Windward System Five Reviews

Pros

- Extremely customizable. Allows you to customize anything from report, to custom price-labels, to customized POS screen (even changing the size/color/look of virtually every button). If you are a little more adventurous, you can even write code that allows you make your own functions.

- Easy to learn. For as advanced as this is, most people can pick up on the majority what thy need in a day. For those who want to do more, their is a complete 'Windward Academy' that you can watch videos and read comprehensive guides.

- LOTS of support. If I ever have a question, there are about ten people I can call. Of-course, they have 24/7 technical support, but virtually anyone in the company is eager and willing to help. I can call my account manager, or any number of others I have talked to throughout the installation process. Even the lovely receptionist is awesome has walked me through issues on more than one occasion.

- Philippines support. You might think this would be under the "Cons" section; but it isn't. The Philippines support is not outsourced like other companies, but they are actual employees working in a Windward office in Cebu. They all speak great English, are EXTREMELY knowledgeable about the product, and aim to please. No matter how frantic I am when I call, they never get upset and are always positive. And they are not going to give up until it's fixed. - You typically don't find this level of customer service in Western support groups.

Cons

- Price tag will be your biggest hurdle. And some features will cost you extra. Having to pay extra to have the software integrate with our merchant account is probably the biggest complaint I have with the company. But even this is vastly outweighed by the Pros. If you want the best, it probably isn't going to be the cheapest.

- There are occasional errors that pop up and random issues. But 90% of these are self-resolving (very intuitive software). For the other 10%, support is right there to remote in and stay with you until it's resolve.

Pros

The Support is A1 and the features of everything from Inventory to Sales Invoices, everything is connected and very user friendly. Reports are easy to run, reconciliations, sales and purchase invoicing, ageing, financials are easy to read and all other functions are again, user friendly.

Cons

No cons at this time. We didn't like that it didn't have a payroll feature when we started with it but now it does.

Alternatives Considered

QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise

Reasons for Choosing Windward System Five

We didn't like their Inventory feature or their GL postings that you could never correct even if it wasn't reconciled.

Reasons for Switching to Windward System Five

When we were given a demonstration, we knew right away it could handle what we needed and more.

Pros

In comparison to previous software used, the finalization of the inventory process within Windward is rather straight-forward. The ability to print count sheets with only product in stock - no part numbers with a "zero" quantity, is great and saves paper. However, products often randomly shift into categories like 'financial' which causes the item to remain on the inventory count. I have had to request help from support on this multiple times.

Cons

I have used Windward software all day, every week day, for two years now and I consistently encounter issues in day to day operations. I have had problems with the cash out feature not allowing me to finalize the file and close the day; I am constantly getting error messages, or "unplanned shutdown" messages when an unplanned shutdown has not occurred; there are processing issues with rental invoices that cause the invoice totals to change, after the invoice has been finalized and submitted. This specifically has created MAJOR discrepancies on our invoices that has resulted in us to losing money, and having to issue apologies to many of our major accounts. One of these incidents has caused irreparable harm to our business relationship with our (previously) largest customer.

Pros

that is is absolutely fluent in keeping all of our information organized & keeps me able to do my job as a 1 woman Owner/Operator. without this softwear we would not have been able to stay open for the past 11 years without the ease of Windward System 5, for my retail business.

Cons

for us a small retail shop, the maintenance & updating costs are quite high & out of our price range on a year to year basis.

Pros

the software is easy to use and customizable. we have found a it works well and have not had too many problems. there are a lot of options in the setup and we are able to change if it does not work. the implementation staff was great and the support is great. when ever I have contacted support they responded very quickly and the webinars have helped make the software better

Cons

it takes a long time to get a feature added and a lot of pestering, there are a few things in the software that does not make sense with the labels

Pros

Knowing that you can pretty much always get a hold of someone in support- My all time favorite support person really knows what she is doing and is a very pleasant wonderful personality! It is nice that there are a variety of reports for each department

Cons

The bookkeeping part of Windward - everything is journal entry based and not check book based - The payroll system is Canadian based and is not United States friendly on the forms that need to be done at year end for payroll and the government. Some of the reports don't print dates and other pertinent information on them and if they do you have to click on everthing to just read the notes. Also an awful lot of "errors" that occur and some that never get fixed- it tends to be frustrating! Also having to wait for someone to call you back when there is a urgent issue that needs addressing asap can get frustrating, although you do always get a call back

Pros

The built in reports allowed for easily customizing reports. With their "lookup words" it was easy to tag, customers, products and vendors to particular categories for additional reporting

Cons

The online capability. There was no good capability for online. Sales would take a long time to integrate back into the software and there was no direct connection between Windward S5 to the online platform such as WooCommerce. Which meant an additional cost for another API connection.
Windward API was very limited to what info could be pushed and pulled from the website.

Alternatives Considered

EBMS

Reasons for Choosing Windward System Five

We outgrew the software

Pros

Easy to use and teach employees. Easy to add and track parts.

Cons

Have not figured out how to use the special order part and see if we are ordering a lot of one part and therefore should stock that item.

Pros

Back office accounting is saving us money by tracking inventory vs sales, as well as less cost with accounting fees by running an all inclusive bookkeeping/accounting program.

Cons

The occasional glitches, after each windows update, with form display screens freezing up the software.

Pros

The system is very user friendly for the basic user and with a little experience on it you can become a whiz quickly Inventory tracking when used correctly is awesome!! Nice to have a Floorplan system that tracks from purchase to payout

Cons

I would like it accessible on mobile as we are on the cloud and that was kinda what was expected but did not get it

Pros

Windward offers a comprehensive set of features, more than we will ever use. What drove us to purchase Windward is that its POS features are fully and seamlessly integrated into its accounting software. That means that both our POS and accounting data is up to date and current at all times. No integration with other software is required. Windward does it all. Another thing I like about Windward is the quality of Windward's support. Windward not only sets the system up for you and makes sure that all you point of sale devices work (barcode scanners, printers, etc), but if you are a cloud customer or have a maintenance contract, Windward will also remote in to your machines and fix any issues you may have. In addition, they have an on-line learning academy with training videos, documents, etc. that help you continue to learn the functionality of the system. They also offer live sessions on specific issues like maintaining inventory, year-end procedures, etc. We needed a lot of hand holding when we first started--I had no previous experience with POS software--and Windward successfully guided even a slow learner like me!

Cons

Windward is continually upgrading its software to provide additional functionality or to streamline its processes. We recently moved to the cloud version of Windward, and that has reduced some administrative overhead for us--no need for backups, no need to install updates, and greater data security. So overall, it's a plus. But there is one feature I miss in the cloud version. When our software was installed on site, we were able to print barcode labels directly from Windward to our barcode printer, a Zebra ZT510. That feature no longer works for us in the cloud, and I'm told that the reason why is that the cloud version of Windward does not currently support our particular printer. I'm still looking for a better answer from Windward. But what that loss of functionality means for me is that I must now create a separate barcode database in Excel, link that database to Zebra's barcode software, and print my barcode labels through it. So you should pay close attention to the particular peripheral hardware that Windward supports.

Pros

I like the auto data up loads for inventory. I like the adjustability of all the categories of forms and labels, such as invoices, purchase orders, packing slips, inventory tags, delivery tickets, etc. we can utilize and customize to suite all kinds needs for many different aspects, and situations. Being able to use the tag-a-long kits for suggestive selling, helps out the sales staff considerably, gives them that extra help in making their quotas and the don't have to remember to ask each customer, the suggested add-on items pops up on the invoice and forces them to ask. The sales staff loves the ability to bring up all their open invoices at one click. They love the ability to prioritize estimates for their follow ups. I love the pop up tasks, I can assign tasks to specific employees for a specific day and time to pop up, to remind them to get it done. Using system batch purchasing really saves a lot of time. Using alternative vendors for the same products helps with our inventory management. We have a repair department, sometimes the sales people will help out on the repair bench and the "technician's time clock" works well for them when they get call back to the sales floor in the middle of their repair and then come back later to finish, that may happen several times in the course of one repair depending if the time it takes for completion. Using this "technician's time clock" makes it easy to track their time for the repair fees. System 5 is such an integral part of our day to day functions, we take a lot of it's features for granted, it is hard to think of all the good things it does for us to make our lives easier.

Cons

I think the data up loads can function easier, be less complicated. We don't use the accounting part of the program. We use QB for our payroll and it will integrate with System 5 so that is good. There are more aspects of the program I like to be using and I wish the learn curves would be easier. We have an extra large amount of inventory and data stored in the system, since we have been using it since 2008. When generating reports or gathering information, the delays to the system or the machine's think processes, are way too long for me, before the abort button shows up, if it shows up at all or the option to quit the process and try another way. Again think of what I like least is difficult to do because we always find a work around to fulfill our needs.

Pros

This software would be a good inventory or p.o.s system

Cons

it's definitely not designed for a rental or accounting system

Pros

The sales aspect is good. POS is acceptable. Easy to find a product and sell it. Kits work well. Reporting is somewhat good. Support tries to resolve issues.

Cons

Financials - If you are serious about your business, this is not for you. It is not comparable to Quick books. They have flatly refused to integrate with QB. Their financial side scores a 1/10. The Multi currency module is full of promise but has many problems and bugs like display and operational issues. You have to be very careful when dealing with multi-currency. Procurement is quite basic and could have been thought through more. No real science or maths behind ordering so you better know your high, lows, trends etc. Some aspects are good but fall short in some areas. They state they are PCI compliant but fall short on monthly account payments. There is a work around but wastes time. If you do job cards or outwork, this is a challenge and you have to invent your own internal systems. Not sure on stock value integrity? Stock take process could have some enhancements to make it quicker for the user.

Pros

Easy to use for the basic functions of our business such as reserving, renting and returning product. Integrated POS.

Cons

Limited as far as scheduling for logistical planning, very basic and a lot of potential for mistakes, too manual in some respects. Rental reports need to be simplified the variety of reports needs to be expanded. Generally there needs to be more reports that are specific to the rental side designed by Windward that help to identify business opportunities as well as areas the business could improve in.

Pros

There isn't much I like about winward. Inventory is okay but not great.

Cons

It is slow. Freezes. We are not a large company but it takes a long time to generate the AP/ AR reports ect.
Exporting this to caseware or making you books easy access for your accountant is no existent. Which adds a major expense to a business' year end. Talk to your accountant - if they haven't heard of it - RUN! ( if they have they probably wont recommend it.) Subledger reports will not match Balance sheets: So generating an AR Report the balance will be different than the Balance Sheet.
We had issues with our inventory and selling - sometimes it pulls the cost of an item twice -so it would inflate our expenses!

Pros

Order Management, POS, Inventory Tracking.

Cons

Not as customizable as I would like. Email feature lacks templates for the email body of the message when sending statements in bulk. Could have a better more customizable email feature for invoices and statements.

Alternatives Considered

Fishbowl

Reasons for Choosing Windward System Five

Windward has superior order management.

Reasons for Switching to Windward System Five

Better developed product and support.

Pros

Many features - most of them even work.
Price is pretty good compared to most solutions.
It generally works and if you don't do any updates you get used to the bugs and how to work around them.

Cons

Bugs. Every update fixes some bugs and introduces some new ones. I don't bother with updates anymore, just too many headaches.
Slightly archaic - you can feel that it is not a fully modern product. Years (decades) of upgrades and patches have made it feel like no one person can manage the whole project anymore. Fixes in one area screws things up in another.
Service is spotty.
Pervasive SQL is utter garbage and you don't have a choice to run another SQL server. Pervasive is easily the worst part of this whole system.
We've added ecommerce to our business but haven't integrated System 5 - the cost is eye-watering. Maybe if the cost comes down at some point.

Pros

Nationwide Furniture Mattress Outlet looks forward to continuing and growing our partnership with Windward Software. Windward Software's system allows us to stay on track and be able to organize vital information. We rely on Windward Software to perform every day so we can deliver the best customer experience possible

Cons

The time it takes to load certain functions is excessive sometimes.

Pros

Inventory control and details that can be entered into each item is awesome. Customer sales tracking is great. Can be adapted to many types of businesses.

Cons

Reports side is not the best. Cannot get an accurate back dated inventory and designing reports is sometimes hard. Need bigger field for invoice numbers when adding bills to workorders.

Pros

Easy for the sales people to use, once they are very familiar with the system.

Cons

There are basic programming errors, such as date changes, Currency type, etc. that do not flow through the je, you have to change existing je's line by line. The control numbers should change what is in the je. When I addressed the issue, I was brushed off and just told to adjust the entries. When you try to use a date range for printing vendor accounts it does not work.

Trying to get it to work with other programs has been a problem, and everthing has a price tag associated with it.

Pros

Very versatile, learning new things all the time. Everything meshes together in one package. Like the way you can drill down to see what happens in the background. The accounting took a bit of getting used to but has proved itself .

Cons

The Terminology is different from most other programs and it is sometimes difficult to determine exactly what a certain term means

Pros

This system fits our needs with long part numbers. We are not computer people so the support is very important to us.

Cons

Some times it takes so long to get the support we need. The was such an issue I did think about changing systems. It has got better.

Pros

We like the way we can track service and parts for our customers and how the point of sale system tracks our inventory

Cons

The payroll module isn't as easy to use as the point of sale module and fine tuning forms can be very confusing