Avaliações do Windward System Five

Highly customizable software that you can really tailor to your business for an affordable price.

Comentários: Reduced IT costs, Improved staff experience and greater overall efficiency of our business practices.

Vantagens:

I give this review after having tried many different software packages over the last 15 years. Some costing x10 the price of Windard, some costing x10 less. What I'm left with over these years is perspective, and that perspective was hard earned. You will not find a more complete point of sale, inventory control, accounting, crm, etc. for this price range. With the ability to fine tune it to your exact business needs, it's easiest to configure, maintain and operate...especially compared to the "enterprise" software world where your eyes will water from pricing. Its got lightning fastest Point of sale with the absolute best part find search tool I can recall using. The special order management is the best complete solution from any I've tried. If your serious about your Business, you should consider Windard. I honestly think that in the long run it has improved our business, staff and bottom dollar.

Desvantagens:

There is no such thing as perfect software. With that being said, there are issues...but then it's technology. You have to considering that it is a highly customizable product that able to serve an amazing range of business types with thousands of options. What Windward has that sets it apart is a fantastic support team with Canadian staff and an out-of-country team that is admittingly fantastic...probably the best off-shore support that I have ever experienced in IT. Tech support is typically same day, commonly instant or within a few hours of placing a call. If you have an urgent problem, they will find someone for you RIGHT NOW. If you have problems using Windward software...you will most probably have problems using another piece of software. The key with any software, especially if you are new to it, is to have patience and use every opportunity to learn.

Great system management

Comentários: When we first took over this long-time local business, previous owners did most reports or tracking by hand (ie hand-written invoices entered into QB and hand-written price books) WWS5 helps us keep track of items in inventory, current prices and mark-ups for inventory, general price increases from vendors, EOD reports and sales, and AR accounts much more easily. We do not currently use the accounting portion, but hope to move over to the accounting option with the new data set.

Vantagens:

We currently use Windward for our POS and AR needs. This helps keep us on track for monthly billing to AR clients and keeps up with the daily till. We do very much like the additional features such as inventory management, price checks/updates, but have trouble at time keeping it current due to staffing issues. With more staff, this system would be absolutely amazing.

Desvantagens:

When we first installed Windward, there were issues with understanding the larger picture during set-up. Understanding more about the system prior to set up would have helped. We are currently setting up a new database now that we understand more about the full operation of WWS5.

Gets the job done. Do not do the updates.

Vantagens:

Very thorough software with lots of room/areas to store Information and very easy to use. The point and click ability of the software makes it easier to train new staff. Can access the software from anywhere in the world using remote desktop connection.

Desvantagens:

The updates do not seem to go very smoothly. And update me fix one problem but two new problems arise that were not problems before. We have actually stopped getting updates and have continued to use our current version for years. We have developed our own internal ways to use the software to its fullest potential without getting updates. Software support is readily available however very expensive and a lot of the problems that we have encountered do not have the solution. In order to get the solution we have to pay for the entire resource development team and have to be very very patient to see results. The yearly license fee does not benefit our company as we do not complete the updates. So we paid the fee however are using an out of date software program Because we are afraid to update. Phoning for tech-support can be quite challenging when the bill is charged per minute and we are on hold for 80 percent of the call. We are usually on hold while the tech support discusses with superior or development team to solve our more complex problems. At the end of the day the software program helps us maintain our current business but is not helping us grow our business. We are not ready to commit thousands of dollars to the software program that still has many issues even if we were to update to most current version

Windward Software is an amazing program to help you run your business in every aspect.

Comentários: Inventory was a huge issue for us before we started using System Five. We absolutely cannot imagine running our business without Windward System Five at this point.

Vantagens:

The Support is A1 and the features of everything from Inventory to Sales Invoices, everything is connected and very user friendly. Reports are easy to run, reconciliations, sales and purchase invoicing, ageing, financials are easy to read and all other functions are again, user friendly.

Desvantagens:

No cons at this time. We didn't like that it didn't have a payroll feature when we started with it but now it does.

Windward Review

Comentários: Mostly positive when it comes to day to day interaction. Any negatives are more nit-picking issues.

Vantagens:

Required Orders system and ability to interact with the invoice easily throughout.

Desvantagens:

Lack of multiple kits. Purchase orders with SO items become buggy with large quantities. If a user moves too quickly in the system, it can break.

continuing forward

Comentários: We are continuing to use System Five as migration is a challenge for a small business like ours. The support crew at Windward work well to address issues; however, our account manager failed to address items that were still in process just prior to go live. Those items remain outstanding as support is unable to address them.

Vantagens:

Immediate processing of credit card transactions. The fact that System 5 is in the cloud is one of the primary reasons we purchased the product.

Desvantagens:

Not enough explanation of defaults in System 5 caused redundancy in our chart of accounts. The monthly reconciliation requires that several routines be performed before you can have a reliable balance report of income/expense reports. Modifiers were disappointing as we learned that they must be setup on an item-by-item basis, rather than a category or brand basis. Custom reporting is extremely lacking and doesn't allow for us to produce the reports we need.

Tami McQuown

Comentários: Its been a great experience!

Vantagens:

Ease of use, technical support answers all questions

Desvantagens:

Credit card transactions did not go well at first

Yes you can enter the computer age!

Vantagens:

My existing business had an old time cash register when I purchased it. At the beginning 12+ years ago it worked ok for me. But over the years as prices rose. I had no way of knowing at a glance what I paid for an item and what I should be selling it for. I was losing money! I was familiar with another accounting system but it required extensive time at home each night entering hand written A/R bills and daily till totals into its system so I could bill customers. I had heard of Windward several years prior but just didn't think I could afford it. A new employee who had experience with other systems encouraged me to purchase. Implementation was so much work because I didn't have any inventory computerized. No lists and I jumped in in the middle of a month and a fiscal year. I was going to finance the purchase over 2 years but decided to put it on my line of credit. I paid it and my new equipment off in 6 months! I have now used the software for 7 years and am very happy with it. It has saved me about $2000.00/year in accountant fees. Love the fact that all monthly Provincial and Federal sales tax reports are easily paid. It has an employee section with payroll etc. So easy to upload inventory that is new from an excel spreadsheet.

Desvantagens:

Inventory from multiple suppliers with barcodes have to be entered in as coming from one main supplier with all other suppliers entered in as alternates. The barcode can't have any supplier attached to it or my computer makes a loud beep. I purchase by item # not by barcodes. I wish the system would let you enter item #'s from each supplier with the corresponding barcode even if it is also the same barcode for another supplier. I am not always aware that the product coming from one supplier is already in my system under a different supplier.

System Five

Comentários: Service and online capability was not good. While we paid for 24/7 service, we had to setup tickets and would get a call back within 24hrs.

Vantagens:

The built in reports allowed for easily customizing reports. With their "lookup words" it was easy to tag, customers, products and vendors to particular categories for additional reporting

Desvantagens:

The online capability. There was no good capability for online. Sales would take a long time to integrate back into the software and there was no direct connection between Windward S5 to the online platform such as WooCommerce. Which meant an additional cost for another API connection. Windward API was very limited to what info could be pushed and pulled from the website.

Honest Thoughts

Comentários: This system is chalk full of great concepts but it always falls short of our needs. The band-aids given for our issues are never a resolution, just a temporary fix and often more work. System Five does work, it crashes every few months but overall we can continue with business. We will continue with System Five.

Vantagens:

There are many features that could be incredibly useful. The reports have vast options which we utilize often.

Desvantagens:

It seems every update an equal amount fixed gets broken. We always seem to be chasing down issues and fixing bugs. There is not one week we do not have issues in our system, user or system error. Every feature seems to tap out in functionality. They all have an amazing idea, but when we try to use them there is always a reason it does not work for our system or with our data.

I wish I never heard of Windward Software

Comentários: Our overall experience was extremely poor and detrimental to our business. All our staff were frustrated ( I nearly lost staff), some customers were frustrated, we invested so much money, and have in turn lost so much money. Oh and did I mention the time invested. All that time I spent, all a waste, the time my staff spent which I paid for, such a waste. So much stress that my whole team went through only to end up worse off. Before we went live, in my gut I had doubts due to my experience with Windward staff in the lead up transition period. But unfortunately I have faith in people, and faith that people tell the truth, and they assured me that the Windward System 5 was an investment in my business- to have confidence, to go live and realise the benefit. Oh so wrong. The system just plain and simple had so many glitches and caused more harm than good to my business. Once live, it just got worse and worse. In hindsight, I should have listened to my gut in implementation, written the money invested off as a bad business decision and aborted. By pushing on, I cost my business so much more, and then blindly I stayed for the full 60 days as required by the refund clause, further harming my business, only to be told they were not giving me a refund anyway. Also if you are in a different timezone, that is another thing to be wary of. When I signed up they promised local support as they had two people in Australia. But these staff left and no one replaced them.

Vantagens:

We are a retail shop with a mechanic workshop out the back. The special order process was a positive, but unfortunately when you think of all the difficulties, costs and time loss from the rest of the system I can't go so far as to say it is a pro. The idea of the detailed security and reports options is good, but due to extensive glitches never realized any benefits. Unfortunately the reports and exports were missing data, which meant reconciliation was problematic, and the security just caused glitches and locked my staff out of the system. Due to this, the amount of bookwork to fix the mess is just huge, this system is continuing to cost me in staff costs and time even though I have left Windward. Ultimately this POS system was one of the worst business decisions I have ever made and I do not recommend it all.

Desvantagens:

The implementation is long and tedious. We worked hard with 'technicians' to ensure quality data was loaded. We had 5 different implementation technicians as 2 left the company, one they allocated to us didn't suit the timezone, one provided intermittent help, & one was finally helpful. Windward waived some licencing fees to compensate for lack of support as we were paying for a licence we could not use. Windward then deleted all my data and we had to start again. The daily technical staff in are in a Philippines call centre, they failed to fix most issues. Due system glitches we had no choice but to leave despite due to it harming our business. A huge amount of funds and time invested. Windaward refused to provide refund despite us doing the mandatory 60 days. Glitches include BUT WERE NOT LIMITED TO: mixing up data across customer records showing machines that belonged to other customers on accounts (nothing to with our data); showing bills and outstanding amounts for other customers on accounts; continuously locking our staff out; full system outage; slowing down sales; daily sales reports inaccurate; export reports missing data. Windaward technicians use a licence you have paid for to investigate their system's issues further undermining your business as you've less workstations. We wired the internet throughout our shop as they suggested, this resolved no issues. We found usability to be poor, search functionality poor, & it would take us many steps to do basic things.

I depend on Windward every day for my role in sales and marketing. I couldn't do my job without it!

Comentários: It's integral to my role in the company. In fact everyone in our company uses Windward on a daily basis. We use it in every aspect of our product based business from order processing, to sales, management, warranty, accounting and inventory management.

Vantagens:

I like the ability to generate custom sales reports so I can see who my top dealer accounts are, and which accounts I need to incentivize. I need to quickly check stock of products in all four of our warehouse locations, and when a product is out of stock, I need to be able to quickly see what's been ordered and when we are expecting it to arrive at our warehouses. In a "just in time delivery" business world like ours, giving customers an accurate ETA can mean the difference between closing the sale and not closing it. As a sales manager, I like to look at what the top selling products are by customer and by regions. I like to review our sales trends month by month and year by year, and see where we need to improve. I also need to see the full financial picture of sales, cost of goods sold and company expenses, to make sure we continue to run a streamlined operation and remain competitive in a constantly changing marketplace. Windward's reporting features are excellent in this regard. Windward is an extremely powerful and feature packed program. It does everything we need to run our business, from accounting to sales; order processing to invoicing; warranty claims and product returns; and generating reports that all levels of management can use to efficiently run their department, or the whole company. In summary, Windward is an extremely comprehensive program that is well suited to our product-based business.

Desvantagens:

Like any feature packed program, intuitive menus are critical to accessing all the nuances of the software. Most of power software programs leave something to be desired in the area of intuitive interfaces. Windward is no exception to this. Thus, task specific training modules and quick customer support is of utmost importance to users being able to shorten the learning curve when expanding their knowledge of Windward.

Using Windward in a Small Shop

Vantagens:

Windward offers a comprehensive set of features, more than we will ever use. What drove us to purchase Windward is that its POS features are fully and seamlessly integrated into its accounting software. That means that both our POS and accounting data is up to date and current at all times. No integration with other software is required. Windward does it all. Another thing I like about Windward is the quality of Windward's support. Windward not only sets the system up for you and makes sure that all you point of sale devices work (barcode scanners, printers, etc), but if you are a cloud customer or have a maintenance contract, Windward will also remote in to your machines and fix any issues you may have. In addition, they have an on-line learning academy with training videos, documents, etc. that help you continue to learn the functionality of the system. They also offer live sessions on specific issues like maintaining inventory, year-end procedures, etc. We needed a lot of hand holding when we first started--I had no previous experience with POS software--and Windward successfully guided even a slow learner like me!

Desvantagens:

Windward is continually upgrading its software to provide additional functionality or to streamline its processes. We recently moved to the cloud version of Windward, and that has reduced some administrative overhead for us--no need for backups, no need to install updates, and greater data security. So overall, it's a plus. But there is one feature I miss in the cloud version. When our software was installed on site, we were able to print barcode labels directly from Windward to our barcode printer, a Zebra ZT510. That feature no longer works for us in the cloud, and I'm told that the reason why is that the cloud version of Windward does not currently support our particular printer. I'm still looking for a better answer from Windward. But what that loss of functionality means for me is that I must now create a separate barcode database in Excel, link that database to Zebra's barcode software, and print my barcode labels through it. So you should pay close attention to the particular peripheral hardware that Windward supports.

We've been with Windward since 1994, recent years Windward has really stepped up to the plate !!

Comentários: One of the most recent benefits is the available training in many different areas of the Windward software program. This is an incredible asset to streamlining and improving day to day business practices for us. When we find out things the program can do for us that for years has just been sitting there not being used, we're like a kid in a candy shop....Excited...Wow!!

Vantagens:

Over the years there have been many areas of the program that we never took advantage of. One of the greatest things is with all the recent available training on and off line it has allowed us to find these nuggets that have helped us tremendously to make processes within our business so much easier. This had to be one of the best implementations that Windward has made, keep the training coming!!

Desvantagens:

The one thing we dislike about the program are updates. We get very nervous! A few years ago we did an update and it totally messed up the whole program. We had to work offline (paper work) for more than 3 weeks, which was a nightmare after the fact. Though Windward programmers worked for over 6 months to find a fix, they never ever did. So here 5 or 6 years later our Point of Sales Transaction Report figures are still unusable. We recently updated Pervasive and were told it should really speed up the program. Unfortunately it didn't, actually saw absolutely no difference even though it had been several years since we'd done an update, so are looking at other areas now.

Scalable multi-user POS retail from a company that listens and adapts.

Vantagens:

Excellent customer support 24/7. A product that is scalable to your business. One of the few softwares that have a stand-a-lone ability that allow sales and lookup when the main server is offline or unavailable. Inventory orders in cases or singles by multiple suppliers with multiple part numbers and UPC codes for a single item. Capable of printing price tags on the fly when receiving. Easy lookup of products at the POS terminal by description, barcodes, serial numbers, etc. (Think about a phone caller asking for an item that is not in your hand, no numbers available and you need to quote the price.) Easy Purchase ordering. Easy resorting of POs in a fashion that matches the packing list. Complete control of forms, receipts, printers, slip printers, faxes etc. Multiple price groups and quantity price levels allowing maximum flexibility to different retail environments. Matrix pricing, kit pricing (both dynamic and static) with prices broken out or just single line on receipts. This software is our forth in 30 years and in our use since 2003. Regular updates and revisions are available to keep it fresh and up to date with changes in the ever changing retail industry. This is a very robust software and does far more than given here.

Desvantagens:

Back office reporting is probably the weekest area. However, custom reports are available and creatable. If you are looking into any software you should have a list of what you need to know daily, weekly and monthly and have it demonstrated to you. Another area is handling price protection from manufacturers. It is not easy to drop cost on items that receive price protection. It can be done but is time consuming.

This system is not worth the money, time, effort with no support

Comentários: Windwards Systems INC gave a great sales pitch and were recommended by our Marketing Partner Spectra. Unfortunately, I should have researched their reviews better prior to spending a lot of money and 4 months of frustration with the implementation of the new system. I had really hoped we could integrate our Lights America system with Windward Systems as promised. However, the issue was reported at the beginning of February to their IT Support. After 2 months of not being resolved, us unable to go further in the implementation and being told only one (1) support person could resolve this issue in their company! Not to mention that one (1) IT support person worked night shift and would call us at 9:00 pm Eastern Time for us to login the system so he could troubleshoot! Are working hours are 8:00 am to 4:30 pm. That was just one issue. The other issue was moving our information from our old software to the new software. We were requested to provide them with spreadsheets of the information to upload. We paid our current IT Support to pull all the spreadsheet and I sent them to Windward only to be told the setting up of the spreadsheets from our old system to Windward was "a lot of work" My question to them was "a lot of work for you?" or "a lot of work for me?" The answer was for me to send the the spreadsheets after setting them up and work 40 + hours attending to my business. I feel that for the amount Windward was costing, their IT Support should have taken the "work" on them

Vantagens:

It seemed easy to use. Seemed easy to set up. Seemed to do everything I would need to run POS, Inventory, Payables and Accounting.

Desvantagens:

Lack of IT Support. Please read my experience.

13 years with System 5

Comentários: I installed System 5 for my "brick and mortar" business in 2003. This is one of the best investments I have made for my business. I have thousands of parts & customers, and hundreds of suppliers. Most of my inventory is tracked by serial number. "Windward" is pretty quick in spite of my huge database, and the interface makes it very easy to look up info (such as customer past purchase history, showroom display serial numbers, etc). I've had great phone support when updating to newer releases, migrating the application from old servers to newer servers. Their support team has patiently even helped me through accounting questions. Once, my whole system was completely dead because my tech support guy did something on the server, and WW resolved it right away. For me, a key capability is being able to import and export information easily into and out of Excel, so that I can maintain pricing for so many parts from many suppliers. I also use Excel for sales analysis and budget reports (outside of WW), so we can "slice and dice" the data (13 years worth) to analyze leading indicators of sales trends, for example. Since work orders can be populated from an external data file, I've created an external visual interface to create the work order line items for our more complex customer configurations, and have them load automatically into a work order. After 13 years, I have a laundry list of things I would like to see added or changed in the system. However, reliability and dependability are my top priorities and on that front, WW has been excellent. Windward returns calls, answers questions, owns up if the issue is on their end, finds acceptable temporary workarounds, and makes me feel that my business success is important to them. They do NOT create barriers to communication, throw up brick walls ("that's just the way it is"), or tell me I'm running my business the wrong way ("most of our customers don't change their prices just because their costs change") - which I have actually experienced with other software vendors. During implementation, I designed my categories to support the ways I wanted to be able to analyze the data in both WW and in Excel. If you don't have any software background, I would strongly recommend working with a reseller/design consultant for the initial layout and installation (which I think would be true for any accounting system), because that will set you up for success going forward.

Windward System Five

Comentários: With Windward we are able to use the reports to budget for the future, look at our sales history per customer, get customer reports that we need.

Vantagens:

I like the ease of being able to run our day to day business. We use the software all day every day. The ease of checking our inventory is terrific. Setting up a new customer is very easy. The system is very easy to use. Moving the data from our old system to Windward was very easy. We were able to import with very little mistakes.

Desvantagens:

I really don't have any cons with the software except that it is sometimes hard to set up new reports that we would like to download. Some times the help feature is not very specific for the reports that I need

An Amazing Experience with Windward System Five

Comentários: Since we have moved onto Windward System Five the improvement to our business have been and still remain extraordinary. System Five has given me the ability to work in an environment with real time information. With complete integration my business can process sales, my office team can work on accounting and financial transactions, inventory can be taken, purchase orders can be processed and more, all while maintaining flawless real-time information so that I can make decisions for my business quickly. In addition, we are able to process sales faster with integrated credit card processing, give a more profession look to our business with custom made integrated gift cards, we can print clean shelf labels right from the inventory record giving a profession look and assuring accurate pricing, barcode inventory items that do not have them, add multiple barcodes to items and a whole lot more.Support for this product is nothing short of impeccable! Windward offers 24/7 technical support from friendly, well trained technicians that work endlessly to keep your company up and running smoothly. The overall performance of this product in astonishing. It truly has the ability to accommodate anything I want to do to operation my business more efficiently. System Five is a very user friendly product that is easy to learn and understand. The customer service and support are friendly, understanding, concerned about your business needs and willing to do whatever it takes to help you run your company and accommodate your business needs. Speaking from one entrepreneur to you others out there, this is a product made for us! It is a fast, efficient, well build program that gives us the ability to run our businesses the way we want, collect information quickly with its wide array of reporting options so we can make better decisions, and free up our valuable time so we can get out there and do what we do best ' run our businesses! For those out there who would give this product anything less than a perfect review, I would like to challenge your business and management skill as the software is not the problem. This product gets five stars from me on all fronts! It's truly the integrity of my business and I could not imaging running my company without Windward System Five. For those of you considering I say go for it, it's the best investment you can make.

Good for the price. We've been a user since the DOS days.

Comentários: Far cheaper than our old system. Also much better feature set.

Vantagens:

Many features - most of them even work. Price is pretty good compared to most solutions. It generally works and if you don't do any updates you get used to the bugs and how to work around them.

Desvantagens:

Bugs. Every update fixes some bugs and introduces some new ones. I don't bother with updates anymore, just too many headaches. Slightly archaic - you can feel that it is not a fully modern product. Years (decades) of upgrades and patches have made it feel like no one person can manage the whole project anymore. Fixes in one area screws things up in another. Service is spotty. Pervasive SQL is utter garbage and you don't have a choice to run another SQL server. Pervasive is easily the worst part of this whole system. We've added ecommerce to our business but haven't integrated System 5 - the cost is eye-watering. Maybe if the cost comes down at some point.

IN THE LAST 2 1/2 YEARS OF USING THE SYSTEM I HAVE HAD SEVERAL PROBLEMS!EVEN LOST RECURRING RENTALS

Comentários: TAX WRITE 0FF, I COULD HAVE USED BETTER !!!

Vantagens:

INVENTORY/ RENTAL SET-UP , PAYROLL AND TIME CLOCK.

Desvantagens:

RECURRING RENTALS LOST IN SYSTEM TO WHERE 5 MONTHS OF RENTAL LOST. COST OF THE SYSTEM WAS EXPENSIVE AND AFTER A GLICK IN THE SYSTEM IT COST ME ANOTHER 1500 TO GET IT UP AND GOING AGAIN ! WISH i WOULD HAVE DONE MORE TRIALS WITH OTHER RENTAL SOFTWARE !!!

This software is a good POS system for garden centers and an adequate accounting system.

Comentários: Inventory Control

Vantagens:

Very fast at the registers - was also fast for cards until recent changes Easy to drill down pretty well throughout the system Good stock control system Easy to export items to Excel

Desvantagens:

Often reports don't align ie it produces different numbers depending upon the report you make - it's all fairly mysterious but it's something to do with the integration of the accounting system. Way too many available reports with confusing names, but obvious reports such as what our sales were today / yesterday / last week etc. are either hidden or need a workaround to access. Accounting system seems adequate to me but is hated by my bookkeeper. It was great 7 years ago when we installed it but it hasn't changed much since and I suspect that there are more intuitive systems out there today.

WWS5 is a workhorse!

Comentários: Ease of Use
Inventory control
Order management
Work flow Simplification and tracking
Emailing
Invoicing
Accounting

Vantagens:

Windward System 5 has been a workhorse for our business for over 12 years! We can control our inventory, track special orders, email clients and much more with WWS5. We have been able to grow into this software. There are many features that we are still learning that are simplifying our workload! I highly recommend System 5 to anyone who manages inventory. BTW the reporting capabilities are almost endless.

Desvantagens:

It is a little quirky, but the benefits far outweigh the quirks. I wish that it had more web integration or that they would offer cloud based databases.

SOFTWARD THAT DOES IT ALL

Comentários: It took a little time to learn the features but we have been very pleased with how this software works for us in our retail Hobby Shop. We have a huge inventory which is constantly changing - no problem for Windward. Windward handles our point of sale including receivables. Tracks our purchases and payables and allows us to create reports and bar codes and so much more. I can't imagine a type of business that could not function with this very extensive software at a reasonable price. Lots of good updates and fast help available when you need it.

Vantagens:

Ability to design inventory reports that provide us detail on what has been sold in a date range and allows us to purchase wisely.

Desvantagens:

Only one thing I would like to see added: A report to show income and expense in a spreadsheet by month.

overall pretty good. As good as others in the market

Vantagens:

POS screen is very easy for staff to learn. Transactions easy to process. Lots of reports available

Desvantagens:

Update to windows 10 a costly extra. Payroll function lacking. Designing forms takes a lot of work,