Accelo Review

PROS: We appreciate Accelo's fully integrated consulting practice management system. In fact, it is so fully featured that we may be months from using it to its fullest after using it for a year. We find the seamless integration of sales opportunity to billable project or retainer to be the most impressive feature for us. Also, it has helped make integrated communications and time tracking a breeze especially when connected with Office 365.

CONS: It can be overwhelming at times. Perhaps turning off some features for users would be helpful upon onboarding so that they can focus on what's important, without being distracted by what is possible.

PROS: Accelo does what used to take 3-4 different apps to accomplish. I can create client listings, store important files and communicate with clients, as well as create and manage projects, assign tasks, and create tickets to better serve my clients.I don't have to bounce between applications anymore. Having all these capabilities in one place saves me time and makes keeping my clients happy much easier than before.

CONS: The learning curve is a bit steep. Managinjg how to create tasks, manage projects, and communicate with clients can be a little daunting at first. Fortunately, they have easy to follow tutorials and excellent support people who is ready to help guide you through the process of setting everything up and streamline the experience.

PROS: With Accelo everything is all in one place: CRM, Email, Project Management, Support Ticketing, Invoicing, etc. It also integrates well with our other tools (Xero, MailChimp). Even when there isn't an integration there is the API which covers 90% of the product. Interface is clean and easy to use, although it has a bit of a learning curve. Support is also responsive whenever we need help.

CONS: The automatic scheduling is a little inflexible and favours distributing work across multiple work days rather than in one solid block. Also, the API doesn't cover retainers. Because of this, we have almost 800 subscriptions from a previous product that we can't import. The product is pretty expensive when compared to competitors - even for all the functions it proviides It would also be great to be able to build more complicated reports across the different record types.

PROS: We found Accelo to be capable of accommodating the support of all of our processes. From our routing bookkeeping, to our tax season massive upswing, to the agileness needed to respond to ad hoc requests to give our customers the expert support they need- we found all of our needs met. As a small accounting firm, it provided room for growth, letting us safely sustain our current and future growth for years to come. it is lightweight but highly customizable, making it a perfect solution for small, midsize or large organizations.

CONS: Regarding training all users in our organization, it was more on our end. I understand that since Accelo is a customized system, training does not fully rest on the shoulders of its team. However, hopefully they will find ways to support teams who are not adept at adult learning/change management/user training.

PROS: Accelo has helped our firm standardize our workflow on tax work through its project feature or retainer custom workflows. It has also automated some tasks that would have usually required a manual follow up. It provided us a better client communication via a self-help portal that can provide file/current engagement viiews. The wonderful integration with Office 365 must be noted as well.

CONS: Syncing with QuickBooks desktop and online works but is not a true bi-directional sync for customer information and invoice changes. However, it seems to be based on a limitation from an Intuit API perspective, so here's hoping true bi-direction sync will be possible in the future for customer information and invoices. While Office 365 works great with Accelo, Outlook Tasks are another story. Though this may be an issue on Outlook"s API.

PROS: I really like the fact that you can have all of your management features under one roof. Accelo is so helpful to be able to have all of the core "mechanics" together. I also like that there are multiple ways to get the information you are looking for and manage the incoming, as well as outgoing information.

CONS: I dislike the client area. It's not quite at the caliber of the rest of the system. It would be awesome to be able to have clients log in to their area and see hours that have been used overall, or approximate billing for the month/usage at a glance instead of only task by task. It would also be great to be able to assign a task to a client so we can keep tabs on what is still required from them and keep the flow in check.

PROS: I like that Accelo combines almost all facets of my business in one application. Not only do I get CRM & sales capability, I also get job/task tracking, project management, support ticketing, and billing as well. There is effective integration with key third party apps so I rarely have to go anywhere else to run the business. The user community engagement and level of communication has been helpful in keeping me informed on product development.

CONS: It is hard to dislike anything I would like to see a payroll feature included in the future. That way, I can either export timesheet data to a third party application or run a payroll process within the system.