Windward System Five Reviews

Pros

- Extremely customizable. Allows you to customize anything from report, to custom price-labels, to customized POS screen (even changing the size/color/look of virtually every button). If you are a little more adventurous, you can even write code that allows you make your own functions.

- Easy to learn. For as advanced as this is, most people can pick up on the majority what thy need in a day. For those who want to do more, their is a complete 'Windward Academy' that you can watch videos and read comprehensive guides.

- LOTS of support. If I ever have a question, there are about ten people I can call. Of-course, they have 24/7 technical support, but virtually anyone in the company is eager and willing to help. I can call my account manager, or any number of others I have talked to throughout the installation process. Even the lovely receptionist is awesome has walked me through issues on more than one occasion.

- Philippines support. You might think this would be under the "Cons" section; but it isn't. The Philippines support is not outsourced like other companies, but they are actual employees working in a Windward office in Cebu. They all speak great English, are EXTREMELY knowledgeable about the product, and aim to please. No matter how frantic I am when I call, they never get upset and are always positive. And they are not going to give up until it's fixed. - You typically don't find this level of customer service in Western support groups.

Cons

- Price tag will be your biggest hurdle. And some features will cost you extra. Having to pay extra to have the software integrate with our merchant account is probably the biggest complaint I have with the company. But even this is vastly outweighed by the Pros. If you want the best, it probably isn't going to be the cheapest.

- There are occasional errors that pop up and random issues. But 90% of these are self-resolving (very intuitive software). For the other 10%, support is right there to remote in and stay with you until it's resolve.

Pros

The service from Windward when needing help.

Cons

Missing simple sales reports that we use to use in Great Plains.

Alternatives Considered

Furniture Wizard and Profit.co

Reasons for Choosing Windward System Five

It was DOS and needed to update.

Reasons for Switching to Windward System Five

I looked at many more than the 2 above. But do not remember all I looked at. Was at least 8. Not sure Profit.co is the correct one

Pros

In comparison to previous software used, the finalization of the inventory process within Windward is rather straight-forward. The ability to print count sheets with only product in stock - no part numbers with a "zero" quantity, is great and saves paper. However, products often randomly shift into categories like 'financial' which causes the item to remain on the inventory count. I have had to request help from support on this multiple times.

Cons

I have used Windward software all day, every week day, for two years now and I consistently encounter issues in day to day operations. I have had problems with the cash out feature not allowing me to finalize the file and close the day; I am constantly getting error messages, or "unplanned shutdown" messages when an unplanned shutdown has not occurred; there are processing issues with rental invoices that cause the invoice totals to change, after the invoice has been finalized and submitted. This specifically has created MAJOR discrepancies on our invoices that has resulted in us to losing money, and having to issue apologies to many of our major accounts. One of these incidents has caused irreparable harm to our business relationship with our (previously) largest customer.

Pros

Order Management, POS, Inventory Tracking.

Cons

Not as customizable as I would like. Email feature lacks templates for the email body of the message when sending statements in bulk. Could have a better more customizable email feature for invoices and statements.

Alternatives Considered

Fishbowl

Reasons for Choosing Windward System Five

Windward has superior order management.

Reasons for Switching to Windward System Five

Better developed product and support.

Pros

The software is an end to end solution for our business - we like this alot.
This last year the software has slowed down which has created inefficiencies.

Cons

The software performance has dropped as we add more users and increase the date base.

The length of time it takes to book appointments has been increasing over the last two years

Pros

Easy for the sales people to use, once they are very familiar with the system.

Cons

There are basic programming errors, such as date changes, Currency type, etc. that do not flow through the je, you have to change existing je's line by line. The control numbers should change what is in the je. When I addressed the issue, I was brushed off and just told to adjust the entries. When you try to use a date range for printing vendor accounts it does not work.

Trying to get it to work with other programs has been a problem, and everthing has a price tag associated with it.

Pros

This system fits our needs with long part numbers. We are not computer people so the support is very important to us.

Cons

Some times it takes so long to get the support we need. The was such an issue I did think about changing systems. It has got better.

Pros

Inventory volume control, inventory adjustments

Cons

Clitches, slow, trade ins difficult, doesn’t round on account payments

Pros

There are many ways to find what ever it is you need to know. Much of the system is logical. From finding customer to products ,it has a report for everything.

Cons

Data entry is easy unless your dislexic.
Upgrades are hard to keep updated again ,the users fault.

Pros

Ease of use, Windows familiarity help to make a decent experience.

Cons

Too many times, brushing a hand over the keyboard has erased entire lines from the invoice.
An invoice locking tool would be great.

Pros

Windward 5 does so much above and beyond the POS/accounting systems I have used in the past, and I know I haven’t made it through all it has to offer.

The integrated CRM is very useful for keeping track of appointments and follow ups. I’m able to see that staff has made these appointments and keep them accountable for follow ups.
There is so much that can be done to organize and track inventory. Set multiple selling prices, build kits out of existing parts. Add pictures for staff and customers to reference, and way more.
Booking orders use to take me days to put together. Now the system tells me what I need based on past years. Some orders now take me less then a hour.

Information and automation. Windward tracks so much for you and automates tasks. Saving you 100’s of hours and $1000’s of dollars a year. I am very happy I made this investment

Cons

It does take some time to set up, but you do get some great help. There is allot to learn. Be prepared to give this some attention, it will be worth it.

Pros

Our old system was very outdated and Windward has made it so much simpler and quicker to get our monthly/quarterly reports. Integration between order taking and purchasing has helped speed up the ordering process & stop mistakes being made. Love the virtual warehouse option.

Cons

What i feel is missing is:
1. Freeform 1 & 2 can be data loaded in. Freeform 1 can be on a report, but Freeform 2 can not.
2. Sales/Upsell warnings can be on a report, but not data loaded.
3. Purchase warnings can be data loaded, but not put on a report.
(Invoice Warnings can be data loaded & put on a report)
4. There is no where to search "Non-Stock Special Orders" by number or supplier in history.
5. A report that can show me all items sold per book month with the following parameters.
sales clerk name, Invoice #, Date of sale, Customer name, Qty, Item #, Price ea., & Price total.
A report that will pull ALL items. (stock, Non-stock).
Currently i have to use 2 different reports, export to excel, and then combine them to create the report i need to send to suppliers for their sales incentives (spiffs). Granted this is alot better than the old computer system, but still takes longer than it should.

side note: i have seen and experienced so far that if someone requests an addition, that the programs will do ONLY what was asked for. Example: you were asked to increase item #'s and part #'s to 50 characters. That was done, but they didnt change non-stock special orders where you have to manually type in the characters. When i caught this problem and brought it up to tech and the programers, the response was " they didnt ask for that to be done" and "it is what it is". Same with items i listed. can data load, but not put on reports.

Pros

I like the ability to special order a product on a work order and have it directly linked to the purchase order. Great for tracking an item through.

Cons

INVENTORY!!!! There is no direct link between the inventory sub-ledger and the ledger. There is no transaction list of what is recorded in the sub-ledger, so balancing inventory and determining where an outage may have occurred is a long, tedious process that involves tracking every purchase order received, bill, work order and invoice put into the system. Implementing the software is very time consuming and self-regulated. Enhancements to the software can be requested if your company agrees to pay for the programming time to develop it.

Pros

This software would be a good inventory or p.o.s system

Cons

it's definitely not designed for a rental or accounting system

Pros

The sales aspect is good. POS is acceptable. Easy to find a product and sell it. Kits work well. Reporting is somewhat good. Support tries to resolve issues.

Cons

Financials - If you are serious about your business, this is not for you. It is not comparable to Quick books. They have flatly refused to integrate with QB. Their financial side scores a 1/10. The Multi currency module is full of promise but has many problems and bugs like display and operational issues. You have to be very careful when dealing with multi-currency. Procurement is quite basic and could have been thought through more. No real science or maths behind ordering so you better know your high, lows, trends etc. Some aspects are good but fall short in some areas. They state they are PCI compliant but fall short on monthly account payments. There is a work around but wastes time. If you do job cards or outwork, this is a challenge and you have to invent your own internal systems. Not sure on stock value integrity? Stock take process could have some enhancements to make it quicker for the user.

Pros

Easy to use for the basic functions of our business such as reserving, renting and returning product. Integrated POS.

Cons

Limited as far as scheduling for logistical planning, very basic and a lot of potential for mistakes, too manual in some respects. Rental reports need to be simplified the variety of reports needs to be expanded. Generally there needs to be more reports that are specific to the rental side designed by Windward that help to identify business opportunities as well as areas the business could improve in.

Pros

Windward System 5 is well organized and intuitive for knowledgeable users. It is an extensive system doing just about anything you could want in a business management/accounting system. Reports are extensive and well laid out, and allow you to drill through to the details in most cases.

Cons

It seems plagued with system errors. Not sure if this is just our platform, or if this happens to most users, but we get system errors on a very frequent basis (more than daily). Most are nothing and the system corrects them on its own, but some require more effort, and frequent assistance from Windward Support. Most of the support personnel are very helpful and knowledgeable, so your problems get fixed fairly quickly but they are still a nuisance.

Pros

There isn't much I like about winward. Inventory is okay but not great.

Cons

It is slow. Freezes. We are not a large company but it takes a long time to generate the AP/ AR reports ect.
Exporting this to caseware or making you books easy access for your accountant is no existent. Which adds a major expense to a business' year end. Talk to your accountant - if they haven't heard of it - RUN! ( if they have they probably wont recommend it.) Subledger reports will not match Balance sheets: So generating an AR Report the balance will be different than the Balance Sheet.
We had issues with our inventory and selling - sometimes it pulls the cost of an item twice -so it would inflate our expenses!

Pros

Have put this system in 2 businesses have had no real issues to date that have not been easy to fix.
POS is pretty flawless and easy to use.
You can report on just about anything.
Support staff are fantastic, and implementation was easy. Windward are with you the whole way making sure everything works.

Cons

To date have non, anything that I have ever had an issue with usually stems from user error.
There are some processes that I would like to have, and they can absolutely be custom programed, like seeing what items on the invoice are have customer contract pricing, but this does not affect most sales and can be checked other ways. So not really a con just something that my end would be great, more than likely there is a way to do this. I am always learning new things to stream line the process.

Pros

It tracks model and serial numbers of appliances for customers and stores the details. Easy to use.

Cons

Set up was a little hard just because you had to create every outstanding work order you already had and every inventory item you have and when you are dealing with appliances, furniture, mattresses, and appliance parts it was a lot to do. The system upgrades and up front costs are somewhat pricey.

Pros

all encompassing full service software for the business starting from the POS, inventory tracking, customer history tracking, book keeping etc.

Cons

help guide sometimes makes it difficult to find what you need to do to get the info you want, getting the terminology or areas to look correct first.

Pros

Finding new and interesting and better software after being driven to the brink of insanity from a under performing, under maintained and un stable product.

Cons

Updates, did I mention updates, they don’t work, they simply fail, it’s like gambling when you update, will the software work tomorrow.... probably not.

Pros

Many reports are available depending on what you want to keep track. It covers everything from your daily needs to monthly to yearly.

Cons

When updates are done some of the items we have used disappear or are not available with update. Have found some reports aren't accurate.

Pros

Back office accounting is saving us money by tracking inventory vs sales, as well as less cost with accounting fees by running an all inclusive bookkeeping/accounting program.

Cons

The occasional glitches, after each windows update, with form display screens freezing up the software.

Pros

I really don't know what we like most about the software. We have had the system for almost 10 years and it has never worked well for us, even after investing tens of thousands of dollars...

Cons

Not user friendly. Expensive. Support doesn't know how to fix the problem most of the time. System not capable of performing functions that are necessary for our business. Confusing. Have spent hours and hours trying to get the system to work correctly without success. Hired someone to come help us learn the system better that cost us almost so much money and we weren't any further ahead than before they came.