An article written by Kim Gélineau.

In this increasingly technological age, many companies have all kinds of tools at their disposal to manage their business. These include e-commerce, invoicing software, inventory management, timesheets and more. It is possible to have all these tools in the same software package, but more often than not, they are completely different tools. An entrepreneur might therefore want to connect all these tools together, especially to accounting software such as Quickbooks online, which offers all sorts of connectors and often connections to the specialised tool itself.

So the question to ask is this: Is it a good idea to connect everything? Unfortunately, the answer is no. Some applications, such as Dext, which manages payables, need to be connected to accounting software such as Quickbooks, otherwise they're only half-used. However, some applications create more problems if they are connected than if they are not. In fact, some accounting applications are better able to receive certain connections than others.

Let's take a look at the factors to consider before deciding which tools to connect to your accounting software, and more specifically, if your software is Quickbooks.

Why do we want to connect our applications?

The reasons for wanting to connect can have a significant impact on whether or not it is worth connecting an application to the accounting software. Here are the main reasons that customers share with us when we discuss connection.

Connect Just to Connect

We are often told that we want to connect, without having any other particular need to fulfil. This is because many people actually want to automate or optimise their processes and believe that connecting is the only way to do this. However, there are many other ways of automating and reducing the workload for an employee or an accounting team without having to connect anything to the accounting system. You can simply create an Excel spreadsheet, which can perform better than a connection and offers greater flexibility, as you control the Excel file and can modify it as required.

Often, automation through connection can lead to a certain amount of complacency; people no longer feel responsible, or they tend to forget to carry out checks when the process is automated. Why should anyone feel responsible for a process that a machine is now carrying out for them? Unfortunately, people often forget to review and validate the information generated in the process, which can create complex elements that have to be fixed manually. Most of the time, this requires the intervention of an expensive specialist.

Producing Reports

We are also often told that they want to connect applications to obtain the same detail in their accounting software as in their specialist applications, such as a project manager, for example. Access to more accurate, relevant data for the business can be an important factor in deciding whether or not to connect to the accounting software. However, you should also ask yourself whether it might not be simpler to add data from the specialist application at a later stage, to avoid having to add to the reconciliation process. It should be noted that at the time of writing this article, there is no requirement to add the full details to the accounting software, although this could, in some cases, prove to be an interesting improvement.

Extending Accounting Functions

There is one important factor to consider: certain functions are not available on accounting software such as Quickbooks, or sometimes they don't quite meet your needs. In these cases, you need to turn to third-party applications to fill the gap.

For example, an application such as Plooto, which allows you to pay suppliers online by listing the invoices to be paid in Quickbooks, would not be very useful without a connection to Quickbooks. What's more, this type of application generally offers connections that are limited and simple. They do not complicate the data reconciliation process and considerably reduce data entry.

In the case of applications such as Dext, Plooto, RBC PayEdge and EbizCharge, these are applications that you absolutely must connect to in order to access their full functionality. In this case, as long as you have chosen the right application, you need to connect.

Redundant Data Entry

When an issue arises concerning employees who have to enter the same data in several applications or who avoid doing so because it takes too long, it is worth looking into a connection. It is important to consider the reconciliation process, discussed in detail below, before deciding whether or not to connect. It goes without saying that you should also ask yourself whether it is necessary to duplicate certain elements or whether another alternative would be more advantageous.

What can be connected?

Accounting software such as Quickbooks offers the possibility of connecting hundreds of third-party applications. You can often connect the application directly, as the bridge is already set up by the two applications to send certain specific information between them. It is also possible to use paid connectors specially designed to build this bridge.

Finally, if you have the resources and if no connector is already doing the job, you can ask programmers to code a bridge between two applications.

Here are the main categories of third-party applications that we have experienced, and let's take a look at their challenges or advantages in terms of potential connection with accounting software such as Quickbooks. Please note that additional charges may apply in some cases for access to their connection.

E-commerce (payment platform)

In many cases, we have noticed that connecting an e-commerce site causes more problems than it brings benefits. Firstly, the commerce platform has to allow the connectors to see which payment methods are used so that they can process them differently if necessary, which is not always the case. Transactions in foreign currencies can also be a problem, as it is not possible for connectors to track currencies.

Secondly, it may happen that certain elements that you need or wish to transfer from one application to another are not available. What's more, the connector may work fine today, but stop working tomorrow (see section on updates and exceptions). This means that the connection needs to be constantly monitored and properly reconciled on an ongoing basis.

Inventory

We have to be careful when we talk about connecting inventories, because this process is very important for a company that has to manage it. The difficulty lies in the fact that there are as many possibilities as there are inventory management applications. As anyone who manages inventories knows, not all systems are organised and managed in the same way. It is therefore very difficult to transfer inventories from complex and specialised software to less complex software such as Quickbooks. Since inventory management is left in the specialised application, but the accounting software is still asked to make inventory movement entries according to less complex principles, there are often incongruities. And if you have any doubts about the value of the inventory, there's no point logging on. So it's important to talk to your Quickbooks implementation specialist to find out whether connecting is a good solution.

Billing and project management software

In some cases, it is not necessary to connect them, but we will probably do so anyway. As well as saving time in data entry, the elements to be transferred are generally fairly simple and the connections offered are fairly comprehensive. It should be noted, however, that not all connections are created equal, and some platforms may have difficulty transferring taxes, significant segments and custom fields. It is therefore important to choose your project manager or invoicing application carefully, considering the connection possibilities and limitations from the outset, to avoid any surprises.

Processing payables and expense reports

The applications that we recommend the most, and that are the most connected, are those that augment or complete the Quickbooks functions in terms of payables and expense management. We're thinking of a combination of Dext, Quickbooks and Plooto to manage payables from A to Z. Invoices and receipts are sent to Dext, which detects several elements and pre-fills the accounting information. Once revised, the documents are sent to Quickbooks, where the attachment is matched to the purchase transaction, and then you can go into Plooto to generate the list of invoices to be paid and make the payment from there. The integration between the three applications is simple and straightforward, and puts the emphasis on revision rather than data entry.

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