In a landscape where more and more is done on the move, QuickBooks Online offers a way to handle your business anywhere, anytime. As the market leader for accounting software, QuickBooks offers a number of tools and solutions for users across the globe.
Some critical features available in QuickBooks Desktop aren't currently available in QuickBooks Online. These features are critical for many businesses and may require replacement solutions when switching to QuickBooks Online. This is where Erplain and Stockpit step in.
Chief among these tools, and with millions of users across the globe, QuickBooks Online (QBO) stands out as a cloud-based solution tailored for companies seeking flexibility and mobility. With QBO, users need only an Internet connection and a device—whether it's a computer, tablet or smartphone—to access their data. The platform supports numerous software integrations to seamlessly manage all business operations, such as Erplain and Stockpit, enhancing users’ control over sales and inventory.
On the other hand, QuickBooks Desktop (QBD) operates as a local application that must be installed on a computer. The upside to it being that users can keep working on the software even without Internet access. QBD also offers exclusive features, including sales orders, price levels, inventory locations, bin locations and advanced reporting.
Intuit discontinued most of its QuickBooks Desktop plans in late 2024, leaving the Enterprise plan as the only option for new users. While support and updates remain available for existing users, the focus has shifted toward QuickBooks Online in recent years. Although QuickBooks Desktop still exists, it has transitioned to a subscription-based model and lacks the versatility of QuickBooks Online when it comes to plan options.
QuickBooks Online is a modern, collaborative solution that allows users to access their accounting tools on multiple devices. With integrations to a large number of software, QuickBooks Online enables users to expand their capabilities and manage al aspects fo their business.
For businesses seeking flexibility, especially those frequently on the move or requiring additional software integrations, transitioning from QuickBooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online is a logical choice. QuickBooks simplifies this migration by providing tools to transfer most data seamlessly from QBD to QBO.
While QuickBooks Online offers many benefits, users should be aware that some features available in QuickBooks Desktop are not included in QuickBooks Online. They can also apply client-specific discounts to some of their customers and use price levels. These features are critical for many businesses and may require replacement solutions when switching to QBO.
This is where Erplain and Stockpit come into play. They are both inventory-centric management software with native integration with QBO, both with a track record of hundreds of satisfied customers.
Both software have essential inventory management features to replace those unavailable in QuickBooks Online, with the luxury of a quick connection and the ability to import data from QBO in a flash.
However, Erplain and Stockpit remain different software with different abilities and uses.
Erplain is a B2B sales and inventory management software for small businesses. It includes tools to manage their business on a daily basis. They have access to the entirety of their sales cycle, from estimates to invoices, including sales orders and shipping orders. Erplain provides flexibility in how users operate within this framework. Users can manage their sales and purchases, with stock levels automatically updated as transactions occur. The software also offers visibility into stock levels across various locations. Erplain also allows users to set different price levels, assigning various prices to specific customer categories. Users can also manage batches with expiration dates for improved product traceability. Finally, Erplain users can manage their purchases from Erplain, by creating purchase orders either from scratch, from a sales order or based on reorder points in each location.
The native integration between Erplain and QuickBooks allows purchase orders and invoices to be sent automatically to QBO while customers and suppliers are synchronized in real time. Inventory is kept in sync at all times and works both ways, although sync from QBO to Erplain can be disabled.
All in all, Erplain helps QuickBooks Desktop users fill in missing features while seamlessly integrating with QBO to keep everything up to date.
Stockpit is an inventory management module designed with QuickBooks Online in mind. It allows users to add advanced inventory management features while the sales and invoicing process is done in QuickBooks Online. Advanced features include tracking inventory in multiple stock locations, batch and expiry dates tracking, reserved inventory and assemblies. Stockpit retrieves sales documents and adjusts stock levels accordingly. Purchases can be created directly in QuickBooks Online or Stockpit, giving users the option to set up custom reorder points and alerts to prevent stockouts.
Stockpit instantly syncs with QuickBooks Online, providing QBO users with advanced inventory management capabilities.
Both Erplain and Stockpit help bridge the feature gap for users transitioning from QuickBooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online, ensuring a smooth adaptation process.
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A number of features present in QuickBooks Desktop aren’t currently available in QuickBooks Online, creating a gap for users who rely on these features. This is where external apps like Erplain and Stockpit step in, providing essential tools to ensure a smooth transition for QuickBooks Online users coming from QuickBooks Desktop.
When adjusting inventory, both Stockpit and Erplain provide users with real-time updates on their inventory status, including the reserved inventory amounts tied to orders in progress. This gives users visibility over the units that are bound to leave the inventory.
Originally only available in QBD, users can create and track assemblies in Erplain and Stockpit. These apps allow users to create finished products made up of various components and track the inventory of both the components and the final products.
Erplain and Stockpit provide comprehensive inventory tracking across multiple stock locations, enabling users to monitor stock levels for each product at every location.
Erplain allows users to created multiple price levels for products.
Typically, a price level is created for each category of customer (e.g. wholesale, retail, tier 1, tier 2...). By assigning price levels to customers, users can avoid mistakes and save significant time when generating sales documents.
For businesses that use barcodes, Erplain and Stockpit are a good option. User can scan barcodes either with a scanner or a smartphone when adding products to documents (sales orders, inventory adjustments,...).
Similarly to QuickBooks Desktop, Erplain and Stockpit support batch management and expiry dates tracking, which is crucial for compliance and warranties in regulated industries. They can create batches with specific IDs, barcodes and expiry dates. This allows them to sell the batches with the closest expiry dates whilst they can set up alerts to ensure their batches don’t go beyond the expiration date.
All in all, both versions of QuickBooks are tailored to help users manage their accounting and invoicing with a large set of tools. Whilst QuickBooks Desktop offers a more robust initial feature set, with offline capabilities and the app installed on a chosen device, QuickBooks Online offers greater flexibility, allowing users to access the app from anywhere on any device. QuickBooks Online also integrates with over 700+ business app and offers a larger number of plans, with more support and flexibility to meet the user's needs. QuickBooks Desktop, in contrast, only offers one plan and has switched to a subscription-based system rather than a one-off payment giving access to the software for a lifetime.
QuickBooks Desktop includes several features currently unavailable in Desktop Online, which is why integrations have become crucial. Both Erplain and Stockpit bridge this gap for QBD users who are considering switching to QBO but are hesitant due to the loss of essential features.
Furthermore, the native integration between the software lets users transition seamlessly between QuickBooks Desktop and QuickBooks Online. This allows them to retain key features like inventory management, pricing, traceability and reordering.
In a landscape where more and more is done on the move, QuickBooks Online enables businesses to manage their operations anywhere, anytime. As the market leader in accounting software, QuickBooks continues to provide a variety of tools and solutions to users worldwide.
