Cin7 Core

Pros

As a cloud integration consultant working with SMEs in Adelaide and interstate to solve inventory management issues by implementing the right software, DEAR has proven again and again to be the leading choice for these businesses and is now our recommended choice as an implementation specialist.

DEAR has the functionality to provide a central solution to any SME looking to sell online or instore across a number of channels, and manage all the inventory in one place.The integration with Xero is top notch and the most robust I've seen of almost any app that connects to Xero.

The integrations to eCommerce channels are consistent in their setup and options and allow a great deal of flexibility. Complementing these integrations are shipping service integrations that allow for a full suite of inter-connected apps with DEAR as the hub.

Cons

If I had a gripe, it would be around some minor inconsistencies within the UI across various parts of the software, as well as some minor inconsistencies with various reports that are available.

Pros

Xero & Dear system user (new user experience).
Everything you need to manage warehouse inventory!
Detailed Inventory information, Order process flow, purchasing order management, stock control, eCommerce website eBay/Amazon integration, - easy to use once you get used to it.
Helpful support team, and plenty of information provided to understand and learn DEAR systems.

Cons

Takes some time to know the DEAR systems (navigate) due to many features.
I guess we need to use DEAR systems for some time to get a better understanding and therefore, give a revised review of experience and possible Cons we might have.

Alternatives Considered

Sage Business Cloud Accounting, QuickBooks Online Advanced, Sage 50cloud Accounting, Khaos Control Cloud and Khaos Control

Reasons for Choosing Cin7 Core

Quickbooks Desktop service termination in the UK from 2023

Switched From

QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise

Reasons for Switching to Cin7 Core

Inventory management - stock control - plenty of features to use now or in the future. Amazon-ebay-ecommerce integration. Daily order routine progress, overall DAER systems feels pleasant to use

Pros

What I like most is that it is built by accountants. Costing is done better than most systems. I also like that it has a fairly strong inventory management and production modules. Purchasing / Receiving is average but the WMS below average. We use it all.

Cons

Customer support is absolutely horrendous. They are reasonably fast to respond but you will always be given a tier 1 support agent who can't do much but reiterate the documentation to you. Their technical team seems outsourced because in 4 years I have not been able to have a live troubleshooting session with them.

Many times they push out updates to the system which cause problems with operations and integrations.

For over 6 months we had an issue where any advanced purchase (a purchase with more than one invoice and receiving) would not place the correct receiving record with the correct invoice. And you can't even choose which receiving note to associate to which invoice. So we would have open invoices which were actually received and closed invoices which had not been received. I had dozens of back and forth messages with support and I ended up having to get a DEAR partner to reach out to them on my behalf and get in touch with someone who could actually get it fixed. Then after we got told they would work on a fix it took another month or two for the fix to be implemented. And it still isn't perfect.

Another time, the support team deleted one of my eCommerce store applications. This meant we had to re-add the store and it re-imported and duplicated about 50,000 orders, causing a disastrous mess. Technical team refused to help so we had to go page by page in the interface and void 100 at a time.

Alternatives Considered

Odoo, NetSuite and Stitch Labs

Reasons for Switching to Cin7 Core

It was cheaper. And it was also a mistake. 4 years later and it is by far the source of the most frustration. If you're evaluating ERPs support must be your number one criteria your business will not be able move quickly if you have to fight to get information and action from your vendor's support team. The system is not bad. And in some cases the issue was with the third party they were integrating with, but these issues can never be resolved without the two teams working together. And that just does not happen at DEAR. The technical team seems like a whole other company. I suspect it is outsourced or something. The support and willingness of the technical team to help is abhorrent. I have more horror stories but I ran out of space to write.

Pros

- Lot of features, options, various settings... all together bring opportunity to reflect almost any process you may think of. But if your vision turns to be different from one of system designers, then workarounds are demanded in many cases that seemed to be "common" and you expected them to work "out-of-box". You really need good understanding of the way system works and it is point where good onboarding consulter may help.- Responsive and quick interface (though quick reporting tools and documents lists could be more convenient).- Lot of detailed reports with settings that almost no other ERP can suggest. Cool tool for advanced users familiar with pivot tables.- Responsive and attentive support resolves most of problems

Cons

- Strange limitations in accounting settings and flow (especially when you use QBO and want to use both Dear's and QBO's analytics capabilities at the same time)- Integrations with Amazon and Shopify are cool for capturing "orders" when you are not using automated 3PLs flow. But integrations are not good for capturing invoices and shipments when you are using 3PLs like FBA. Accounting processes for e-commerce are designed in quite a specific way and you really need to understand how it works to get reliable accounting data. Thought this is wide spread problem in world of ERP systems for small businesses.

Alternatives Considered

Sellercloud, Cin7 Omni, NetSuite, Microsoft 365 and Unleashed

Reasons for Switching to Cin7 Core

The most complex features and settings

Pros

We transferred from Quickbooks to Dear Systems and it has been a great improvement. Our ability to manage inventory is far greater than before with QB. It's simple/easy to use, but also robust and has some very helpful features. We're in the wholesale industry. On the sales side - we love the pick, pack, and ship functions. This allows us to easily provide another level of detail for our customers that we couldn't before. We can enter what we packed on what pallet and then easily print pallet break downs and detailed packing lists. I also like the way you can mass pick, or mass print sales orders. The advance sale option is nice, so you can track back order shipments right on the same screen as the original order.
On the purchase order side, the advance receiving functions let you receive inventory against one PO more than once which is helpful.
We also just started keeping some inventory in another warehouse, so the ability to keep track of that through dear is nice.

Also the B2B portal has been a nice addition to our company as well.

Cons

I think the reporting tab is pretty clunky, that might be what I like least about Dear. They're on the right track, and some of those reports are very helpful. It's just that I have to export them to excel and modify them quite a bit for them to be what I want them to be.
Also I think the "credit purchase order" and "credit sale note" functions are pretty confusing/complicated.

Alternatives Considered

Cin7 Omni, NetSuite, Erplain, Agiliron, QuickBooks eCommerce and Finale Inventory

Reasons for Choosing Cin7 Core

We needed a more robust inventory system.

Switched From

QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise

Reasons for Switching to Cin7 Core

Great value. Many other reasons, but but was just the right fit for what we needed. It wasn't as big as some of the other ERPs but we didn't need it to be.