Fishbowl

Pros

The manufacturing module lets us build parts and put in inventory, which is what we needed (and did not have) in the past

Cons

Price was a bit high but if it all works the way we have been promised, it will pay for itself. There has been alot of changes in the past 5 years from the old FB, so we are hoping it is all going to work and help us all to be more proficient.

Pros

Inventory and parts/products are easy to access.

Cons

The accounting/integration process. Customer statements don’t accurately reflect their account status. Credits not included and can’t be applied per remittance.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Choosing Fishbowl

Switched From

Reasons for Switching to Fishbowl

Pros

The support staff are very patient with me and my concerns.

Cons

The lack of customization and flexibility to fit the needs of customers.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Choosing Fishbowl

Switched From

Reasons for Switching to Fishbowl

Pros

Ease of usage and ability to be flexible with our operations. We run custom electrical panels and this allows us to use the Bill of Materials module as a base, and add/delete parts in the Manufacturing module for the customs.

Cons

Some reports are not readily available and have to find work-arounds. Like annual part usage to date. I can't seem to find or modify a report that will tell me how many of a certain part I have used that is filtered by dates.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Choosing Fishbowl

Reasons for Switching to Fishbowl

Pros

Having just begun using Fishbowl we are just getting started in appreciating all the functionality that it provides. A major factor is the ability to track lot numbers as well as serial numbers of our products. The implementation process was smooth and the training provided was excellent.

Cons

The addition of items to sales orders and purchase orders is different than previous experiences.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Choosing Fishbowl

Switched From

Reasons for Switching to Fishbowl

Pros

Great for a small manufacturing company.

Cons

Not as robust for a large manufacture less options

Pros

Compatibility with Quickbooks and ability to do both Inventory and accounting.

Cons

Weird connection between Parts and Product. Doesn't always correlate. Very confusing.

Pros

Ability to track vendors and other backend data.

Cons

Communication from the company itself. Continual non responses to concerns from everyone from sales people to managers. Quite surprising.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Choosing Fishbowl

Reasons for Switching to Fishbowl

Pros

The switch from BoxStorm to Fishbowl has been fairly seamless.

Cons

So far, the inventory valuation report is not able to filter by "tags" and the location.
The emailing PO option does not have a savable "standard" message.

Pros

As a basic inventory and locationing system, and for simple shipping and sales orders it works okay. Would be great for a small startup.

Cons

Complete lack of flexibility. There are a lot of workarounds that even our Onboarding expert had to use and setup for us. They do not make even the most obvious and simple improvements. You cannot update pricing from Woo to Fishbowl, and the Quickbooks integration is horrible.

Pros

Fishbowl is great inventory management software. We have very large BOMs where we need to be able to track A to Z, inventory to the production line and this does the job. It is as good as you use it and then some. Easy for people to go in and track down information according to their needs, duties and positions. Helpful reports for tracking. Vendor information and history. Customer job tracking. Costing. Great customer service.

Cons

Closing jobs. Once a job or sales is closed, it's pretty much closed. Once it transfers to QB, forget it! It's nice to have the option to be able to go back a little, but Disassembling is not fun. Would like some form of CRM, integration?

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Switching to Fishbowl

Pros

It handles sales order entry well throughout the manufacturing and shipping process. It also handles the purchasing of parts from different vendors extremely well. The Bill of Materials handles multiple levels of assemblies within assemblies very well.

Cons

It has a lot of good pricing rules for all kinds of occasions. But it lacks last cost pricing for manufactured products.

Pros

Simple and straight forward. Easy to get data in and out of the system.

Cons

Support.
Lacking in features for manufacturing processes.

Pros

It does 85% of what it should. Its functions are organized very well, looking past its archaic functions.

Cons

Bugs, bugs, bugs. But most of all - Never getting resolution to deep technical issues. Surface-level issues of data entry are clearly support's bread and butter, but anything beyond that is guided out to a pasture to die of old age instead of being addressed.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Switching to Fishbowl

Pros

Fishbowl works for our business and is easy to leanr to use.

Cons

Sometimes response time can be longer being in EST time zone

Pros

Pricing and affordability. Extensive training not required for all employees.

Cons

Plug-ins not working. spent countless hours fixing Plug-in issues. Then we had to dish out another 6k for sellware after we already paid for the original plugins. Not a way to do business.!

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Choosing Fishbowl

Switched From

Reasons for Switching to Fishbowl

Pros

Our implementation Specialist was absolutely incredible. When you has this level of customer support, implementing was a breeze. I don't know that we ever had a question that he could not answer.

Cons

There are some reporting barrier on canned reports that is a bit frustrating, but I am sure there are work arounds for those.

Pros

Inventory system is intuitive. Ability to assign access right to users.

Cons

Manufacturing module is cumbersome
Sometimes product updates disable features that were available before, such as a couple of years ago, we could be looking at a part and hit the "To Inventory" button and be able to adjust quantities. Now only those who are able to create parts have the "To Inventory" button available. I want almost everyone to be able to adjust inventory levels, but next to no one able to create parts. The "To Inventory" button should have its own permission access right.

Pros

I found it easy to understand and program

Cons

I found in the beginning, years ago when I started working with the customer support teams, I was able to figure out the answer and programming before the support worker and I taught them something. We were all learning together.

Pros

Fishbowl has sped up our process from ordering to sending out invoices to our customers. We used to do it by hand, and now Fishbowl automatically does it for me. It then sends it over to Quickbooks with a push of a button. It saves us so much time.

Cons

When Fishbowl goes down (doesn't happen often) it takes a long time to get help to get everything back up and running. I was recently on a phone call for 3 hours to get Fishbowl back up and running. I also wish Fishbowl could take the tracking numbers and push them over to QuickBooks. I also wish Fishbowl could use 2 or 3 email addresses instead of just 1 email. You can log more than 1 email address but not use it when sending emails or pushing over to QuickBooks. They still haven't figured out why one of my license's won't work on one of my computers. They told me after a long time I have to look into it on my end.

Pros

System service people very good!!
Account manager SUCKS!!! When I told him your price increased 48% I wanna know what makes so much different of your service for this big rip-off. He said I confirm the price and signed the contract not like I didn't know!! I answered : if I did notice price different between $3000 to $4500 after 3 years I will be a very pissed off customer. You can't treat your customer like shit just because we didn't notice! He said : the contract signed......

Cons

Price increased like crazy!!! 48%. I am with Fish bowl more than 10 years, after this rip-off price increased I will not be their customer every again.

Pros

Not a whole lot. Tracking the location of items: For us many items come and go in inventory; they go from the warehouse to staging, to deployment to return from deployment to RMA and back to inventory. We are currently looking at asset management programs rather than inventory management programs. This program probably works ok if you are stocking 20 of this and 10 of that and then using them in different work orders. For us this is not really working well at all.

Cons

It Freezes, which got blamed on it being on our server, we checked into it, it was on theirs. Some days reports don't run, this was blamed on our server space but we could not get a quick answer on how much we have and how much we used. If you put a picture (you can only put one) on the parts side you cannot see it on the inventory side - neither can you see any notes that are made on the parts side on the inventory side. You can switch from parts to inventory but not from inventory to parts. You cannot edit a title of an item in inventory, you have to go back to parts. You will end up using more and more space on the server because deleting an item or deleting a location is not possible. This is a program that probably was state of the art when we started using it but has not grown with the time. We tried using Fishbowl Go: not a fan. I can find an item using it but moving it works much better on the computer. You cannot search for an item by serial number of extension ID. I could go on but what is the point!

Pros

I love how it can do so many things. There are so many different settings and options to accommodate your experience..

Cons

I do feel like training will never stop because there is so much to learn.

Pros

Ease of use and navigation. Processes are easy to learn and remember once you learn them.

Cons

It looks a bit outdated compared to other systems I've used. Brainstorm training was very fast and the videos had to be watched multiple times they were so fast. They're very basic and short.

Pros

I like that it would allow us to keep an acuate inventory if it actually worked.

Cons

Integration to QuickBooks is horrible. And getting support for any issues takes a long time. Then you do get a person, it's very time consuming.

Pros

The ease of learning, understanding, and putting into action all the necessary options it has. We needed to use it for a variety of different areas within the plant and it has proven beneficial in every department.

Cons

The remote desktop can be frustrating at times

Pros

We love the scalability and how the modules are integrated with one another increasing productivity and enhanced reporting functionality.

Cons

I don't like that it does not differentiate a reship purchase order with a drop ship purchase order from an item costing perspective. In other words, if I place an order for material from my supplier, and have them ship it to my customer directly, the cost impacts my AVERAGE cost of the inventory in my warehouse even though it has not been physically received in and mixed in with previously purchased inventory.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Choosing Fishbowl

Switched From

Reasons for Switching to Fishbowl

Pros

I love having the sales order summary for end of month reports. It can be easily reviewed as the sales order numbers can be clicked and it brings you to that specific sales order to be easily reviewed.

Cons

I don’t like how the sales orders and pick reports do not show the total quantity of the units or cartons being picked. That would help greatly.

Pros

The ability to track by Serial numbers and shelf life

Cons

Everything has to have custom reports to get what you need

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Switching to Fishbowl

Pros

Fishbowl works like it should and is expected to but make sure everyone who will be using it understands how it works and how things should to be set

Cons

Can't fix mistakes made once something is fulfilled
Not all feature will work for company
The reporting could be better

Pros

We can manage all of our inventory efficiently. It is much better than the system we used to use.

Cons

It would be nice if we could void a shipment. It is also a little frustrating that we can't edit a purchase order after the product has moved, eg: been committed to a sales order. Sometimes we get invoices for freight after we receive the product, and there is no way to edit the reconciliation after the product has moved. So we're forced to go in and manually re-enter each product with the new landed cost.

Pros

Fishbowl has been an absolute lifesaver as our business has grown. Our processes before were incredibly manual and analog, and therefore susceptible to a lot more human error. The time we're saving not having to manually comb through printed sales estimates to and then walk around the warehouse to see if we have the inventory on hand to fulfill it them is absolutely immeasurable. So many processes are automated which has drastically improved our accuracy and efficiency, and therefore our bottom line. If we weren't using Fishbowl, I'm certain our business would not have been able to grow at the rate it has, so I firmly believe the investment has more than paid for itself, and as far as I'm aware, we're barely even scratching the surface with its capabilities.

Cons

It's software, so it's going to have its bugs now and then. Fortunately any I've noticed have been a minor inconvenience at worst; nothing has caused our data to be inaccurate in any way. Otherwise, I wish modifying reports was a little more user-friendly. If I could easily add a specific filter to a report, I could be substantially more efficient.

Pros

The only pro is that its an ERP system that can integrate with your existing QuickBooks, but its not worth it. So please go to someone else.

Cons

I had the unfortunate experience of working with [sensitive content hidden] as my account manager from Fishbowl. From day one, he boasted about being the best in the industry, but I can confidently say that I've never encountered a worse representation of a company.

During our implementation process, it would take [sensitive content hidden] 48-72 hours to respond to my inquiries. This delay not only hindered our progress but also showed his lack of dedication and professionalism. He lied about his capabilities from the start, painting himself as a competent account manager when in reality, he's no better than a shady used car salesman.

Despite expressing my concerns about the importance of timely communication for my business, [sensitive content hidden] continued to ignore me. It was clear that he had no regard for my needs and only cared about making a quick sale. As a result, I decided not to continue with Fishbowl and switched to a more professional ERP service like Netsuite.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Choosing Fishbowl

Switched From

Reasons for Switching to Fishbowl

Pros

ease of use and fantastic customer support

Cons

better accounting visability prior to uploads and more options for FIFO, little bit touchy and tough to troubleshoot some problems without support but overall very efficient and worth the money

Pros

Easy to use, amazing customer service with efficient and helpful assistance.

Cons

Sometimes difficult situations arise, but customer service helps walk you through those difficult situations

Pros

My software implementation specialist was friendly.

Cons

I wish I would have thoroughly read these reviews before making the awful decision to give fishbowl a try. I had been in the market for this type of software for a while and had a long conversation with a fishbowl sales rep who promised me that fishbowl could do exactly what I was needing. I was hesitant, because it did not seem like this was true, but he promised me they could do a "custom build" that would address my company's specific needs. Most importantly, he assured me over and over that I could get a full refund if it turned out that the software was not a fit for my company. He promised that I would be able to go through training, implementation, and use the software for a full 30 days after the end of training to decide if it was going to work out. So I spent countless hours over the next several months in the training and implementation of the product. Throughout the training, I expressed my doubts that it would work out, but I had hopes that the "custom build" would be the solution. Training concluded, implementation began, I tried my best to make this thing work for my company, but we were approaching the money-back deadline, no custom build had been provided, and I could not see any way this software would do what I needed. So I attempted to contact my sales rep multiple times via email and phone but got no response. Miraculously, four days AFTER the deadline, I was finally able to communicate with someone who informed me that my sales rep was no longer with the company and that I had missed the deadline for a refund. So let's try that custom build now and see if that'll work. So we did, and to no one's surprise, it was still useless. I again asked for a refund at that point but was denied - "past the deadline." And all this communication was by email because they refuse to offer a phone number to actually speak with someone. So after a complete waste of $14,000 and about year of my time, I'm right back where I started, except poorer and older. I would STRONGLY advise thinking twice before entering into any relationship with fishbowl.

Pros

Fishbowl is easy to use and works well for a small business.

Cons

Because Fishbowl is easy to use, it is not as flexible as we would prefer at times.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Switching to Fishbowl

Pros

All of the pertinent information that my staff can utilize to help them be better at helping our customers.

Cons

Setting up all of the information. Although they have spreadsheets that you can fill out, it still takes a little time to gather all the information to insert it into the system like any other company.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Switching to Fishbowl

Pros

Onboarding was smooth and responsive. The team was responsive and helpful, although be prepared to do all the work yourself. while it seems crazy at some point its worth starting from scratch on your inventory and negating Quickbooks inventory all together.

Cons

Once your system is operational, support becomes a distant concern. Seeking assistance entails potentially shelling out thousands for even the most straightforward requests, if and when you manage to get a response. The scheduling for a simple fix or question may drag on for up to two weeks.

Pros

Easy to use, generates numerous reports, and simple to navigate.

Cons

Report cannot be generated for each vendor.

Pros

Migration to SQL database allowing integration with other systems.

Cons

After selling to a larger company, support is almost non existant, if your small thet dont seem to care. Have tried to book many support sessions and never any availability unless you want to wait 2+ months. Good luck getting them on the phone, the chat works and will waste an entire day trying to explain any issues

Pros

The inventory managment, BOM costing, and it's linking to QuickBooks.

Cons

Reporting - While it comes with many reports, none are practical to use in reconciling the general ledger to the inventory totals in Fishbowl.

***The Reporting department will build a customize report but "Buyer Beware". Your request is sent to a report writer to build and send the completed file to another employee who is your only contact. You are not allowed to talk to the report writer because "they are very busy". I've learned that "they are very busy" because they assume what is needed. I requested a simple report over 4 months ago, and after multiple rewrites, the report writer still doesn't understand what is needed. Instead, they blame me for not requesting the correct information.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Switching to Fishbowl

Pros

It's extremely helpful to track our inventory at multiple warehouses and for planning our future inventory needs. The wide array of reports is super helpful for a growing business such as ours. It's extremely helpful for us to be able to track what's been ordered by a customer, what is left in stock, and if we have anymore stock coming in. It's truly changed the way we do our business.

Cons

It was definitely a learning curve for a lot of people on our team and some processes can be a little tricky until you fully understand exactly how it works.

Pros

Inventory management and ease of usez it also integrates with Quickbooks accounting.

Cons

Reporting, hard to find the reports you want

Pros

Flexibility of the platform to account for many different obstacles that can occur in operations.

Cons

Navigating through the different boards in the program. There are no Tool Tips available to help the user understand what each button's function is. Also, after a user sets the what their screen preference is, the screen will default back so the next time the user goes into a specific board, they need to readjust the frame.

Pros

The ease of being able to track inventory via cloud, and also, being able to track through other shippers, like DHL, UPS, FEDEX, and other warehouses.

Cons

Honestly, I’ve had issues while using fishbowl, with lagging, and/or, the app being really slow. Other than that, I like the program more than I dislike the program.

Pros

Simplicity and straightforward way to manage stock and shipments. The mobile app is great.

Cons

Lack of data collection. There is only one date I can put on a Sales Order. I want to be able to put PO received date, PO request date, commit dates, etc. to help me keep track of on time delivery and know where we can improve using KPIs.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Switching to Fishbowl

Pros

The training was thorough and we felt well prepared to start using Fishbowl. The interface is very intuitive and easy to work with.

Cons

I would love to be able to have more customization features....like reporting; customizing the packing slips/invoices

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Switching to Fishbowl

Pros

It only crashes every few days, which is an improvement over its previous versions.

Cons

They spontaneously change the terms of your contract mid term. Truly unbelievably awful business practices.

Pros

I like the way you can have multi layers of Bill of materials,
I like the way you can choose to value your inventory between, Average, fifo, and Lifo.
The support team is respectful and responsive.

Cons

The link between fishbowl and QB seems to have on going breakdowns.
I wish there was a way to mass update the bill of material part costs from the bill of materials report.
I wish there was a report to total the bill of material wieght.