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Midsize business

QuickBooks vs. Microsoft Dynamics

Introduction

Your business has grown substantially and quickly. To maintain your pace of growth and create a strong foundation for future growth, you need to adapt to a solution that provides greater efficiencies right now, along with the flexibility to scale in the future.

Many business owners in your position use myriad solutions, from spreadsheets to QuickBooks and are looking for a future-ready solution that can accommodate their growing and increasingly complex needs.

In this article we compare Intuit QuickBooks solutions (including QuickBooks Enterprise and QuickBooks Online Advanced), which serve growing small businesses, with a popular full-scale enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, Microsoft Dynamics, to evaluate their functions and features for different kinds of businesses.


Intuit QuickBooks Enterprise and Quickbooks Online Advanced: Background

QuickBooks help users manage their business transactions effectively and also save time and effort by conglomerating daily financial processes and functions into a streamlined, easy-to-use interface.

QuickBooks Enterprise is an integrated solution designed for growing, product-based businesses that helps users streamline business and financial operations management. It bundles key functionality and lets business owners add and customize capabilities as they grow. QuickBooks Enterprise integrates with other leading point solutions like Salesforce to create a connected back-office experience, instead of a traditional “one-stop shop” ERP solution.

QuickBooks Online Advanced is a solution designed for growing small businesses that also helps users streamline business and financial operations management.It’s offered at a different price point than Enterprise, but it shares some of the same features, including integration with Salesforce and more than 600 powerful apps.*


Microsoft Dynamics: Background

Microsoft Dynamics 365 is a cloud-based portfolio of Microsoft products that can be connected within the same ecosystem and augmented with customization. Microsoft Dynamics applications can be integrated with familiar and already entrenched Microsoft Office products, as well as organization-specific applications built with Microsoft Azure. It can be further extended into the Internet of Things and augmented reality workflows.

Already configured modules in Microsoft Dynamics 365 include applications designed to streamline and automate sales, marketing, field service, customer service, commerce, operations, and finance. Additionally, Microsoft Dynamics modules can be connected to, and integrated with, existing systems.

At the highest level, there are two main Dynamics 365 solutions to choose from: Business Central and Finance & Operations.

Dynamics 365 Business Central is an ERP-like solution suited for most small and medium-sized businesses.

Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations is an ERP-like solution suited for large or diversified companies. It is often used by companies with multiple lines of business, diversified geographies, or complex product development needs.

These iterations have replaced older versions of Dynamics, namely Dynamics GP (Great Plains) and Dynamics NAV.


Overview

QuickBooks vs. Microsoft Dynamics for growing small businesses

QuickBooks is a portfolio of scalable financial and business management solutions with an intuitive interface. With two core offerings, QuickBooks Online Advanced and QuickBooks Enterprise, and the ability for users to customize their software to meet their unique needs, QuickBooks can be configured to fit the needs of growing businesses.

Microsoft Dynamics is a suite of business-ready applications designed to work with the Microsoft 365 suite of Office applications and with unique business applications—both those created in Microsoft Azure and those produced by third parties. Customers can select which of the modules they want to create upfront and add more later as needed. Out of the various Microsoft Dynamics offerings, Dynamics 365 Business Central is the most appropriate for smaller or medium-sized businesses.

Comparison table


 

Microsoft Dynamics 365

QuickBooks Online Advanced

QuickBooks Enterprise

Gold, Platinum, and Diamond


Payroll management 


Y

With Dynamics 365 Finance 


Y

With
QuickBooks Payroll*


Y

Enhanced Payroll – Gold and Platinum

Assisted Payroll – Diamond*


Time tracking


Y

With Timesheet Web App for Dynamics 365 HR* 


Y

Includes basic time tracking and also integrates with QuickBooks Time for increased functionality*


Y

Integrates with QuickBooks Time for optimized tracking*


Project management 

 

Y


Y

Integrates with Projects Center for more robust project management*


Y

Intuit Field Service Management
add-on*


Automated pricing and discounts 


Y


Y


Y

Advanced pricing with Platinum and Diamond


Automated invoices, estimates, and bills 


Y


Y


Y


Contractor management 


N


Not offered as a standard, but can be configured for sell-side contracts or integrated with a third-party point solution* 


Y

Limited contractor tracking and management 


Y

Included with QuickBooks Enterprise Contractor Edition


User scalability 


Y

Users assigned a global or billing admin role can add and assign new licenses 


Y

Up to 25 users


Y

Up to 40 users


Inventory management 


Y


Y


Y

Advanced inventory with Platinum and Diamond plans


Custom reports and business intelligence 


Y

Microsoft Dynamics can be integrated with Power BI to create live, custom business intelligence reporting 


Y

Insights and custom charts in performance center.


Y

Users can create customizable reports


Project job costing 


Y

Microsoft Dynamics software partners offer industry-specific modules and solutions


Y


Project center gives real-time info on project income and expenses


Y

Clearly see your profits and losses by project or job, so you can pivot where needed.


Integration with leading business applications


Y

Some applications require
a third-party integrator and hand-coded configurations*


Y

Some applications require
a third-party integrator.

QuickBooks CRM connector is available for leading business applications*


Y

Some applications require
a third-party integrator.

QuickBooks CRM connector is available for leading business applications*


Unlimited technical support and updates


N


Region-specific support is available during local business hours globally




Y


Y


Unlimited access to Priority Circle for phone and chat support , plus on-demand training

Time Tracking

Quickbooks Online Advanced offers basic time tracking capabilities. Both Quickbooks Online Advanced and QuickBooks Enterprise can deliver robust time tracking with the addition of QuickBooks Time.

Microsoft Dynamics also requires an additional module to deliver robust time tracking.*

Microsoft Dynamics 

QuickBooks 


The Microsoft Dynamics solution for employee time tracking is Dynamics Time & Attendance. It is intended for tracking and managing time entries, attendance, overtime, vacation, and sick leave within Microsoft Dynamics 365.


Time tracking entries can be made via Microsoft Outlook, web browsers, time recording terminals, or mobile devices. There are also more options for time entry and reporting.




QuickBooks Time, an end-to-end time tracking system, can be added to either QuickBooks Online Advanced or Enterprise. 


In QuickBooks Time, employees enter time while on the job to increase timesheet accuracy and reduce errors through automated reports and schedules. 



Business Process Automation

Both QuickBooks Enterprise and QuickBooks Online Advanced have automation capabilities associated with their core workflows.

Microsoft Dynamics has a fully customizable ecosystem in which data sources, applications, and task assignments can be automated within Microsoft applications.

Microsoft Dynamics

QuickBooks 


Microsoft Dynamics can create rich, fully customized automated experiences across not just financial management tasks, but all aspects of business management. 

There are many automation templates available for standard business process automation and Microsoft Dynamics partners who are able to help orchestrate streamlined workflows and create bespoke automations. For this reason, it is important for users to have a clear picture of what they want to achieve. 


Automated workflows included in QuickBooks Enterprise and QuickBooks Online Advanced empower growing businesses to reduce the time and money they’d normally spend on processes, such as sending and approving invoices, transactional customer communications, and, perhaps most important, cash flow management.

These can be customized at any time in QuickBooks solutions but specialize in tasks relating to financial management (as opposed to the CRM, sales, and marketing workflows available in Microsoft Dynamics). 

Project Costing and Management

QuickBooks solutions have specific project costing and management features to help manage project progress time and costs. Microsoft Dynamics has two solutions specifically designed to help business owners track, manage, and bill for ongoing projects and engagements.

Microsoft Dynamics

QuickBooks 


The Dynamics 365 Project Operations module connects sales, resourcing, project management, and finance teams within a single application. 

Users can track project progress and costing in real time and communicate through the dashboard to reallocate resources and adjust schedules as needed.


QuickBooks Online Advanced job costing features allow users to track profits and costs in real time to get profitability insights for each project and create accurate estimates for future jobs.


Integrating QuickBooks Time and QuickBooks Payroll services* adds labor cost data. 

Reporting and Analytics

Microsoft Dynamics, QuickBooks Enterprise and QuickBooks Online Advanced provide reporting and analytics dashboards that increase the visibility into a company’s metrics and data to help improve decision making. However, there is much more flexibility and customizability offered with Microsoft Dynamics.

Microsoft Dynamics

QuickBooks 


Microsoft Dynamics features advanced reporting with dashboard capability and can consolidate data from across multiple sources (with the appropriate integrations in place). 

In addition to a wide range of custom reporting options built into the solution, a number of third-party reporting integrations are available for those looking for specific output formats. 

Microsoft Dynamics can also be integrated with Power BI to create real-time data visualizations, 


QuickBooks Enterprise offers both standard and customizable reports to let you monitor critical financial metrics and drill into transaction-level details specific to your company. QuickBooks Online Advanced offers standard and customizable reports to help monitor critical financial metrics and drill into transaction-level details specific to your company. It also provides visual tracking via dashboards, custom charts, and insight trends in the performance center.


Users can create a variety of customizable reports from the ground up.

Implementation

As a result of its high customizability, the implementation of Microsoft Dynamics can vary greatly from company to company. Depending on the system’s complexity and number of users, it can take more or less time and be more or less expensive.

QuickBook solutions are comparably simpler and faster to get started, but offer less advanced opportunities for customization post-implementation.

Microsoft Dynamics

QuickBooks 


There is no standard timeline for Microsoft Dynamics implementation. Each timeline depends on multiple factors, such as the number of stakeholders involved in the planning process, the internal resources available, the modules and functionality required, the volume of historical data and the number of sources from which it must be migrated, and whether the customer has opted to pay for a Microsoft-accredited implementation consultant (as recommended by Microsoft’s own implementation guide) to help streamline the process. 


Between a comprehensive implementation cycle and employee onboarding and training, users are recommended to anticipate an implementation cycle of at least six months. 




As with Microsoft Dynamics, factors like number of users, add-ons, data migration, and third-party integrations will impact your QuickBooks implementation timeline.


Reviewers noted the average experience is six to eight weeks to implement QuickBook Enterprise.

The most time-consuming aspect of implementing QuickBooks Enterprise is the installation of the software onto a desktop (or network server if multi-user access is required). 


On the other hand, users report that it may be possible to implement QuickBooks Online Advanced in just minutes, though total implementation time varies based on a number of factors. 





Integration

Microsoft Dynamics 365, QuickBooks Enterprise and QuickBooks Online Advanced provide native solutions for integrating leading third-party business applications and enterprise platforms.

QuickBooks solutions offer pre-configured integrations with popular third-party systems and programs and can be used with third-party integrators to further extend the ecosystem. Microsoft Dynamics uses readily available APIs to create wide-reaching integrations with other business applications, but these still need some degree of coding skill, if not a dedicated developer resource.

Microsoft Dynamics 

QuickBooks 


One of the major benefits of using Microsoft Dynamics to create an ERP-like ecosystem is its easy integration with familiar Microsoft Office 365 applications, Microsoft Azure, and Power BI. Many businesses have already invested in some kind of Microsoft software, and this ready integration makes automation across multiple workflows possible. 


Microsoft Dynamics is also able to integrate with other third-party applications, such as Salesforce, HubSpot, Amazon Web Services—even Intuit QuickBooks. 


Integration is achieved primarily through APIs that are provided by Microsoft. These are called Dynamics 365 REST APIs and include REST-based, SOAP-based, and web-based APIs. Choosing the right API from Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM APIs can be difficult, which is why Microsoft recommends engaging experienced developers to assist with integrations.


QuickBooks offers hundreds of third-party apps to expand capabilities*. Note that app availability varies depending on whether the user is using the desktop or online version.


QuickBooks App Store quick links are grouped by app collections—Popular apps, Trending apps, Free apps, and Premium apps—and categories of tasks, like Make Payments, Perform Analytics, Run Payroll, and Track Time.*

QuickBooks Online Advanced Premium apps** provide advanced features and functions for deeper integration with select partners:

  • Salesforce
  • HubSpot
  • Bill.com
  • LeanLaw
  • DocuSign**

Support

Microsoft Dynamics and QuickBooks solutions provide several support options to optimize customer experience, with some basic support included with the subscription, and an option to pay for more hands-on assistance.

Microsoft Dynamics

QuickBooks 


Microsoft Dynamics offers customers three tiers of support: 

  1. Subscription support is included with a basic Microsoft Dynamics subscription and offers a one-hour SLA for critical cases and unlimited access to technical resources.

  2. Professional Direct support for Dynamics 365 and Power Platform costs an additional $9/month for proactive advisory services, faster response times, and escalation management for business-critical incidents.

  3. Unified support is a non-standard offering that promises comprehensive support for your entire organization, covering all your Microsoft technologies. This needs to be costed individually based on the customer’s needs. 



QuickBooks Enterprise and QuickBooks Online Advanced subscriptions include Priority Circle premium support.

Priority Circle grants access to premium training and supports features that include on-demand QuickBooks training, and 24/7 phone or chat with premium care specialists.

QuickBooks support, available for all QuickBooks users, provides several standard features:

  • A quick search
  • Select a product to customize support
  • Top three topics—expands to reveal more topics
  • Learn QuickBooks—featuring video tutorials and webinars, Ask the Community, What’s New, and Resources
  • Find an expert—find a certified advisor, bookkeeper, or accountant
  • Resource Center—articles, guides, and QuickBooks blog

Pricing

Microsoft Dynamics and QuickBooks solutions can be customized to provide value based on need and budget. Both QuickBooks Enterprise and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central can be paid for month to month, or annually (as of September 2021, the time this article was written).***

Microsoft Dynamics

QuickBooks 


Microsoft Dynamics offers customers three tiers of support: 

  1. Subscription support is included with a basic Microsoft Dynamics subscription and offers a one-hour SLA for critical cases and unlimited access to technical resources.

  2. Professional Direct support for Dynamics 365 and Power Platform costs an additional $9/month for proactive advisory services, faster response times, and escalation management for business-critical incidents.

  3. Unified support is a non-standard offering that promises comprehensive support for your entire organization, covering all your Microsoft technologies. This needs to be costed individually based on the customer’s needs. 



QuickBooks Enterprise and QuickBooks Online Advanced subscriptions include Priority Circle premium support.

Priority Circle grants access to premium training and supports features that include on-demand QuickBooks training, and 24/7 phone or chat with premium care specialists.

QuickBooks support, available for all QuickBooks users, provides several standard features:

  • A quick search
  • Select a product to customize support
  • Top three topics—expands to reveal more topics
  • Learn QuickBooks—featuring video tutorials and webinars, Ask the Community, What’s New, and Resources
  • Find an expert—find a certified advisor, bookkeeper, or accountant
  • Resource Center—articles, guides, and QuickBooks blog

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Is QuickBooks Enterprise and QuickBooks Advanced Online enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems?

QuickBooks solutions are not ERPs. QuickBooks Enterprise and Quickbooks Online Advanced are integrated solutions intended to automate and simplify a spectrum of common business transactions, with a focus on accounting, bookkeeping, and financial management. They do not offer built-in CRM or HR functionality like a traditional ERP. However, users can integrate hundreds of leading third-party applications with QuickBooks solutions, ensuring that they are able to enjoy the “best of breed” for all the capabilities their business requires.

  • Does Microsoft Dynamics integrate with QuickBooks?

Yes. Microsoft Dynamics is able to integrate with QuickBooks through one of their available APIs.

QuickBooks also offers a bidirectional pre-built, no-code template to integrate Microsoft Dynamics 365/CRM accounts, product, and invoices to better consolidate and manage revenue across the two applications.

  • Does QuickBooks or Microsoft Dynamics offer industry-specific solutions? 

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Essentials or Premium can both be augmented with highly customized applications. Business Central Premium in particular features additional functionality for service and manufacturing operations built in. Additional Dynamics applications can be configured to exact specifications for activities in marketing, sales, supply chain, HR, finance, and commerce.

QuickBooks has standard bookkeeping functions applicable to most industries. The project costing and time tracking capabilities are especially popular with those in the professional services, construction, and manufacturing industries, where a lack of spending transparency can affect budget control. QuickBooks solutions support and also offer integrations that can customize the solution for a specific industry such as accounting, nonprofit, wholesale & distribution, professional services, and retail.*

  • These are both cloud-based solutions. What if my Microsoft Dynamics or QuickBooks solution is unable to connect to the internet?

QuickBooks Online Advanced, and QuickBooks Enterprise installations with optional cloud hosting, will not work if they are not connected to the internet. Desktop-based Microsoft Dynamics applications can be used offline and information synced/uploaded when online.

  • What security features do Microsoft Dynamics and QuickBooks include, and how do they compare?

Microsoft Dynamics applications, QuickBooks Online Advanced, and QuickBooks Enterprise are all regularly audited for security compliance certifications. Microsoft Dynamics 365 provides multiple levels of security across physical, infrastructure, and operational security with Microsoft Azure and role-based security. These security roles define how different users across the business control access to data. All instances of Dynamics 365 use Microsoft SQL Server Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) to perform real-time encryption of data when written to disk.

QuickBooks Online Advanced is a VeriSign Secured™ product. VeriSign® is a leading Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Certificate Authority. It features password-protected login, firewall-protected servers, and the same encryption technology (128-bit SSL) used by the world’s top banks. Intuit is a licensee of the TRUSTe Privacy Program, an independent third-party organization whose mission is to accelerate online trust among consumers and organizations globally through its leading privacy trustmark and innovative trust solutions.

  • Can I migrate my historical data into Intuit QuickBooks or Microsoft Dynamics products?

Yes, historical data migration and data source integration is considered during implementation. Since Microsoft Dynamics 365 is less of an application and more of an enterprise collaboration and automation platform, it is intended to consolidate many forms of data from multiple sources into single dashboard views.

QuickBooks also allows users to migrate historical data and offers two ways of doing this: chronologically or in batches from existing Excel sheets to save time.


Conclusion

Microsoft Dynamics provides a wealth of on-premises functionality. Its automated custom workflows, advanced reporting, and interconnected business processes and technology ecosystem have much to offer. It can help streamline processes and provide visibility into performance under a single vendor.

The top five industries that use Microsoft Dynamics are technical, manufacturing, business services, retail, and construction.

QuickBooks Enterprise and QuickBooks Online Advanced are comparable options to Microsoft Dynamics for growing small businesses looking for something that is more than just an “accounting system.” Their easy integration paths to powerful third-party partners help expand their ecosystem, providing a faster time to value and a strong foundation for future growth. QuickBooks solutions provide a robust and flexible financial management hub with automated workflows that can help small to medium-sized businesses break out of their “SMB” shell to take the next step.

The top industries that use QuickBooks Enterprise are construction, manufacturing, professional services, retail, and wholesale & distribution.

Top industries for QuickBooks Online Advanced include professional services, legal, nonprofit, accounting, construction, and food & beverage.

Get in touch with QuickBooks for more information

We can help you determine which QuickBooks solution best fits your needs and desire for business growth and can offer migration support to ensure your journey to QuickBooks is smooth.

Click here to set up a QuickBooks demo at your convenience.

*Additional terms, conditions and fees apply.

**Apps are subject to change without notice.

***Products, features, pricing, discounts and offerings are subject to change without notice

© 2021 Intuit. Trademarks available at https://www.intuit.com/legal/trademark/


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