Sales & Purchase made simple
Pros
Great for small companies who need sales and purchasing. Sales has records of customer quoted sales and purchases can see what to order.
Great way for a company to keep track of purchases and data can be exported to third part software. Purchasing software even has serial column for warranty verification of products. Was great for HVAC and appliance repair company.
Great software for company with no purchase order system. Can make everything paperless and user's can view inventory, content and prices with no license. User license is portable.
Cons
Software lacks year end inventory count reset. Reports could be better to show year to date expenses. I had a tough time getting year to date reports.
Great Software,....but
Pros
The overall learning cueve for the software is not bad at all. Much more user friendly and reliable than quickbooks.
Cons
Seems most the focus is now on the web based version, have not seem many updates for the stand-alone version in the last couple years.
Very intuitive, and such an easy entry into the world of bar-coding.
I went to the internet with a need, and that was to get our small business bar-coded, since the old words-only tags were taking so long to process at the point of sale, ie. hand written receipts and all, causing lineups that were too long at times and likely costing us business. I found your book offer "Bar-code Your Business" and ordered a copy. It was well written, very concise, and of course, led me to purchase Inflow.
What I REALLY like about Inflow is how intuitive it is. I didn't need to take a course to figure it out, as it feels very Windows-like. I purchased a no-name bar code gun online, devised a model code scheme for our products, and was up and running in no time. Thanks.
On the "not so shiny" comments side, I can't say I liked the upgrade from v2 to v3. The original v2 did everything I needed, and required less explanation to my helpers as to it's function. Suddenly with v3, we now had to hit Save, Fulfill and Mark Paid, all of which ended up with me having to fix this by cheating the date on my computer and closing orders after the fact, when the helpers didn't do it the first time. I was also broadsided one day when on the job, Inflow v3 just froze up on me and I didn't know what to do, exactly when I needed it the most. Well, it turns out that I had to be connected to the internet to use it, obviously so Inflow could monitor licensing/usage status. This was not good, although your customer service was quick to help me with this. If you could find another way to police the licensing, that would be nice. And finally, the one thing that drives me nuts (did again yesterday) is the fact that if I fill in the "customer name" field AFTER having filled in the sales order details, any discounts applied off original price get erased. This has on a number of occasions caused me to inadvertently overcharge customers, and is extremely embarrassing when it's they who notice it first and think I'm trying to "pull a fast one" on them. PLEASE fix this! (although I'm outside of my customer support time window, you can spare others the same issue).
Once again, I must compliment your customer service (hen it still applied to me) for their very prompt responses to any query I ever had.
Peter
Inflow
From installing products and selling those goods using inflow was really a matter of a day to get started. Looking forward to utilizing the inventory features for our first monthend, and the daily sales reports are great
Pros
Ease of purchase, ease of installation and relatively easy to set up and start using.
Cons
So far we have not seen any downside to using this product
The best inventory control software around!
with Inflow we finally were able to control our inventory, prepare quotes, sales orders and invoices, in everything in one place, there's no need to buy extra modules.
Pros
Inflow is very easy to use, clear, easy to understand, and full of functionalities that interconnect smoothly, we can search from multiple fields, and the best is that they have now the cloud version at a fraction of the cost of similar systems, even with less functionalities.
Cons
The lack of integration with ecommerce marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, Walmart, but I think the company is working on this.
Response from Archon Systems
Thanks for the review, Seann!
We do have a sales integrations with Amazon for inFlow Cloud, but we don't support eBay and Walmart at this time. We'll pass that feedback on to our product team!
Gotta Love it
I've been using Inflow for 10 years and it does everything a small business needs.
Pros
Its user friendly. Very good tutorial videos.
Cons
Not able to format or personalize email.
A+ For Manufacturing
We have tied inFlow into our whole order workflow. Data entered into sales orders is pulled into custom reports and with on-site data access, we are also able to use it to make very customized labels with heavy automation from the data already in inFlow.
Pros
Searching is great and user interface is easy to use. Very easy to find what I am looking for quickly.
Cons
inFlow Premise feature updates seem to be on hold. Would love to use new features from inFlow Cloud but our data policy requires us to keep data under our control.
It does what it needs to do
thumbs up
Pros
Reporting can give tons of great data it keeps everything saved and organised well, I enjoy this inv entory management system
Cons
Can be a bit buggy, im unable to print reports properly but that could be an issue on my end?
Response from Archon Systems
Hi Ben, thanks for taking the time to provide your feedback!
Sorry to hear about the reportsyou should definitely be able to print them. We do have your account information on file so we'll reach out to you and see how we can help.
- Thomas
Very Good
inFlow has a great pricing structure with no gotchas. The software is powerful with room to grow. The customer service is excellent. Highly recommended. With no long term contracts or dishonest sales tactics you have nothing to lose.
Pros
inFlow has a great feature set and many access options like app, web app, desktop, ect. Our inventory management is much improved with the software and there are many more features that we are not yet using but know we can use the product for years to come. The pricing structure incentivizes inflow to make sure you love the product so you keep using it so they take good care of you to get you going. Great product.
Cons
A little confusing the differences between the different versions of the product. The web app is a little bit limited.
Response from Archon Systems
Thanks a lot for the review, Taylor!
That's good feedback on the different versions of the inFlow Cloud app. We're definitely hard at work to add more functionality to the web app, so stay tuned.
We keep this page up to date with the latest changes and fixes for each client: https://www.inflowinventory.com/cloud-updates/
I am not the brightest bulb on the tree but I like inflow.
Pros
It is complete and customer support is patient and awesome. The product is quite self explanitory.
Cons
The fact that I need to call customer support to tell me that I have either omitted a step or bypassed a step.
A dream to work with
Pretty much all the Inventory and work orders, and practical flows of invoicing, sales orders, purchase orders etc.
Pros
Quite simply, it is easy and allows for most functions we need with work orders and serialized items. The Inflow Cloud is fast enough and easily customizable. Great stuff, quite simply. :)
And the customer service is nothing short of stunning.
Cons
There are no cons, per se, more features that would be great to add on, as time passes and you develop the software further; the Android client (being able to do POs, SOs and invoicing would be fantastic). There are some other bugs with the Android client, in terms of cost pricing on the products that can be straightened out; right now we can't really use it for much.
Furthermore, it would be great to be able to communicate in our own language with customers that are non-English speakers, by adding European specialty letters instead of ? :)
And should you move towards creating shipments directly through API (with tracking updates) towards DHL, TNT, UPS etc, that would be cool (check out the Parcel tracker app for Android). And also of course taking the step out towards an own integrated sales platform to a little bit bigger extent than the inventory showroom (like a webshop of sorts), rather than the one-way integration to Shopify, that could be a really interesting proposition for us (however, we understand that it is an inventory system, and at that it is great stuff.
Response from Archon Systems
Hi Christian, thanks for the great review!
I just wanted to update you on some of the features you mentioned as a lot has changed since your review!
You can now do POs, SOs and share/email invoices from the mobile app.
The Shopify integration now pushes inventory from inFlow to Shopify as well as pulling Shopify orders into inFlow.
Our API is in early access - feel free to reach out to our support team if you'd like to take that for a spin.
And we're working on some improvements for Showroom as well.
Keep the feedback coming, we'd love to hear from you!
Very accurate and easy to use.
This program is so very easy to use. However, the price doesn’t include some features that we really wish that it would. The fact that you can either have cloud-based or device-based is not a good thing, especially when it’s something so important. If we had an internet outage, we couldn’t use it. If we wanted to be able to use it without internet, we lose the app compatibility. We shouldn’t have to decide between the two; there should be an option that includes both, and many people would pay to have that.
Pros
I love that I can use images and add barcodes all in the same place. It is so easy to use and even easier to teach others how to use it. I also like that I can get reports on how many items we’ve sold and to whom. The apps have come in handy so often, because when we did an inventory check, we were able to go around using the mobile app rather than having to go back and forth between the computer and the shelves. This app made life a lot easier, and support was so helpful during the few times we had issues.
Cons
It’s a tad pricey. In order to get the mobile app, you have to pay. This includes permission for two people to use the program. However, this includes support, which is definitely worth it. We would prefer to also have the option to have the inventory stored on our devices rather than just in the cloud, but if we changed to the inFlow On-Premise, we would lose our mobile device compatibility. We would be willing to pay a little more over the already-pricey cost to have the option to have it cloud-based and on our devices.
It was a shot-in-the-dark to find, and try out this software. It handles everything you'll need! :)
Made my job as sales representative, and inventory control, much easier and more accurate.
Pros
Once you get to find your way around some, you come to see that it's going to save lots of time, and redundancies, with regard to invoices, packing slips, inventory control. But what is wonderful is it gives you a trajectory of inventory, so you never have to worry about having enough stock, or the dreaded "too-much-stock" on hand. The tech support has been friendly, and precise, even waiting on the phone as I worked through the things that I needed help with. I used to be asked by my boss, at the worst times I might add, "How much stock do we have right now?" And I'd give a guesstimate, sometimes close, some times I was way off, as I had to answer right away. Those days are gone thankfully, as now at any given moment I can not only give an exact stock count, but I can tell if more is needed to order and how much. The neat part too, is you can put in your own trigger amounts when stock count sinks to a certain it tells you to reorder, and you decide how much. No more guess work!!
Cons
I wish the invoice templates were a little more striking in appearance. Just a little drab. Yes you can make your own but, a few more invoice template choices with invoicing would be nice with more life. That goes for the stock inventory as well. It tells the information, but looks boring. Just a little more lively looking reports would be nice especially when presenting these in company meetings.
Example: "It's like 2 Ferrari's, one with the body just primed, the other with a sleek polished competition race paint job. Both perform the same, but one looks like it means business."
Almost amazing, but still very solid
Very happy with the product, since we are in the food industry lot code tracking is a huge priority. The way we work around not having this feature built in is that we have lot based inventory. So instead of setting it up as 'Widget A', 'Widget B' and 'Widget C' it's setup so that there are 10 lot numbers associated with A, 15 with B, etc.
Pros
Easy to use
Accurate tracking
Can setup multiple warehouse locations
Customer service is top notch
A lot of reports, can build customer reports if needed
Cons
No built in lot code tracking - there are work arounds for this but they aren't perfect and have their own issues which wouldn't be an issue if there was built in lot code tracking.
Response from Archon Systems
Hi Melissa!
Thank you for the review and sharing the details on how you're working with lot numbers!
You're right that it isn't an officially supported feature (we have locations and sublocations, but no lot number field). However, in case it helps anyone else who needs to use lot numbers with inFlow, we do have a suggested workaround in our Support KB:
https://www.inflowinventory.com/support/cloud/how-do-i-track-lot-numbersbatch-numbersexpiration-dates/
Cheers!
One of the better offline packages I've tried, cloud based offering is coming along nicely
Support for this software is very good, I never have a problem getting a response, and there is a user based forum that also has a lot of information.
Pros
I liked that it was affordable, did not require that you pay a monthly subscription (for the offline version) and that it was more intuitive than most I've tried. The new integrated barcode feature of the cloud product brings this to the level of $10,000 systems I have used in the past.
Cons
The biggest con with both versions of this software is the inability to handle multiple warehouses properly. If an item you have is in multiple locations, it treats those locations as different bins on the same shelf, so it will not tell you that you need to order more for warehouse "A" of there is enough in warehouse "B,C,D" to meet the min/max criteria. This requires you to use different part numbers for the same thing in each warehouse, which is doable but annoying when it comes to transferring between warehouses and labelling.
Robust and Affordable Inventory Management
InFlow worked really well as an affordable inventory control solution with their one-time fee for a desktop version. Our client was a new industrial supply company with around 1000 items but very limited staffing. InFlow offered an unlimited number of inventory and sub-categories. We needed a program that was easy to learn with the ability to have real-time inventory counts, profit and cost of goods sold, along with sales quotes that could be moved into sales orders and invoices along with vendor ordering capability. Inflow provided what we were looking for in a desktop solution.
Pros
The inFlow Inventory program was quite easy to learn and compared to other inventory management software, really affordable. It also had the ability to integrate with Magento or Shopify for when our business client was ready to move into online sales and the ability to use barcoding. There were a number shortcuts in the program which was quite useful for a small business with inventory but with limited operations staff. For example, through the Vendor list, low stock can be identified with the Suggest Reordering feature. We found it was a fairly robust program for our small business client, but also easily installed, customized and managed with a fairly flat learning curve to run it with success.
Cons
The only major downside to the desktop version of inFlow was its inability to integrate with an accounting program. Although the reporting capacity gave all the information that was needed for management and financial meetings, the information had to be exported out of Inflow and imported into the accounting program manually. The cloud version of inFlow has this ability, but the desktop version did not. There was also no Mac version available.
It's the most comprehensive small business software I've come across with excellent customer service
Better tracking if purchases, inventory and sales, pretty much important in running a business.
Pros
I love that it has all the features from purchase to sales and the inventory functionalities are comprehensive. It captures almost all of our business scenarios. It is really comprehensive vs all other software that we evaluated. I would say that this is the top inventory software in its class, before the big ERPs. Also, their recent strategy to move to cloud with integration to popular platforms has made the software more relevant, and made our business easier to operate. Finally, the customer service is really great. They do interact with all users closely and they listen to product improvement suggestions.
Cons
1) it would really really be a big productivity boost to be able to create sales order, review customer receivables/orders, and stock transfers in the mobile app or at least in the web app
Inflow Enhanced inventory Management For Free!
I love this platform because of its robust set of functions, I do suggest using someone with experience to set up the software if hosting on premise. The cloud version is much easier but also not free.
Pros
Inflow desktop is free and incredibly robust packed with features to accommodate all business types. With the ability to customize naming conventions (functions) this inventory and finance platform is beyond adequate for every kind of business. This platform can be expanded with paid modules to add functions such as barcode scanning and automatic updates to inventory.
A paid cloud option is available with enhanced support and functions
Cons
The free version has very limited support and the setup is very complicated if you do not have experience in the platform.
No clear path to API integrations
Some functions are not available in free mode you must buy the enhanced modules
REALLY LIKING THE SOFTWARE, EASY TO USE AND HAS SIMPLE USER FRIENDLY INTERFACE
UNTIL MORE EMPLOYEES ARE FURTHER EDUCATED ON OUR PROCESS AND PLANS THE SOFTWARE WILL TAKE SOME TIME TO POPULATE AND GET US INTO GOOD HABITS AND ROUTINES, OTHER THAN THAT THE SOFTWARE WAS INCREDIBLY EASY TO SETUP.
I HAVE BEEN ABLE TO EASILY POPULATE THE SOFTWARE FOR SEVERAL OF OUR AREAS AND DEPARTMENTS AND AM CURRENTLY WORKING WITH VARIOUS MANAGERS.
Pros
PERSONALLY LIKE THE LOCATIONS FEATURES AND SUB-LOCATIONS, EASY TO ASSIGN ASSETS TO THEIR APPROPRIATE DEPARTMENTS AND USERS. I ALSO LIKE THE FEATURE TO ADD IN YOUR OWN TABS AND FIELDS.
Cons
I WOULD LIKE FOR THE SHOWROOM TO BE ABLE TO BE SPLIT INTO SEVERAL OR VARIOUS SECTIONS....SUCH AS BEING ABLE TO FILTER ONE DIVISION FROM THE OTHER, POSSIBLY HAVING INDIVIDUAL SHOWROOMS FOR EACH DEPARTMENT SO THAT WE CAN MAKE IT EASIER TO FILTER EACH DEPARTMENT'S ASSETS AND HAVE THEM BE SHOWN ONLY FOR THEIR ASSIGNED USERS WE INVITE.
WE ARE NOT USING THIS SOFTWARE OR THE SHOWROOM FOR CUSTOMERS, WE ARE ONLY USING IT FOR THE STAFF AND HAVING 1-2 EMPLOYEES (MYSELF AND ONE OTHER) POPULATE AND USE THIS SOFTWARE ON A DAILY BASIS. WE WOULD LIKE TO HAVE EACH DIVISION/DEPARTMENT'S MANAGER(S) BE ABLE TO VIEW THEIR OWN STOCK VIA THE SHOWROOM AND BE ABLE TO POSSIBLY EASILY PRINT OR UPDATE THEIR AREA/DEPT BY PRINTING OUT A PAGE VIA THE SHOWROOM AND HANDING ME AND THE OTHER INFLOW USER SO WE CAN UPDATE THEIR STOCK ON A WEEKLY OR BI-WEEKLY BASIS. SOME AREAS NEED TO BE UPDATED MORE FREQUENTLY THAN OTHERS.
Amazing product, they are on the right track
For what I pay for this I am very happy. The saying you get what you pay for, well it does not apply here. The makers of inFlow have amazing support and are working hard to make this a great product for the little guy as well as the large company.
I know that all of the bugs will never be gone 100% and to think that they will by anyone is foolish. That is the only reason I gave 2 of the 4 items the 4 stars. There are a few issues that need attention and they are working hard on them.
Pros
Ease of use, customer support
Cons
Changing the invoice look and feel, the online system
roughly 3 years experience using inFlow
Quality is tops - innovative.
Took me some time to adapt to the program in general - probably because accounting is not my field of expertise.
Found some limitations to the program e.g. limited usable space inside the remarks box of SQ to keep SQ a one pager.
Customer support superb: always helpful, friendly and gets the job done.
Currently I do not use all the features of the program hence program bit expensive for my needs - however i am excited with the scope the program offers!
Pros
A one time purchase, no recurring expenses unless additional support is required.
Cons
Slight limitations here and there based on personal needs, but I found ways to overcome those
Review of Inflow Cloud
We did not have an inventory program set up in any way before INFLOW. Using this program has helped us to keep our inventory more accurate. The ability to export information and create custom reporting is very helpful for the reporting we need to do here. We consider this to be a Platform that is very easy to set up and use.
Pros
We have found that INFLOW was willing to work with us to set this up to best fit our needs. We find the customer service and support staff to be incredibly helpful. They not only respond in a timely fashion to our requests, but followup with ideas and suggestions to be sure that we are not continually struggling with a project we are trying to set up.
Cons
I do not think the integration with QB fits our needs. There needs to be a 2 way integration with QB for credit card payments. Also, the invoices did not print out correctly without additional work on our end and the statement feature was difficult.
Head of Warehouses with more than 4 years of experience
Pass all Excel inventories very quickly and manage the products in more than 5+ stores
Pros
The flexibility that gives the user, if I need a report that does not have inFlow I can export / create it to Excel.
I can also simply copy and paste data.
I currently handle 6000+ SKUs in more than 5 stores, more than 100,000+ Sales without slowing down problems, or headaches.
Thanks to this program you move from ordered storage to chaotic storage without problems
Cons
I do not have a clear disadvantage ... mmm ... I see that you can not handle products with expiration date, but that is not my item
Great program but could use some added feature to help make business run more efficient.
So far I have no complaints. Except for one. Wish it has easy axcess to a tablet or mobile device for example. So when you away from the computer and want to do like a quick inventory count or something. Even look up something up for a customer to see if we have it in stock/more detail info without running back to a desktop everytime. You can just axcess right from the handheld device to make any changes right there as your in the stock room doing some work. Instead of have to print out like a count sheet every time and then go back and make adjustments. Which takes more time and waste paper in the long run. Even if it's just app to the program so can least make adjustments on frieght or look up info for a customer from a a tablet/mobile device.
Pros
Easy to use and not hard to learn out to navigate your way around.
Cons
Can only axcess yo it to the desktop or lab top computer you have it installed to.
I have used Inflow for almost 4 years and have not found a reason to change inventory systems yet.
The reporting offered by inFlow is very detailed and well laid out.
Pros
Inflow has a lot of characteristics and functionality that other inventory systems do not. With the easy access to view numerous pages at the same time is one of my favorite features.
Cons
The only thing that we have had trouble with Inflow Inventory is the fact that they do not offer an open API. The company that I work directly through a CRM and it would be wonderful to be able to connect orders directly to a customer. Currently we are having to manually share orders, which adds unneeded time spent.
Software is one of my favorites for companies with no purchase order system.