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

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

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 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

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 and Dext Prepare

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.

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

Great value for money, time saving, user friendly, outstanding customer service, provides everything you need to process creditors invoices

Cons

I have never had a bad experience with Lightyear. Whenever something doesn't work (which barely happens), their team is always very responsive and the problem gets solved super quickly

Alternatives Considered

Hubdoc

Reasons for Switching to Lightyear

Much better product than the other alternatives

Pros

Easy to use and has vastly improved the time to process our payments while providing significantly more oversight for our executive team.

Cons

Integration with existing procedures was very easy but would require the company's accounts/purchasing team to be hands on during the process.

Alternatives Considered

Medius

Reasons for Switching to Lightyear

Cost and Lightyear took our queries more seriously and responded with much more urgency.

Pros

Not much not to like! The fact that you can have a month's free trial to test it out and set everything up is brilliant. It meant we could trial the product at no cost (including excellent support from [SENSITIVE CONTENT] ). Although there was paid implementation assistance (cheap!) available I was able to set the whole thing up without having to resort to that (the customer support team is on hand 24/7 to help with any issues).

The product is not that mature - which could be seen as a downside. However, the Lightyear team is so responsive that it doesn't actually come across that way. Most of the niggles that I had at the beginning (just over 6 months ago) have already been resolved through the regular product updates, and I have confidence that the remainder will be resolved in due course.

The product is very easy to set-up and use (as evidenced by being self-implemented). We have implemented in four locations, and once you understand how things work, it only really takes a couple of hours of setup to do each new location.

Cons

Given the nature of the rapid development of the product, there is still some work to be done to rationalise all the features (e.g. 'Edit Bill' permissions were add retrospectively to the 'Task Approver' role, so they don't integrate in a completely cohesive manner with the interface). However, I understand that the team are proactively working on that aspect.

Pros

Simplicity - easy for non-finance users to navigate
Clear audit trail on all interactions with documentation
Very cost efficient

Cons

I would like to see a bounced email feature when a supplier directs their invoice to a slightly incorrect email address - as far as I can see, if the Lightyear email address is incorrect, neither the supplier or the receiving entity is aware

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 product gives you good value for money. Its easy to use and implement with excellent customer support.

Cons

Still early days for the software when it comes to integrating with SAP. Would have liked an API that integrates with SAP too. Best works for Xero, MYOB and other finance platforms.

Alternatives Considered

SAP Concur and Medius

Reasons for Switching to Lightyear

Better value for money.

Pros

Lightyear has given me the ability to stop having to manually enter invoices. which for us was becoming out of hand as the company grew. There was some teething issues but the support is excellent. The team are very responsive and always work on fixing any issues we run into.

Cons

The maps don't alwasy work and you have to fund multiple maps for a supplier.

Pros

Quick to Learn
Excellent functionality
Fast and knowledgeable support

Cons

None as most of the things I would like are coming in soon to be released new version

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

Lightyear has completely transformed the whole business and made life so incredibly easy. From the transparency of data extraction and approval process through to the electronic filing this system is truly brilliant. I cannot recommend it enough.

Cons

I really can't think of any cons. If there is a feature that is missing, the development team appears to take on board suggestions to incorporate it into the next update and they appear to regularly update and upgrade features.

Pros

Saves so much time, easy to use, friendly and knowledgeable staff.
Easy to train our Farm Managers to use to code invoices.

Cons

Can't think of anything. We have been really pleased with Lightyear.

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

It is very user friendly
option of mapping is brilliant

Cons

There should be more features on the processing tab to save the invoice there.
Should have more option to customize mapping

Pros

the ease of processing prevention of invoice duplication importing to software with full description details

Cons

there not really anything I did not like