breaking all the time, and the poor response time of support make this a hard pass. Sales also sold us on several features that was confirmed by tier 1 support only to find out after signing the contract that those features are not possible. After working with support for over 1 year to fix issues, we asked to be let out of contract only to be told we need to submit a formal complaint and they get 30 days to fix the issue. Unless you like wasting time with support, look elsewhere.

Pros:

Love that this product marries time tracking, project management, document management, and billing in one software.

Cons:

Desktop program is built on an old 32 bit sql server which makes the program really slow if you have more than 2 people using it at the same time. The integrated APX payment feature is a plus if it would work. They decided to do maintenance on the product during the last two weeks of tax season, we couldn't run payments for a day. Payment system is also hiding payments, so we cannot tell which clients have paid. Support has been working on this for two months with no end in sight.

Long term Office Tools User!

Comments: We have been using Office Tools for 12 years now. I cannot imagine how we functioned without it before and would not want to go back to those days. It is a very affordable and very comprehensive product. Also, it is very easy to implement and use. Our need to get support has been rare. Without hesitation, I recommend Office Tools!

Pros:

Everything in one place! We have our scheduling, project and deadline management, phone call tracking, time-keeping and billing, and document management all in one place.

Cons:

There really is nothing that I don't like about Office Tools. We did try out their client portal a few years ago, and we went to Sharefile to get some added features. But, we are going to go back to try the Office Tools client portal again before the end of the year. I am hopeful it will be a great change for us.

Really helps keep our office organized and know exactly where, when, what and why!

Comments: We are much more organized and spend much less time trying to be organized. It has saved us time which in turn saves us money.

Pros:

We love that it integrates with our Office365, that we can easily upload docs to a secure portal, get esignatures for a very low price and that it keeps track of who last touched the "file". Very impressed with being able to send email templates to clients with information we are constantly repeating, which saves an enormous amount of time.

Cons:

For an excellent program, you have to put a TON of time in getting it set up. Garbage in Garbage out means you need to have a plan. It would be nice if there was a planning tool to help guide you throught the set up process. The one hour video isn't terribly helpful. An excel spreadsheet would be wonderful, if you do this, you need to do thus kind of thing.