Hi Group,
I'm new to the forums, glad I found this place. We have a unique offering in so many ways.
I wanted to ask about how you techs and msp's run your business software wise. I had gotten a little fed up with all the tools needed and lack of integration of products so I decided to start writing my own.
Maybe this will sound familiar to some of you, here is my process.
I'm using WHMCS to do my recurring billing (pre billing). Also, I am using it to run a ticketing system (not a helpdesk, there's a difference). Further, I spent money a year ago and purchased a project manager plugin which allows me to track billable hours in whmcs. And whmcs has a to-do list, kind of like crm.
But I don't use the whmcs plugin to bill those tracked hours, I use quickbooks for that.
Further, I'm using quickbooks to do my non-recurring invoices (I sell servers and storage) as well as manage bank accounts, pay bills, and general accounting.
I like the power of whmcs as it was a big step up from what I previously did two years ago. But whmcs is really designed to be used for web hosting with its cpanel integration. I really have no need for that functionality. I do have a few web hosting clients, but not enough where cpanel is a necessity.
Then, I have a spread sheet I use to track customer orders of hardware and software. (Have they paid, have I ordered the product from the vendor, have I paid the vendor, did the customer receive, did I record the support contract info)
whmcs is about as perfect a product I can find, but many of the features are not useful to me and of course, its not an accounting system like quickbooks which means double entry of info as well as 2 different invoice numbers going.
So, I'm trying to re-invent the wheel.
I would love to hear about what you all are doing process wise and what software products you are using to manage your business. If anyone is interested in taking a look at what I've created, I would be happy to give you a login and show you where I'm at, I could certainly use the feedback.
Tom
I'm new to the forums, glad I found this place. We have a unique offering in so many ways.
I wanted to ask about how you techs and msp's run your business software wise. I had gotten a little fed up with all the tools needed and lack of integration of products so I decided to start writing my own.
Maybe this will sound familiar to some of you, here is my process.
I'm using WHMCS to do my recurring billing (pre billing). Also, I am using it to run a ticketing system (not a helpdesk, there's a difference). Further, I spent money a year ago and purchased a project manager plugin which allows me to track billable hours in whmcs. And whmcs has a to-do list, kind of like crm.
But I don't use the whmcs plugin to bill those tracked hours, I use quickbooks for that.
Further, I'm using quickbooks to do my non-recurring invoices (I sell servers and storage) as well as manage bank accounts, pay bills, and general accounting.
I like the power of whmcs as it was a big step up from what I previously did two years ago. But whmcs is really designed to be used for web hosting with its cpanel integration. I really have no need for that functionality. I do have a few web hosting clients, but not enough where cpanel is a necessity.
Then, I have a spread sheet I use to track customer orders of hardware and software. (Have they paid, have I ordered the product from the vendor, have I paid the vendor, did the customer receive, did I record the support contract info)
whmcs is about as perfect a product I can find, but many of the features are not useful to me and of course, its not an accounting system like quickbooks which means double entry of info as well as 2 different invoice numbers going.
So, I'm trying to re-invent the wheel.
I would love to hear about what you all are doing process wise and what software products you are using to manage your business. If anyone is interested in taking a look at what I've created, I would be happy to give you a login and show you where I'm at, I could certainly use the feedback.
Tom
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