Lightyear Reviews

Pros

Lightyear is visually pleasing-it's quite simple to use and understand. From the user perspective who inputs data on invoices and approves them, it's straightforward and the layout of the software does not show you more than what you need to see, however, underneath the simple processes there is complexity. Lightyear makes supplier creation, GL code settings linked to export files such as Excel, and GST codes etc are somehow made simple to set up. One thing I find particularly great is whenever I input an ABN number during the Supplier Creation process, it autofills the Supplier Name field. Additionally, this is a drop down menu, so i am able to choose ANY of the Business Names linked to this ABN.

Cons

Sometimes, there have been system bugs and I'm unable to export data for a brief amount of time, or when we top up credits to use the system, the old credits are not rolled over their expiry date. It would be great if there was a notification in place to let us know that our credits are expiring soon or we are running low. Also, there are some things which cannot be customised. For example, the Export to File which is a function that exports invoice data into a spreadsheet, cannot be modified from my end. Lightyear do add features from time to time, but I'm not sure if consumer recommendations are actually involved in the process.

Pros

There are so many things I love about Lightyear. The new statement reconciliation feature though is a game changer! Lightyear tells you what invoices are missing and allows you to contact the supplier to request missing invoices direct from the software. Amazing!!!

Cons

There's not much I don't like about the software, and the things that I would like are already in the works.

Alternatives Considered

Dext Prepare

Reasons for Choosing Lightyear

Invitbox was been owned by Reckon and had not supported or upgraded for some time. The original developers for Invitbox took it back and rebuilt it from the ground up. Invitbox, even unsupported and without upgrades, was an awesome piece of software and superseded the functionality of it's competitors such as ReceiptBank. Since the original team was coming back on board, it was a no-brainer.

Reasons for Switching to Lightyear

With Lightyear, you can delegate approvals into groups, so if you have multiple cost centres like the hotels that we do the bookkeeping for, the Chef isn't seeing bills which need to be approved by the Cellarman. Also, you can have suppliers that you don't want everyone to see, so you can select that only certain people see them. As well as multi-level approvals so the General Manager can check off and I as the bookkeeper can check the data is accurate before bringing it into the accounting software. In conjunction with the integration with Xero happens within seconds so you're not waiting for your bills to come across from one software into another.

Pros

The Manager function has worked well for us as we have offices in different locations which has made the approval of invoices more efficient.
Easy to see where the approval process is up to.
Exporting invoices to our accounting system is great.
Also like the audit trail feature.

Cons

We haven't used the PO system yet but looking forward to the enhancements that will suit the way we use them. Yes they have listened to us and adding options to suit our business.

Pros

The support from the team is fantastic and are always on hand to help and assist.
Feedback and suggestions on the system are welcomed and implemented if possible and useful.
Invoices no longer need manually entering!
Option to automate the process of receiving invoices entirely, doing away with any need to upload - instead just get them emailed directly into Light Year.

Cons

A few of the options appear to be placed on pages I wouldn't expect, but nothing particularly bad.

Alternatives Considered

EzzyBills, Dext Prepare and AutoEntry

Reasons for Switching to Lightyear

The other options were either underdeveloped, or offered no a very strict, uncompromising service that did not fit within our company. They also relied too heavily on OCR. Light Year while newer than some of it's competitors, chose a different approach and worked with us to see if their solution could help, and even added and updated features to make it fit more into our company.

Pros

Every step of the process has been excellent and the ongoing support has continued to be excellent.
The initial contact was responsive and guided through the set up to allow us start processing quickly.
The product is logical to follow and easy to view and provides options every step of the way.
The data extraction is very accurate and adaptable to different supplier invoices and the mapping team is very quick. This is more accurate than our previous software.
To email queries from within Lightyear saves so much time and hassle looking for emails and provides great transparency.
Separation of users to their department only
Choosing where we export to Xero has been essential to facilitate approval levels
Lightyear continues to improve their
Service to queries has been responsive and solutions are specific to our company using information and not a regurgitating the help function.

Cons

There is a lot of functionality and detail so can be a little overwhelming.
Support videos and notes focus on administrators but could find information on guiding from the other user roles perceptive after initial guide when first login

Pros

Once set up, it's a one-stop-shop for invoice receipt, accounts payable and receivable reconciliation, cost management, and business information. It is intuitive and simple to use, extremely cost-effective and takes out some of the most mundane and laborious tasks so I have more time to work on improving my business and keeping front-of-house. I could not recommend it more highly.

Cons

There's nothing I dislike about this product - I am overly happy to have it as part of my suite of tools.

Pros

Lightyear allows us to easily manage the accounts payable process across our entire client base. It's unqiue mapping extraction process as well as logical flow of information, clean user interface, filing cabinet, approval process, inventory and duplicate recognition make it in my opinion the best accounts payable solution on the market. There support team is second to none.

Cons

Integrations with more POS programs or even job management programs would only increase Lightyears potential.

Alternatives Considered

Hubdoc, Dext Prepare and Datamolino

Reasons for Switching to Lightyear

The additional functionality and accuracy of the extraction process/technology.

Pros

Having data extraction & approval within one system is a game changer for us.
The approval process is simple to use once you spend the time to set it up.
The Keyword feature works really well when working with multiple locations.
The mobile phone app is easy to use and easy to switch between companies.

Cons

No ability on the mobile app to add a note to the receipt/invoice and no feature for multiple page or long receipts / invoices.

Alternatives Considered

EzzyBills

Reasons for Choosing Lightyear

Needed an all in one app for bill approval & accounts payable automation

Switched From

Hubdoc and Dext Prepare

Reasons for Switching to Lightyear

Single e-mail address for incoming bills Mobile phone app easier to use Approval process easier to set up

Pros

First of all, Lightyear is a standalone application that you can, but don't have to integrate with your accounting software. Second of all, strightaway you know the costs of adding it to your business. The price list is on their website and it's fair.
The setup did require some thinking about workflows and user experience, so I took my time there.
But once the suppliers and maps are set up and automation rules kick in, the whole AP process becomes much less painful. I almost enjoy it now ;). The most important features like reading the invoices, accurately mapping them, and assigning them to correct approvers work very well. It saves time, effort and annoyances. The Lightear support team is a very helpful and friendly bunch. I even did a small survey among colleagues and asked what they thought of Lightyear. No surprise - everyone likes it. I highly recommend this product!

Cons

No option to add multiple attachments to invoice at once.

Alternatives Considered

Adobe Acrobat Sign

Reasons for Switching to Lightyear

It's standalone and doesn't need costly integrations with accounting software or involving IT support.

Pros

The system is simple and handles the basics well such as invoice coding and linear approval workflows.Bank account detail changes, duplicate invoice flagging and statement reconciliation are also very clear and useful.The support team both for implementation and ongoing support are responsive and effective.

Cons

The approval workflow for invoices is at the individual supplier level so you can't create an approval chain for a department and attach a group of suppliers to that department. Each supplier is configured individually.

Alternatives Considered

SAP Concur

Reasons for Switching to Lightyear

Value for moneySpeed and ease of implementation

Pros

The approval options definitely is the differential of Lightyear. From a simple 2 steps approval, to up to 3 executive approval, there are many options that can suit the most complex business.
Another strong point from Lightyear is their support. You usually gets a response on the same day.

Cons

Their subscription is based on the number of transactions, so if your business manages a large quantity of bills, it might become a bit expensive.

Alternatives Considered

Hubdoc and Dext Prepare

Reasons for Switching to Lightyear

Due to their approval options.

Pros

Complete visibility across supplier invoices either via the dashboard as a quick view or in detail across all stages of approvals. This is especially helpful at the end of the month to see if all invoices have been through the entire approval process and exported to our accounting system before close off.
Search functionality is helpful and shows which stage of the process each invoice is at - search results can be exported.
The audit trails and notes show full history of the life of the invoice and save a lot of external communication and queries.
Implementation was easy after the demonstrations given to us by [SENSITIVE CONTENT] who took the time to understand what we wanted (which was a little bit out of the ordinary!) and configure the settings accordingly. We gained confidence in Lightyear through the demonstration/training process and the additional webinars.

Cons

Looking forward to enhancements to the mobile app to allow more functionality while on site.

Pros

We never lose an invoice. Even if we accidently delete an invoice we can return it for processing. We have reached our goal of being almost paper free. The processing, approval, review and signing off tabs are wonderful and provides us with a simple system that provides accountability from our department managers. So easy to use and saves so much time.

Cons

A very small number of our supplier invoices can't be mapped but with the overall benefits of this system it is just a minimal issue.

Pros

The Lightyear software is very affordable, user friendly and easy to implement. It does have many functionalities and the integration to NetSuite ERP system is very robust. The accuracy of data extraction is impeccable. What I valued most though is the customer service. The Lightyear team has made the implementation and ongoing operation of the software a breeze.

Cons

The Lightyear software is feature packed. However, more could be done in the space of multi level coding and exporting capabilities.

Alternatives Considered

PaperSave

Reasons for Switching to Lightyear

Cost.

Pros

User friendly and easy use and no effort required to understand every thing is self explanatory.

Cons

No such other tool available in the market that is near close to the lightyear performance.

Pros

Having Lightyear enables us to do in minutes what used to take hours of manual data entry to enter suppliers bills into our accounting software.

Cons

I find it annoying that I have to set up a supplier in Xero, raise a test bill, then pull that back into Lightyear to set up a supplier in Lightyear.

Pros

The integration was seamless - around the clock support from [SENSITIVE CONTENT HIDDEN] and the team meant that we were up and running immediately. Our invoice storage and processes pre-lighyear were quite complex and very time consuming. Since we started Lightyear, I have saved atleast 4 hours a week in wages.

I like that our bookkeepers have instant access and can export invoices within seconds. We run two entities and I was able to create a sister company at no extra cost.

Cons

Honestly, nothing. If I could add one function, it would be to add the ability to mark an invoice as paid. As we don't have direct access to our companies MYOB account, this would be handy but I realize this is not the case for majority of users.

Pros

Have always found Lightyear to be a terrific and easy to use product. Dual authorisation of bills is something that many products do not have and the data extraction is very fast and accurate.

Cons

It can sometimes have speed issues and lag.

Pros

The ease of set up and use and ability to export automatically to Xero.

Cons

Very little. Initially in the change from Invitbox to Lightyear there were some issues but they have been quickly resolved and in fact Lightyear just gets better and better.

Pros

This is so beneficial for our purchase invoices. Saves so much entry work. Customer service is fast on chat and if need be the issue can be discussed over the phone. Which I find most useful. Customer service always helpful and will fix up the problem via joining your screen if needed

Cons

Credit expiry is not warned when it is coming to an expiry point.

Pros

The product is easy to use because you can navigate through what you need to in order to accomplish your daily tasks. My administrators are well informed and can help me with any issue that arises.

Cons

The only issues I have typically arise from the integration of Toyota with the software. Toyota has an issue then I am unable to complete certain tasks inside Lightyear.

Pros

The ability to set up different team members to approve invoices, as well as keeping all invoices in one central location, uploaded via suppliers. Integration to Xero is also fantastic.

Cons

The learning curve for new users takes some work.

Pros

Its easy to use. Its very clear and the team and customer service are excellent. MIssing invoices are always easy to locate.

Cons

Sometimes I find it difficult to map some of the smaller businesses, but as someone who is not techno savvy this is just a small problem.

Pros

The best bit of Lightyear is the cloud archive of all our purchase invoices, we no longer have to keep paper archives saving us space and time.
We also like the Bill Task function which allows us to send an approval request to a specific person who may only approve a few invoices.

Cons

We would like an integration into simPRO which we use to raise orders, this will reduce the administration involved in managing our PO’s and PI’s.

Pros

Very much user friendly, well programmed and mostly importantly very secured.

Cons

Nothing yet that I have experienced any bad so far.