Spire for SBT VisionPoint Users – Why I like it

Your SBT VisionPoint still runs tolerably well on current Windows computers and, with your SBT source code license, you can add features as required. For most VisionPoint users, this is good enough and Lefkowitz Systems will support you and your SBT VisionPoint system indefinitely if that is what you want. But for some, this is not enough. If you want something newer and better, keep reading.

Three years ago, if an SBT VisionPoint client asked me for an upgrade, I recommended Sage Pro without hesitation. Sage Pro was the only “straight line” upgrade for VisionPoint, meaning it was the only upgrade that converted all your SBT data, covered all the standard VisionPoint features and add many new ones that VisionPoint lacked. It was a good upgrade but it was not cheap, especially for VisionPoint users who bought their SBT license many years ago and had not spent a penny on SBT software since. Sage Pro cost anywhere from $10,000 to $50,000 depending on the number of modules and user licenses and, for many, this was too much. VisionPoint worked well, everyone knew how to use it and Lefkowitz Systems was there to fix things when they broke and add things when needed.

In 2014 Sage Software discontinued the Sage Pro product line (VisionPoint was discontinued in 2004). Most of you received a scary letter from Sage telling you your software was obsolete and unsupported and recommended an upgrade to a product other than Sage Pro. While VisionPoint is obsolete, it is supported, by me. But Sage made a good point. With no straight upgrade path, you became accounting software orphans. In response, I presented my company to you as an SBT orphanage.

While I like to sell upgrades to my clients, I do not like to sell upgrades under threats of catastrophe. I prefer to sell upgrades because the benefits of the upgrade are greater than the cost of the upgrade and the benefits of the upgrade far greater than the cost of doing nothing. The upgrade should make your company more profitable than it is and far more profitable than it is if you do nothing.

Until recently, I did not have a strong replacement for my VisionPoint clients. Now I do. Consider Spire Systems, especially if you are considering a VisionPoint upgrade. It is a fine system for VisionPoint users. It is not for all but I think it will work well for many. In the following paragraphs, I will make the general case for Spire for VisionPoint users and, also, identify reasons not to choose Spire. If you make it to the bottom without discovering a disqualifying reason and if you are in the market for a new accounting system, please contact me.

Why Spire for VisionPoint users?

  • Features

Accounting systems are useful because of their features. All accounting systems do the basics: GL, AP, AR, sales, purchasing, inventory control, bank reconciliation, etc. and Spire does these things very well. Spire also includes manufacturing, job costing, rentals and even a point-of-sale module.

Spire also includes high-end inventory features not found in VisionPoint. These include multi-location inventory, unit of measure conversion, serial numbers and lot number tracking and a very rich pricing system (tiers, customer-specific pricing, quantity discounts, sale price discounts). Good stuff if you buy, sell and make inventory.

Spire includes a Multi-currency module out of the box at no extra cost. VisionPoint has no such capability.

Spire lets you email everything which is a trick VisionPoint cannot do. I have written a longer page on this feature which you can read here.

Spire has a Requisitions module that converts inventory shortages into purchase orders. This module replaces my Auto PO and SO-2-PO add-ons to SBT VisionPoint without extra cost. For those of you who do special orders and drop-shipments, this is a great feature. Buying and making the right inventory – not too little and not too much – is a great way to increase profits. Spire Requisitions lets you do this.

Spire has good, ‘lite’ CRM (Customer Relationship Management) features built in. VisionPoint has none. In Spire, you can track all contacts with customers and you can track multiple individuals at each customer. You can attach documents to customers (and inventory, and vendors and orders, invoices and POs) and you can attach notes and reminders to customers, vendors and forms. Spire reminds you with alerts when things need to be done based on your reminders and alerts.

There is a lot more in Spire that puts it far beyond what you have in VisionPoint. Not all of these features will help you but some of them will and some will help you a very great deal. Finding the useful features and putting them to use profitably is my job.

  • Technology – Spire is state of the art.

I really hate the cliché “state of the art” but here it fits. Spire is written in open-source Python and uses the big, strong, fast, 64-bit, open-source PostgreSQL database. This is the good stuff just as Visual Foxpro (the language and database that SBT VisionPoint uses) was the good stuff in the late 1990s.

Spire runs on standard hardware and operating systems. Chances are it will run on the machines you have now. Here are Spire’s system requirements.

Spire’s reports are written with industry-standard SAP Crystal Reports, the current, 64-bit version. All reports and forms can be customized under program control.

  • Data conversion – I can convert most of your VisionPoint data.

You can keep your SBT data if you choose Spire. Data conversion is a two-step process: Export and import. Spire imports data easily and I have programs to export data from SBT VisionPoint. Conversion is not automatic and not free but I can convert most of your VisionPoint data to Spire inexpensively. And if you are one of my first three VisionPoint-to-Spire clients, I will convert your VisionPoint data to Spire for free. This is a limited offer.

Your SBT VisionPoint data has value. If you move to Spire, you can keep it and use it in Spire.

  • Support

Spire is developed and supported by a viable company, Spire Systems out of British Columbia, Canada. I have known the owner personally for over ten years and have examined the company closely. Spire Systems is strong financially and completely focused on Spire. This is important. With the larger publishers such as Sage, each product in their software portfolio is a department run by a hired manager who has no proprietary interest in the product and the larger channel of resellers and end-users. With Spire, lines of communication between users, resellers and publisher are short. Problems are addressed and resolved quickly.

While Spire is new, it is not ‘bleeding edge’ new. It has been out for over a year with good results from the field. I recommend it with confidence.

  • Price – Spire is a great value.

Spire costs a lot less than competing ERP systems. Enterprise Resource Planning (“ERP”) software is the fancy name for what used to be called “accounting software.” The good ones are not cheap. QuickBooks is cheap and, if it works for you, it’s a great choice. But it will not work for many of you. If you need something better, you need an ERP system. Spire is an ERP system.

The bigger names in the ERP market – Sage, Microsoft, SAP, NetSuite – are good systems but expensive. Add the raw software cost to the implementation cost and a simple, ten-user license starts at about $50,000 and goes higher if you add advanced functionality such as manufacturing, warehouse management, web site integration and business intelligence. The “cloud” flavors of these systems cost even more after the second year of paying rent.

Spire costs less than these systems without sacrificing power. Spire sits in the big price hole in the ERP market above QuickBooks and below the big ‘name’ ERPs. A five-user Spire system will cost roughly $7,000 for the license with one year of free upgrades. Implementation is harder to estimate and varies from installation to installation.

Here is my long piece on what Spire and a Spire project costs for VisionPoint upgraders.

Why not Spire for VisionPoint users?

  • No source code.

SBT VisionPoint included a source code license and many of you hired me to customize your SBT to handle special requirements. Spire does not have a source code license. It cannot be customized at the source code level. If you have a special, ‘mission-critical’ requirement that Spire’s standard features and external, integrated solutions cannot satisfy, Spire is not for you. Spire has dozens of user-defined fields in each module and screen. Spire’s reports and forms can be customized without limit. And Spire’s open database can be queried for external data analysis. But the business logic in Spire is locked.

  • No USA payroll.

A few of you run your payroll in-house in SBT VisionPoint. If you want to continue to run your payroll in your accounting system, Spire fails. I have stand-alone USA payroll software but it will not integrate with Spire. You must account for payroll in Spire through A/P or G/L.

  • Cheap is not free – VisionPoint is free

While Spire is cheap compared to the alternatives, it is not free. Your SBT is free. You own it and you know how to use it. This is a powerful reason to remain on SBT. Inertia is my top competitor and there is nothing wrong with staying on SBT if it does what you want. But does it do what you want?

Installing a new ERP disrupts your business temporarily. A good installation takes a month or less, a bad one longer. During that time, your work increases, your productivity decreases and morale sinks because things are changing temporarily. Things get better – much better – but not during the transition period. Some businesses are not able to endure an ERP implementation. Do not order a Spire installation if you and your company are not ready for a temporary disruption of your business.

What about cloud ERP software?

Increasingly companies are renting “cloud” software running on hosted servers rather than buying licensed software installed on proprietary servers. Is Spire a “cloud” product? The short answer is no. The longer answer is it does not matter.

In the ERP market, “cloud” software is the same as “on premise” software except you rent the software license from the publisher rather than own the license yourself. Cloud software runs on someone else’s server rather than your server. It is the same software. The difference is financial, not technological. The technology of “cloud” ERP software is uninteresting. A server in your closet is, functionally, the same as a server elsewhere.

What is interesting about “cloud” is the financial model. With hosted, “cloud” software, you own nothing beyond the month, quarter or year of software service you rent. You are renting the software rather than buying it. As with most rental deals, the up-front cost is lower than buying but the long-term cost of renting is higher than owning. A typical cloud deal costs more than a purchased deal between the second and third year of ownership and it gets worse over time. But if your company’s outlook is three years or less and you prefer to expense your software immediately rather than capitalize it, renting is a good decision for you.

Cloud licensing also carries considerable vendor risk. Because the vendor owns and hosts the software, you depend on the vendor for your software service and you hope they will not fail  and you hope they will not raise the rent on your software. If they raise the rent on your crucial software, you must either pay the higher rent or lose access to your software. With a purchased license, you own the license forever.

As you can tell, I am not a big fan of cloud software. But its success in the market is undeniable. Spire can be installed on a hosted server and delivered over the internet if you do not want to own and maintain a server. But you cannot rent a Spire license under a “cloud” deal, at least not yet.

Next step.

Read about the experience of SBT to Spire upgrader Michou Jewelry. Spire for SBT Users – Michou Jewelry

Still here? If so, let’s talk. Here is my contact page.

-Matthew Lefkowitz, President
Lefkowitz Systems, Inc.