How Using QuickBooks for Orders is very expensive.
If you’re using QuickBooks (QB) to manage your orders—creating an “Estimate” or “Sales Order” for every request—you’re likely bleeding time and money without even realizing it.
QuickBooks is an excellent accounting tool, but it is not an operations or workflow management system. This workaround introduces massive inefficiencies, hidden costs, and administrative chaos.
It’s time to stop using a square peg for a round hole. Here’s a breakdown of the hidden costs.
The Hidden Cost of Manual QB Order Management
Let’s estimate the time spent on a single order when using QuickBooks:
| Task in QuickBooks (Manual) | Estimated Time Per Order |
|---|---|
| Enter client data/order details | 3-5 minutes |
| Periodically update status | 2-3 minutes |
| Convert Estimate to Invoice | 2-4 minutes |
| Review/QA invoice before sending | 2-3 minutes |
| Total Admin Time Per Order | ~12 minutes |
If you process just 15 orders a day, that’s 3 hours of wasted admin time daily, or ~780 hours annually.
If you process 80 orders a day, that’s 16 hours of wasted admin time daily, or ~4,160 hours annually. That’s 2 headcount!
The Pricey User License Trap:
To let multiple team members update orders or status in QB, you pay full user license fees (which can be over $50/month per user for Plus/Advanced). Adding just two extra users for workflow management costs you over $1,200+ per year—for functionality you don’t even need!
It adds up – hours of admin time, licensing costs, human error, and the inconvenience of jumping in and out of QB to get work done.
The Solution: A Dedicated Order Management System
RDS vs. QB: The Clear Winner for Efficiency
| Aspect | Using QuickBooks (Manual) | Using RDS (Automated) |
|---|---|---|
| Time Per Order (Admin) | ~12 minutes | ~1-2 minutes (for final review) |
| Annual Time Savings (80 orders/day) | 0 | Save 2 headcount |
| Extra QB User Cost | $600+ per user/year | $0 (users in RDS system) – Save $1200+/yr. |
| Invoicing Process | Manual data entry, high error rate | Automated, accurate, instant |
| QB Consistency | Manual entry, clutters financials, inconsistencies | Bulk import finalized invoices |
Take Control of Your Time and Budget
You don’t need to overpay for accounting software licenses or waste hundreds of hours on manual data entry. RDS is purpose-built to manage your operations efficiently, saving you both time and money.
The RDS Advantage: Efficiency and Savings
Our dedicated workflow solution is built for operations, not accounting.
- Time Saved: With automated invoice generation, you can cut that 12 minutes per order down to less than 2 minute of invoice oversight.
- User Cost Saved: Reduce the number of people needing QB licenses.
- Seamless Data Flow: With the RDS invoice bulk export feature of finalized invoice data, QBO data is kept clean.
The Bottom Line
Using dedicated order management software can offer significant advantages over using accounting software like QuickBooks for this purpose. These benefits include potential time savings in processing each order and reduced costs by potentially requiring fewer QuickBooks user licenses for your operational staff. By streamlining order intake, tracking, and invoicing, a specialized solution can free up valuable time.
Consider exploring dedicated order management solutions to optimize your workflow and potentially achieve these savings.
Ready to reclaim your time and cut unnecessary costs?
Let’s talk about how you can get out of the direct and indirect costs of QB, and have RDS help you move into a system built for streamlined work.
👉 www.realdocs.us/contact