How ReactDesk compares
Here are four kinds of tool a business may use before ReactDesk: what each does well, where it stops working and what changes when you move.
Where people come from
Coming from paper and Excel
Paper and a spreadsheet cost little, they are yours, and for one person they work. They get hard to use when several people write in the same sheet, when a customer rings to ask where their job is, and when the accountant asks for last year’s figures. In ReactDesk several people work at the same time, each on their own jobs and sales, the customer gets a link to follow their job, and the sales report totals any period you choose.
Coming from a general CRM
A general CRM is built around deals and contacts. It keeps your client list well but knows nothing about the stock on your shelf, a warranty that runs to a date or the receipt you print at the till, so stock and sales have to live somewhere else. ReactDesk is narrower on purpose: jobs, stock, sales and the documents around them, in one place.
Coming from a till or POS only
A till is good at taking money and blind to everything before and after it. It does not know that a job is waiting for a part, that a client has been in three times with the same fault, or which orders with a supplier are still open. ReactDesk includes the till, and each sale comes off the same stock your jobs use.
Coming from an accounting program
Accounting software is built for your accountant, not for the person at the counter. It books invoices and knows nothing about the work behind them. You can use both: ReactDesk records the jobs and sales, and your accountant gets the invoices as PDF and a CSV of the sales with VAT for any period.
When ReactDesk is not the right fit
- You need double-entry bookkeeping. ReactDesk does not keep books, so use an accounting program alongside it.
- You run a business with no stock, no jobs and no counter, where a notebook of contacts is genuinely enough.
- You need a heavily customised workflow written to order. ReactDesk is configurable, not bespoke.