The Difference Between NumberCruncher and Fishbowl Inventory (inventory and order management software that integrates with QuickBooks)

Larry Johnson for Quickbookstrained.com writes: My good colleague at NumberCruncher, Ian Benoliel, CEO, gave me some information that I found interesting. In light of that I thought I would pass it on to you people that are having problems deciding on which Integrated QuickBooks Inventory package to use.

All Orders by NumberCruncher and Fishbowl Inventory are both inventory and order management software that integrates with QuickBooks. Both handle order entry, purchasing, warehouse management and manufacturing. If you would go down the list of features and benefits 90% of them  would be same in both. We have a few things that they don’t have and they have a few things we don’t have. The following is a high level discussion on fundamental differences between the 2 systems.

1    Synchronization with QuickBooks

Both All Orders and Fishbowl Inventory sync with QuickBooks with one major differences; Fishbowl Inventory cannot sync with the Items in QuickBooks. Once the initial sync is done, inventory in QuickBooks is turned off. When transactions are posted from Fishbowl Inventory to QuickBooks (e.g. an Invoice) you do not see the part numbers rather you see an ‘alias’ like FB Inventory; meaning that if you want to print the invoice or run any item specific reports you MUST do so from Fishbowl Inventory.

All Orders allows you to either sync the items in QuickBooks or use aliases. If  you sync the items you will see them on all transactions, you can still print invoices from QuickBooks, print sales reports and use other integrated applications that require items in QuickBooks. With All Orders you will see a detailed breakdown of inventory by item, location, bin and serial # whereas in QuickBooks you will see the total quantity only.

2.    Work Flow and Ease of Use

All Orders was designed for ease of use and is pliable to your particular work flow whereasFishbowl Inventory is more rigid requiring changing your work flow. All Orders looks and feels a lot like QuickBooks. This was done intentionally so that users that already know QuickBooks would find it easier to learn and use All Orders. The user interface in Fishbowl is nice but completely different than QuickBooks.

3.    Price

The initial purchase price for Fishbowl Inventory can be more than double than that of All Orders. True, we charge an annual maintenance fee, but for that you get technical support, all the new updates, and a specified number of re-training hours per year. It also makes us have better support and be more responsive because our relationship with our customers does not end at the sale it is just beginning.