Having trawled through the forum, I see a lot of talk about vendors who 'have' a 'solution'.

I looked at:

  • NetSuite - they annoyed me (arrogant and aggressive)
  • Microsoft - 3 million businesses use our software...so what!
  • Sage - still in the dark ages
  • Intuit - Quickbooks, Quickbooks, Quickbooks
  • SAP - Kings Ransome
  • Epicor - dark ages
  • Interprise - clowns
  • Everest - Degree in quantum physics required to work the UI
  • Others - hacked together solutions
  • Open source - this isnt for me - I like to see the owners faces


They are all:

  1. Expensive with long term agreements
  2. Over burdened with features
  3. Seem to have very steep (and expensive)learning curves


I am really clear about my needs. I've looked the 'comparison sites' but nothing really 'fitted' what I need.

My problem is:
  • Budget (I want to spend roughly $25 - $30 USD/month per user) and I dont want a long term lock in with a big upfront cost.
  • Time - I need a system in one of my businesses immediately
  • Effort - I don't want to employ or manage expensive consultants
  • Remote working - Many of my employees work off site but need access to information so I am looking for a 'cloud' solution.


I'm at the point where I need to 'standardize' on a system for each of my individual businesses (separate accounts). I'm currently running Quickbooks, PeachTree and Sage with a mess of spreadsheets and contact management systems.

I have two businesses and I'm about to expand to four located in:

  • USA
  • UK
  • Europe - Country not decided but probably the Netherlands
  • Australia - Opening in May 2010


I need:

  • Really easy to learn and use
  • I can deploy it myself quickly
  • Low cost - like I said $25 to $30 USD per user
  • CRM
  • Sales Order processing
  • Estimates
  • Sales forecasting
  • Time sheet capture
  • Employee Expense claim management
  • Job tracking
  • Stock (inventory management)
  • Multicurrency Accounting
  • Online payments (in and out)
  • Manage drop shipments
  • E-mail integration
  • Oh and lead tracking
  • And decent reports - not necessarily dashboards


And like I said I need it in the cloud.

Help me find a solution...

Thanks

Caroline. C.

PS: If you suggest a vendor I have already looked at I will make sure I give you my feedback.