FAQ
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Learn many of the ways that a Management Control System like NetBooks, can be an ideal application for integrating all of your operational systems.
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Is Netbooks for us?
Q. Is NetBooks a good fit for our business?
If your business holds inventory and has between 2 and 25 people, NetBooks is probably a good fit for you. Feel free to look at view product tutorials, and talk to a support representative, to understand how NetBooks can address your specific business requirements.
Q. Will NetBooks help us manage production?
Absolutely. In fact, NetBooks will help you adopt "best practice" methods with any of the production types used most often by small businesses (fixed recipe, time of production and batch process).
Q. We hold inventory but don't manufacture anything in-house. Does NetBooks support this?
Yes. There will simply be some features of NetBooks that you won't use.
Q. We run a service business. Is NetBooks a good fit for us?
Could be. Even though NetBooks is optimized for product companies, it works well for a wide range of service businesses. If your business doesn't require progress billing or integrated time tracking, you may find that NetBooks is a good fit for you. Look at our self-running demos, or sign up for a live online demo from the home page, to find out more.
Q. We do a lot of business outside North America. Is NetBooks a good fit for us?
Not right now. NetBooks does not handle currency other than US dollars.
Q. We have over 25 people. Will NetBooks work for us?
It depends. Businesses with over 25 people often require a level of process-specific customization that isn't compatible with a system as accessible and affordable as NetBooks. When companies surpass this size, a more complex ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system might be a better fit. Contact NetBooks to discuss your particular needs.
Q. I am a sole proprietor. Is NetBooks a good fit for me?
It depends on how complex your business is. NetBooks was designed as a multi-user system, and it provides the most benefit for operations with more than one person. However, if you work with contractors or brokers, have a need for "anytime, anywhere" access, or plan to grow and want to start out with the right system, you may find that NetBooks is a good fit for you. Feel free to view product tutorials, and talk to a support representative, to understand how NetBooks can address your specific business requirements.
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Netbooks Functionality
Q. We use QuickBooks®. How is NetBooks different?
QuickBooks was designed to address bookkeeping. NetBooks was designed to deliver an integrated business management solution the supports sales, customers, vendors, production, inventory, shipping, and yes, bookkeeping.
Q. Does NetBooks work with QuickBooks?
No. The bookkeeping part of NetBooks replaces QuickBooks. This is because desktop bookkeeping software was developed almost 20 years ago, and had to live within the limitations of the time: only a few computers, limited networking, and no Internet.
NetBooks was developed with 3 objectives:
- Address the complete business management problem. This requires multi-user access, and the ability to easily and quickly integrate with other service providers.
- Provide the best systems and support available. This means providing 1-click customer support; comprehensive data security; high performance, high reliability systems; and continuous data backup.
- Make it affordable for even the smallest companies. This means completely relieving customers of the IT support burdens that go along with many in-house software/hardware business management systems. A single IT person can cost more than $50,000 per year - more than you'd pay to use NetBooks for 20 years.
Meeting these objectives required a completely new system, using the latest advances in software, communications and computing - and taking full advantage of the power of the Internet.
Q. We use QuickBooks, but we also use a lot of other software. How can NetBooks help?
NetBooks is a single, integrated system that replaces many disconnected "islands" of information you currently use to run your business. If you're using spreadsheets to track inventory and production, products like Outlook or ACT! to manage your customers, and QuickBooks for billing and reporting, you'll find that NetBooks replaces them all while providing a much better way to get your people working together.
Q. We have outside sales people and brokers. Can they use NetBooks?
Yes, and they'll love it. Because NetBooks is delivered over the Internet, you can grant "anytime, anywhere" access to people outside your company. You can also restrict access to only the parts of the product they need to use. Because you can add users for less than $1 a day, it makes sense to do so.
Q. With all these people using NetBooks in my business, how can I control who sees what?
NetBooks lets you decide who can access NetBooks, and which features they can use. This level of access is established from the beginning when you switch to NetBooks, and only a user with administrative privileges can change it.
Q. I sell online. How does NetBooks integrate with my webstore?
Today, NetBooks allows you to automatically import transactions from a webstore on a periodic basis. Doing this requires that your shopping cart software export an XML file with order data. NetBooks can provide the specification for the XML file format. However, because there are literally thousands of different shopping cart applications in common use, it is not feasible to provide instructions for creating an automatic export process for each of them.
Soon, NetBooks will provide an enhanced webstore implementation that supports a richer integration with selected shopping cart systems. Transitioning from your current shopping cart application to the NetBooks-supported webstore could range from very easy to difficult, depending on which cart you're currently using. In general, it will be well worth the effort if online sales are an important part of your business.
Q. I have a retail store. How does NetBooks support that?
Today, you can enter transactions from your POS system into NetBooks manually. NetBooks will address POS integration in the future.
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Pricing and Availablility
Q. What does NetBooks cost?
NetBooks is just $200 per month for up to 5 users.
Additional users are just $20 per month, or less than $1 per day. This makes it affordable to give everyone inside your company access. It's also affordable to let people outside your company, like brokers, use NetBooks. To make this secure, you can limit what they can see and do in NetBooks.
Your bookkeeper and accountant are free. If you work with part-time accounting resources, like a bookkeeper and CPA, have them contact NetBooks and register as independent accounting professionals. You won't pay for them to use NetBooks.
During the first year you may choose to pay quarterly or annually. With the quarterly option you'll be billed $500 to cover the cost of importing your business data and configuring NetBooks for your company. This is free for annual customers. Renewals are billed annually.
To save over 15%, you can buy a two-year NetBooks subscription for $4000.
Q. What do training, support and updates cost?
Nothing. Unlimited training, support, and product updates are always included at no additional cost.
Q. Is NetBooks available for outright purchase?
No, NetBooks is provided as an ongoing service which includes:
This approach gives you big company IT resources without any IT support costs. A single IT person can cost over 20 times as much as
NetBooks.
Q. How do I know the price won't go up?
You will never pay more for NetBooks than the price at which you sign up. If the subscription price for NetBooks goes up, your price won't change. If the subscription price for NetBooks goes down, you'll automatically get the lower price.
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Switching to Netbooks
Q. What is required to switch to NetBooks?
Using NetBooks is easy. Transitioning to NetBooks requires a little planning. The good news is that every new customer is assigned a concierge to make sure that the total process goes smoothly.
Because a Business Support Specialist assists with importing your key business data, there is no reason to wait until the end of a reporting period, month or week to make the switch.
Click here for more information.
Q. How long does it take to switch to NetBooks?
This depends partly on you, and partly on how many customers are joining at the time you sign up. A typical customer will start between 15 and 60 days after deciding to use NetBooks. This provides time to identify all of your key business data and get all of your people trained in NetBooks so that they're productive from day one.
It also ensures that you are provided with stellar service as a new customer during the transition process and every day thereafter.
Q. Can I import my QuickBooks or Peachtree data?
Yes. As part of the process of switching to NetBooks, you will receive assistance with importing all of your key business data.
Q. How does my company get NetBooks?
Q. NetBooks looks like it might be a good fit for my clients. Who should I contact?
Please begin by sending us an email.
Q. Do I need to wait for a month or quarter or year-end to switch?
No. Because NetBooks provides direct assistance with importing your key business data, there is no reason to wait until the end of a quarter, month or even week to make the switch. The process is designed to have your whole company productive in using NetBooks on the first day.
Q. Do you offer a free trial of NetBooks so I can evaluate it?
This isn't practical, because the process of getting your business data into NetBooks and setting it up for your requirements is fairly involved. This is why each new customer is assigned a concierge to help ensure that the process goes smoothly. The best ways to learn about NetBooks are to:
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Service and Support
Q. How is NetBooks supported?
NetBooks support is just a click a way. In fact, it's built right into every NetBooks screen. When you click on the support link, you are immediately connected to a business support specialist who knows who you are, the company you're with, and where you are in the product. With your permission, our support rep can see exactly what you're seeing in NetBooks. This means most questions are resolved during the first interaction. If the problem can't be solved it right away, NetBooks will call you, saving you phone charges and hold times.
Q. What are your support hours?
NetBooks support hours are 6:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Monday through Friday, Pacific time. To see how this looks in your time zone, click here.
Q. Can I get support on the weekend?
Support inquiries sent outside of support hours, including over the weekend, are handled in the order received on the next business day.
Q. How often do you update NetBooks?
One of the advantages of NetBooks is that you always have the most current version. You don't need to do anything to upgrade; it just happens.
Features are added on a regular schedule, with minor releases as often as once a month, major releases every quarter, and bug fixes, when necessary, as fast as a few hours.
As a customer, you have an active voice in helping us prioritize new features. If there's a feature you think should be part of NetBooks, just let us know.
Q. Can we get our data out of NetBooks?
Absolutely. At any time, you can download your data in the industry-standard CSV ('comma-separated values') format.
Q. What happens if you go out of business?
NetBooks planned for the long-term since its inception taking seriously their responsibility to their customers. The company is well funded, and backed by top venture capital firms and successful individuals who are committed to building a successful company with a single-minded focus on serving the needs of the small business community.
However, in the unlikely event that NetBooks were to close its doors, arrangements have been made for servers to continue to operate indefinitely, and your data would be available for you to download.
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Requirements
Q.How fast an Internet connection will we need to use NetBooks?
NetBooks is designed to run very quickly and support multiple users over any broadband Internet connection such as DSL or cable.
Q. Will NetBooks work on standard modem dial-up?
Yes, but you won't like it. It will be slow on dialup, so think of this as a backup only.
Q. Which browsers does NetBooks work with?
NetBooks supports Firefox and Internet Explorer on the PC, and Firefox on the Mac. NetBooks performs best in Firefox, which is recommended and available at no charge at http://www.getfirefox.com.
Q. Can I use NetBooks on a Mac?
Yes, you can use NetBooks on a Mac with the Firefox browser. Firefox is free and available at www.getfirefox.com.
Q. Can we use NetBooks offline?
No, an Internet connection is required to use NetBooks.
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Hosting and Security
Q. How do I know our data is secure?
Security has been built into NetBooks since the very beginning. NetBooks founder (the man behind the original QuickBooks) was CEO of nCircle, one of the leading network security companies whose customers included Visa, Morgan Stanley, and numerous government agencies. Several other key people from nCircle are part of NetBooks, and work continuously to ensure that NetBooks remains secure and your data remains safe.
In addition, NetBooks servers are located at Equinix in a bank-grade facility that provides full redundancy and automatic failover of all major systems, including power and network. Equinix is the largest global network-neutral data center and Internet exchange services company in the world. Their customers include GE, Google, IBM, PayPal, Sony and Yahoo!.
As a result, your data is far safer in NetBooks than it would be if it were on your personal computer or your bookkeeper's computer.
Q. Is there a limit to how much information I can store in NetBooks?
No. There is no practical limit to the number of companies, people, and items that you can add to NetBooks. There is no separate data storage or hosting charge.
Q. How do I control access to sensitive parts of NetBooks, like check writing or customer data?
NetBooks gives you a high degree of control over who can access the system, and which features they can use. NetBooks technical support will help you to set this up when you switch to NetBooks, and only a user with administrative privileges can change it.
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About Your Educational Champion
"NetBooks revolutionizes the way small businesses are managed by delivering a complete Small Business Bookkeeping & Accounting System that integrates sales, production, inventory, shipping, bookkeeping, marketing, VRM and CRM and supports multiple users in a secure online environment."
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Note: This information is presented to provide a general overview of small business options and related services. It is not intended to be an exhaustive representation. Data has been compiled by the Knowledge Institute for informational purposes only. Content is provided on an "as is" basis and is not intended to, nor does it, provide advice or create a customer relationship between the Knowledge Institute, BUZGate™ and/or any other organization named herein, and any reader.
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