Flex

Pros

Flex makes it easy for our account managers to build quotes and communicate that information with customers. Which then easily translates into documents for our warehouse team to prep and prepare orders. It is also wonderful to have the ability to document maintenance, damaged or broken items and losses for each event or rental. The customization capabilities also mean that we can really make the software our own and create documents or work flows that work best for our company. We aren't stuck with a cookie cutter solution that only fits some of our needs. Additionally, the support team is on top of it. They can help with a wide range of questions or issues and are very patient and detailed when explaining how to do something.

Cons

The customization can be daunting. There are SO many options that occasionally you can accidentally make changes you don't intend to. On this vein, the software is also ever changing. Which is AWESOME, but as a small business it can be difficult to keep up to date on the changes and new features. Overall we don't have any big complaints. Our dislikes are all features... There are just so many features that it is hard to master them all!

Pros

Ease of entering data.
User Interface/GUI.
Overall layout of platform.
Automated functions for sending quotes/PO's.

Cons

Equipment scheduling when working between multiple locations/warehouses and when moving equipment from existing jobs to other facilities does not currently reflect stock properly.
Mixing the sale of rental inventory into the mix causes additional issues.
Lack of ability to generate reports on cross rentals seems a major failure on a rental software program.
The scheduled inventory count application is flawed in not automatically accounting for existing equipment scanned out to jobs that overlap the count period. Also the report, if generated anytime after the actual count changes to the current state, not the state when counts happened.

Pros

I like that it's web-based.

Cons

It's written in Flash, which is horrendously outdated, and works terribly with my computer/browsers... yes, browsers plural, because I have to use one browser for Flex while I use another browser for everything else. It's painfully slow. It crashes routinely, resulting in us asking support to "restart" the software for us (usually at least a few times a month, and more during our busy season). You can't search for events/quotes by a specific date (meaning, if someone said "remember that job we did at XYZ Venue on January 1st this year?" - to look it up, you have to click 'back' on the calendar repeatedly until the timeframe comes into view... you can't just search by one date). It's inaccessible on iPhones/iPads. Visually, it looks outdated, clunky, and like it was designed in the Windows 2000-era. Customization ability is very limited, so you have to get really creative to make the software work for you/in the way you want, which usually ends with "you can't do that" or compromises (ex: you want to run a report featuring X,Y,Z data. Probably can't actually do that)

Pros

Flex is, as the name suggests, highly flexible: it adapts to your needs from an inventory management perspective. Tracking projects, inventory, and maintenance are a breeze.

Cons

The migration to HTML from Flash has taken significantly longer than originally projected. Using Flash has significantly slowed down reaction times through the program and often results in some irritating bugs.

Pros

Software's Ease of use, multi-user (seamless ness from Warehouse to Warehouse). Every function we would need to perform from a logistical standpoint we can.

Cons

Software lags from time to time. Also tends to crash and/or freeze via Mac OS X from time to time (particularly when tweaking invoices). Also wish you guys revamped the mobile app :) came out and then was abandoned - we rely on it for our smaller Warehouse locations.

Pros

Well thought out for both quoting and logistic. Work flow for an event is a great asset (child documents etc)

Cons

Sometimes it takes a long time to add items

Server down time is sometimes bad, I don't know if this has to do with our size and number of users. Sometime it takes a long time to add an item

Pros

Ease of use, Flex is very intuitive. It works well for what we need it to do. The financial side of quoting and invoicing is an especially great feature.

Cons

Wish there were more labor timekeeping/crewing/scheduling features. A one stop shop product would be great.

Pros

Inventory management makes sense; there are more features than I'm aware of. The process from Quote to Invoice Collection is quite fluid and natural.

Cons

Filters are not always the most helpful and it takes time to find an accurate history at times (but I may be doing it wrong). I truly wish our crew could use this software on their mobile devices rather than always having to haul their computers around.

Pros

Great organizational tool with some really advance features. Gives a ton of control and abilities to pull reports and generate custom info. Easily deployable to a team and quick initial learning curve of the basics.

Cons

Current version is flash based, making it slow and horrific to work with. The new HTML5 version is expected soon and seems to fix these issues.

Pros

You can build out your tracking/billing needs to meet your unique set of demands. The PDF'swe send to clients (quotes, invoices, etc.) look fantastic and thus, make us look really good!

Cons

I wish that the HTML5 version would release already. Tired of the current format and really anxious to see where the software is gonna be in the next year.

Pros

Once its set up, its very fast and easy to write quotes and manage inventory. That process takes a long time to get to, but the tech support is unrivaled. Its incredibly flexible in allowing individual customization which allows us to make our documents look the way we want. We're still learning and tweaking our forms and its great that we can continue to change.

Cons

Sometimes the open format and flexibility is TOO much flexibility. Once in a while we'd like to just have a standard way to fix a problem but can't because the issue is unique to the way we've structured our individual set-up. (Fortunately tech support is a life saver here) Also, there are some strange bugs still working out with regards to inventory- items that are scanned out today will show as unavailable for a job in the future simply because FLEX recognizes they aren't currently in the system. Also, there are some strange issues where you have to reload the page once you write notes. Also you have to work around unserialized items or expendables that we would like to track: we have a known quantity that go out and come back (like mic clips) but cannot scan them out without barcoding them.

Pros

Allows us to schedule our gear without creating major conflicts on the calendar. Accessible on the web without a special local installation.

Cons

Where to start? Depending on where or how you start a query, you can receive different results for counts of the same inventory items at the same time. This is just one of many examples that the software seems to be working the same calculations in multiple locations. Overall, it seems like the initial project was poorly planned and implemented by people with low programming experience.

The system can be very sluggish, which tech support likes to push off on your internet access. However, Speed Test regularly rates our access very highly, and as a company we do not have trouble with any other software we use on any other site, just Flex. Often when you contact tech support, you get interaction but not a solution. When a gap in the software is discovered, the answer is always that it is a known problem and is "in development." But the improvements never come. Just check the user blog to see the lack of improvement.

I also dislike that it uses Flash. Time to get modern!

Pros

It is a very simple intuitive system. Doesn't take a long time to learn it and they have plenty of tutorials on line to help. They also do a descent job responding to customer support emails within 24 hours.

Cons

IT IS INCREDIBLY SLOW!!! Building quotes is like pulling teeth. What should take 2 to 3 hours takes about 7 hours to build. We regret using flex every day. They use a flash based system that is outdated and we are told that they will go to a new faster platform when flash is no longer supported. Duh! I guess they will go away from Flash when they are forced to. We were also told that a plan to move away from Flash was in place years ago when we first looked at them and their competition. I'm not here to promote competition but I do regret going down the flex route. It is so slow that we are having serious meeting on what costs we are looking at to transfer to a different rental software!

Pros

Whoever designed the feature set and overall capabilities of the system was pretty brilliant. It lets you do almost anything you can imagine to manage your business how you see fit. HOWEVER...see cons below:

Cons

Most of the awesome features and functionality intended are "half baked". They are incomplete, and buggy. The software is extremely slow, taking up to 2 minutes just to add an item to a quote. Software does not do math right. Support team is rude and pushes you to figure it out for yourself. Most bugs and problems cannot be fixed by support because they just tell you they are busy writing Flex 5 and it "may" be fixed in the new version. We think you should not stop fixing bugs in the current version when the new version is largely vaporware. The new Flex 5 is being developed for Mobile and Tablet first...which is ridiculous. No one wants that. We want to sit at our desks and generate quotes quickly without the pain of poor software quality.

Pros

it helps me know if a specific product is available or not and and if not then when will it be available

Cons

some options dont come with instructions on how to use and that makes it very difficult for some of us to be able to manage or use flex to our ability

Pros

I like the ease of quoting and invoicing. Also the ability to enter and track Purchase and Rental Orders is simple and convenient.

Cons

I don't like that in order to send a client a paid invoice, I have to enter the payment, send the PDF, then delete the payment and invoice then set it back to Confirmed and Ready the Invoice all over again, just to make sure the rest of our employees can not see financial information.

Pros

you can customize it for the most part to your own needs, and you can utilize flex to how it best suits you and to what level you are using it

Cons

Prepping, when you have packages built with Non serialized items it makes very difficult to prep properly when you have to go find where that item got prepped to

Pros

There is a ton that you can do with the software if you dive into it enough and can learn it all! It helps organize all the inventory in a away that makes it simple to see what is available and what is not to be able to cover each job as needed.

Cons

There are things in the software that I wish it would do that it currently cannot, and things that I know it can do, but cant find and just havn't been able to find the time and recall things that have been gone thru in previous Flex Trainging seminars that we have been too etc.

Pros

Once I figured out all of the powerful tools Flex offers, it makes gear management a breeze. I personally use it to look over booked shows that will go out for delivery. I like that I can easily print out a copy of any show with just a few clicks of the mouse. The lists are usually very detailed so I can be certain that I don't miss anything. Although I do not do it often, booking and entering gear into Flex is fairly straight forward and not too difficult as long as I pay attention to what I am doing. I like the fact that I can print out different types of lists as well, whether it is a gear list, or carnet, all of this makes my life easier.

Cons

The most difficult thing with Flex was the learning curve, it took some time to learn how to navigate all of the tools the software has built in.

Pros

Everything can be done in Flex. Inventory, Purchase Orders, Scheduling, Maintenance, ect. It's a very technical software, many features and reports that help us run our business.

Cons

There are various limitations with some of the features. Our company relies heavily on Flex and some elements like scheduling are somewhat limited. Would like to see improvements in Flex 5!

Pros

We like the modulable formule for everything ! We can do a lot of thing whit this software thats why we love it !

Cons

We like all of the software and we use it currently ! Its hard to start but when you're on you way its really nice !

Pros

Ease of access, visual cues for shortages. Also, love the virtual item feature, and the pop stock lists.

Cons

There is no way to prioritize which event has control over inventory. All events draw equally on the same inventory. The result is, you can build an event all the way to pull sheets for the warehouse, and another event added to the system can create shortages in the event that is ready to be pulled.

Pros

I like that FLEX is highly customizable to fit the needs of individual companies. Not everyone operates the same and FLEX has somehow found a way to make something work for many different companies.

Cons

If the software is not set up EXACTLY, the high customization can be a real pain. This is especially true if you are trying to do something different with the software than your company had been doing previously. Years later I am still trying to correct things that were put in incorrectly when we first switched to FLEX. This is a never-ending battle.

Pros

Flex is very reliable, feature-rich, and highly customizable. Most functionalities are fairly straightforward and the user interface is top notch. Free training videos and forum are very helpful.

Cons

A few features have a learning curve and the transition to mobile has been slow, but it is clear the Flex team is dedicated to constantly improving their product.

Pros

Keeping track of inventory, pull sheets and availability of inventory is great. Dragging and dropping items into quotes with auto or insert comes in very handy as well. I am able to organize the crew in a particular order that makes sense to the crew. The auto drag and drop places the correct items into the correct places on a quote be it Audio, Video etc..

Cons

Sometimes it is very slow. This might be due to network speeds but it can really be troublesome and slow down progress.

Pros

The greatest strength of Flex is also it's greatest weakness - it is very customizable, and you can set up many aspects in specific ways tailored to your company's workflow. I do appreciate that the software can be set up to store all sorts of data points and pull reports on many of those.

We currently do not use the full functionality of Flex because every aspect of business that relies on this software takes more time than necessary.

Cons

As of November 2017, the user interface is still Flash-based, meaning it is extremely slow to use. The more items added to a document (quote/contract), the slower it gets both on the account side and warehouse side.

Technically, Flex is capable of doing a lot, but every aspect of business that operates in Flex (i.e. quoting, inventory management, purchase orders) takes longer than necessary, resulting in inefficiency overall.

Pros

Flex has so much potential yet the basic core functionally of the program is not being focused on.

Cons

The program is written in pieces and coded by outsourced programmers. So where one thing works well it doesn't translate into the rest of the program and is often overlooked.

The ability to do a multi-session show that would incorporate and calculate total equipment needed for shows that changed equipment requirements for each day. This was promised to us over 5 years ago when we purchased the software. Broken promises that they were going to have it. I designed the workflow and even offered to pay Rep to build it and he denied it.

Updates are pushed and screw up existing user settings to the point that we have to keep records of where user setting is supposed to be.

Figuring out the settings and where everything is difficult. If you don't use the back end of the program daily it's very easy to get lost and screw something up.

Stupid things like Move Above or Below vs Move After or Before. Consistencies don't exist.

The system is slow. Clicking and dragging items onto a quote takes forever!

Inventory takes forever!

Lack of ability to "insert" items into the "Suggestions" tab for an item.

Late missing list needs more options.

Ability to make custom reports to print

Ability to customize printing documents, like quotes, Event Folders

Lack of ability for different warehouse pricing

Flex focuses too much on getting new clients and updating the software instead of focusing on making the software run.

Pros

-Easy to start using.
-It's in the cloud giving you access to all your information from anywhere.
-Scanning is easy.
-Manages both the financial and the logistical processes of a job.
-The price is right compared to a lot of the competition.

Cons

-Currently Flash based, but HTML5 is coming soon as per the time of this post.

Pros

It works! (I’m surprised to see how many people have outstanding issues, we have our fair share but they get sorted out fairly promptly).

Web based is a winner, do you remember when you couldn’t do this? And yes, I understand the flash debate, it will be wonderful with html5 but flash has worked fine to date.

Agree that you get out what you put into this software. We have spent a lot of time customising it, creating specific reports, documents, workflows, inventory suggestions, etc and it’s all paid off. Yes it takes time but I can’t imagine an off the shelf product working adequately in our custom world of production?

Allocating times to labour items is great. Helps massively with rostering.

There’s lots of positives to say about this, well done flex team!

Cons

The lack of html5 support so far. Also an api would make sense so we can integrate with other relevant platforms / software. To channel a younger me, I’m also going to say; custom colours and ‘themes’, background images, etc. as we end up working on it a lot.

Pros

It works sort of. But it will drive you nuts.

Cons

The software is not intuitive, makes you do things by hand 4094275982792 different times, and then still not work right. The Java based platform is slow and dated. These many bugs and issues simply arent addressed.

Pros

Ability to track inventory, sales, customers, and costs. Support has also been great and quick to respond with solutions or to look into problems. The user support forum is also filled with people willing to help.

Cons

Runs on flash and is hosted in the cloud so the software runs pretty slowly. They are currently working towards HMTL5 but it's still slow.

There are other specific functionality flaws that I hope will be addressed with the new release but they are very specific and only relevant to someone currently working with the software day to day.

Pros

-Easy to learn
-Cloud based
-Easy to edit quantities in Pull sheets
-The ability to enter data in numerous data fields
-The ability to change warehouse locations easily

Cons

-Flash based design occasionally freezes up
-Search function could use fine tuning
-Some functions of Flex not used
-Doesn't allow scanning an item directly into next order with prompts
-Hard to fix input mistakes without roundabout solutions

Pros

Flex takes a bit of time to get used to it (the interface), but once you familiarize yourself with daily workflow, it's features and functionality are pretty exceptional for rental AV companies. Smooth flow between quote creation, confirmation, packing list and invoicing between team members.

Cons

Their mobile support for a few years was poor (only an iPad application). More recently, an iPhone iOS version has become available which is very useful.

Pros

I like the amount of data you can input into the system (pics of the gear, model Number, dimensions, part Number, etc.)
Ease of use in the prep screen, along with the percentage of order left to fill and the ability to hide equipment already scanned out.
Warehouse tab that shows all upcoming Events, Orders, PO's, TPO's, etc. and that it is editable.

Cons

User interface could be streamlined to make it more intuitive.
Occasionally you can do a function out of order, that makes it time consuming to fix a mistake.
That it locks you out of an order once the Pullsheet is created. I'd still like to see when changes were made to the order and I can't see that once it's locked.

Pros

It is incredibly intuitive. The seem to really understand the workflow in a dental practice. I also love that every time that I even think of some feature that I could request, a free update magically appears for that feature. I do believe that they really pay attention to their customers suggestions and needs.

Cons

I would like to eventually see the flex communicator (different from the regular flex app) work a little more integrated with Open Dental

Alternatives Considered

Pros

I like how detailed you can be and how most of the functions that a rental house might need are accessible and available. Almost anything you want to do you can get it to do to some degree. Flex has a deep base of tutorials that are very helpful.

Cons

Speed. It is slow and adds hours to every week while I wait for things to load and/or populate. The availability of crew and equipment is often inaccurate and it's hard to tell why. The crew lists are barely usable and a whole seperate program is probably a better tool for crew communications. Flex makes it seem like they have the functionality to manage crew but it is not functional on any real scale or complexity.

Pros

Very easy to use, and accessible anywhere. Being able to log in from any computer makes things super efficient. Also the phone app is awesome for scanning in/out equipment with a rotating team of shop and show people.

Cons

Sometimes it's buggy and the page needs to be reloaded, but I don't see that as a huge issue. It's inconvenient though. I also wish the phone app had more functionality, like being able to do quotes, so my sales team could put together a rough estimate in the field and enter the show into the system while talking with clients.

Pros

I like that it allows us to rent things from our shop and utilizes a scanner to do it. I also enjoy the fact that we can scan items directly into the containers that we send them out in, and scan them back onto the shelf when it's returned. The serialized numbers do make counting lots of items a breeze.

Cons

It's in flash, and therefore super slow. We have to have a secondary program to get it to interface with quickbooks.

Pros

The best part of the software is the overall show management functionality to it. I like that the software is geared to Rental Stagers and has the ability to integrate gear, labor, and logistics.

Cons

The software runs very slow with required refreshes for everything you do which takes a lot of time over the course of a day. I also do not like how the availability of gear messes up periodically and gear will go crazy. I would also like automatic notifications that allowed for reminders to be sent at milestones or as things happen. For instance, I would like to notification to go to our sales team if a quote is not confirmed 7 days away or a notification go out to our warehouse team for schedule pickups and returns upcoming.

Pros

We love that our company can keep track of our rental inventory , knowing where everything is at the moment needed

Cons

The Accounting feature is nice as it’s works with QuickBooks and other accounting software. But... one thing I wished they would change would be to have the ability for multiple invoices to be paid by one check. You have to go through a process of crediting an account just to do this. Other than easily showing what is owed all by that one customer for a single payment to be made and exported to your accounting software.

Pros

We like the freedom of having a web base system that we can take where ever we go. That all departments are integrated to work in a perfect harmony. It keeps track on where everything is and gives us the tools to facilitate quotes to our clients in a fast timely matter. This system has help us spend less time building forms and waisting time in implementing procedures when all you have to do in input all the assets and thats it. It keeps the entire team integrated and aware of all the moving parts to make a successful event.

Cons

We would like to see a better mobile version of the system. With now a days we try to travel light sometimes we are on the run but the need information on the hand to execute a last minute request and let all the department know what they need to do to make it happen. Other than that we are set with Flex for life!

Pros

I like the how the software organizes and tracks equipment. I like that my crew and gear are in the same pragram.

Cons

That its Flash based. That there is no mobile version. That if I close a tab in my web browser i loose all of the FLEX tabs i had open. I also do not like that gear is either Green or Red. Needs to be a few more colors for additional states that gear my be in.

Pros

Barcode tracking and printing
Video Support Library on youtube as a resource
Purchase Order automation
Flex5 speeds things up

Cons

Cannot accept payments
cannot digitally sign or confirm orders
flash is slow, but flex5 is on the way!
wish we could integrate with mobile computer scanners
easy for shop techs to mis-scan items

Pros

Like the structure, work flow, features, easy of customization as well as the quoting element. Very easy to create a quote and get it sent out quickly.

Cons

Gets very frustrating working with Flash. I would like to see the new version soon. Was told at LDI in 2016 that it would be ready by LDI 2017 and I haven't seen it yet.

Pros

So many features packed into this software that we didn't have access to with our previous program. So happy we made the switch. Love that it is cloud based, we can access our quotes and inventory from anywhere.

Cons

There are soo many features! but this means it takes a long time to learn the ins and outs of this program.

Pros

VERY user friendly interface / design.
Great Cloud based platform.
Easy to use from Quote to Billing.

Cons

The backbone is difficult to navigate/manage for the standard administrator.

Pros

It definitely does the job of inventory management and organizing the gear. Sometimes difficult to see whats actually available on certain dates and finding inventory is sometime challenging.

Cons

Sometimes difficult to find inventory, quotes, and some things just seem like they could be optimized.

Pros

Flex has many good features, live inventory, easy to maneuver. Customer support has always been great. The webcasts are extremely helpful. Love the work tree to keep everything in order.

Cons

The updating as you go. Sometimes things take a long time to load, and when you change a line in a large quote it takes awhile to load the info. Sometimes it feels like it would be easier to make the quote and then have it save. Also closing POs so that the items come out of the how many ordered column only to have the purchase orders disappear. In the work tree I wish the item you were working on would be highlighted or something to show which one you were working on.

Pros

The program was faily easy to learn, quite a few videos available online to learn how to use the software, lots of customizability from an administrative level. Quite a powerful product.

Cons

Wish there was a deskop app, make all the changes then publish the changes to the web where it is then updated in the cloud, offline mode would save so much time. Or every 10 minutes info is uploaded.

Pros

The generated reports are pretty good. I like when I print a quote or pull sheet it comes out very professional.

Cons

Not usable on mobile. Hard to edit crew lists. Not holding the settings I put in there. Things on my calendar, disappear and reappear.