ALERE Reviews

An Accounting/ERP package that should be considered in your next search.

Comments: Alere has a robust accounting package. From that, Alere can be expanded to support distributors, job shops, make to order, engineer to order, make to stock facilities. A company can grow and expand its usage while staying on the same platform.

Pros:

Alere is a mature and well-established product which continues to adapt to new technology to support the needs of today's customers.A benefit of its development process is a continual emphasis on refactoring the basic architecture. So, the user interface is rich and powerful, and all modules utilize that same interface. Cross-training benefits from this intuitive interface.TIW provides a conversion program to convert from multiple other software packages, such as Quickbooks, SBT Pro, and others. This is a rather full conversion process which allows a VAR to complete a conversion over a long weekend. On Thursday, staff works on the old platform. On Monday, staff works on Alere.Alere is one product/one platform. The base is a robust accounting package. From that, additional modules can be added to provide additional functionality, only as needed, for kitting, distribution, bills of material, full manufacturing. So, as a company's needs change and grow, Alere will grow with it without needing to change platforms.Alere offers integration with Shopify and TaxJar which ease tax management and easily opens the door to e-Commerce.

Cons:

The interface does represent a traditional data entry format, and doesn't provide a more contemporary interface more typical of web interfaces which represent user process. However, the architecture is largely open, data is accessible, and such interfaces could easily be customized.

JX Nippon Mining & Metals review

Comments: The system is very robust and causes no problems. I like working with the staff at TIW too. They are always helpful and offer suggestions when creating custom modifications.

Pros:

The way all the modules interact with each other and are linked are most beneficial. The manufacturing module lets you set up machines with an overhead rate so the cost of the machine is layered onto the cost of the manufactured items. A direct labor rate is used for the labor portion of the costs as well. TIW created custom modifications that make Alere even easier to use for the manufacturing personnel.

Cons:

Sometimes the reports are too lengthy and have too many columns.

Boyesen, Inc.

Comments: We are very happy with Alere. As well as the fact that it is very user friendly.

Pros:

Alere is very user friendly. Alere can also be configured easily for our needs.

Cons:

Not enough space for customer information without customization

Overall ease of use

Comments: Implementing ACH processing has been a huge efficiency gain.

Pros:

Alere is really user friendly, easy to learn and use on a daily basis.

Cons:

Having more automation capabilities in regard to reports, auto create and email reports.

New User

Comments: Everyone is able to find out information through the system, instead of constantly asking if an order has been placed. There are less errors with duplicate orders because of the warnings. On my end, setting up the system wasn't as bad as I was imagining it, and the learning curve was short for new users. We are still learning new tricks, but people have picked up the system rather quickly.

Pros:

This software has so many capabilities that we didn't have available in our last software. The ease of finding information is great. We all love being able to have multiple windows up at once.

Cons:

Sometimes the different tabs of the modules can take time to load, and we had some problems with errors and the system freezing up. The most problematic area is mass emailing, currently there is a large work-around to be able to send out mass emails from G-Suite. Also, we would like to be able to input customer information when using the mobility app.

ALERE software review

Comments: All facets of operations are now managed within ALERE.

Pros:

I love the comprehensive nature of ALERE. It handles all of our operations. We used to have different systems for accounting, inventory control and CRM. Like everyone these days, we multi-task. Now we don't have to bounce back and forth from system to system to do our jobs.

Cons:

The commissions module out of the box doesn't work for how we calculate commissions.

Flexible and Easy to Use

Comments: We have clients that do manufacturing and distribution all over the country. We are able to do modifications and still upgrade to new versions.

Pros:

We have clients with differing needs. The ability to modify is very important for us. Ease of use is also very important for our clients and the product is easy to learn. The manuals and demos are very helpful. Support from TIW is always quick and helpful when we have questions.

Cons:

I can't think of any cons. The software has met our needs.

ALERE fan

Comments: We use ALERE for everything related to accounting and order flow. We emphasize entering activity while it occurs. From inventory receipts, to manufacturing transactions, to shipments and invoicing - we know right up to the minute what has occurred. Typically, we have financial statements completed by 10:00 AM on the 1st for the previous month.

Pros:

ALERE is comprehensive and it is always current. We put information in as it occurs so the data can be used by customer service, manufacturing scheduling, and by accounting.

Cons:

We built our systems around ALERE. We try to use the system as it's designed and have made minimal modifications. I really don't know of a con to ALERE.

Alere Offers Robust Functionality Reflecting Decades Of Ongoing Development & Improvement

Comments: Alere's publisher, TIW Corp, has provided superb customer service, both to our company as well as directly to our clients. This is definitely a company who understands the importance of timely responses to issues and have always gone out of their way to provide thorough resolutions. Their annual software maintenance is one of the best investments our clients can make and we never hesitate to heartily recommend that our clients stay current in order to take advantage of the new features Alere consistently provides each year.

Pros:

Conative Information Technolgy specializes in providing software that accommodates and streamlines existing business workflow and assisting our clients to accomplish their stated goals and objectives. We often write custom programs that integrate with existing ERP systems. We've worked closely with Alere since the early 90's and have always been impressed with their technical depth and clearly evident commitment to providing software that preserves these custom changes even as their product evolves over time. Their custom development framework is the best we have seen in over 30 years in the business. Our clients have found Alere easy to use and navigate. Due to the design of Alere's library of intelligent objects , integration with other company systems has been accomplished with ease.

Cons:

Since we reside in Canada, we have had to integrate Canadian-specific payroll programs with Alere, but this has never proven to be much of an issue as there are several ways to integrate and analyze the data.

Great Value, ever improving, company that Listens

Comments: I have implemented ALERE for many companies converting from sage Pro, dynamics and older MAS 90/200.
for the end user customer, you get a software product that has been designed to be upgraded meaning you pay for business software maintenance and get to use with carrying any configurations over from version to newer version. Of course, recent change from ALERE v14 to ALERE v15 introduced multi line customer's and supplier's addresses but 3-4 hours of custom forms changes - cosmetics - and on the new version with some 50+ improvements, new document management features , better service tickets and dispatching. You as a customer get value

Pros:

In the world of software where every company buying software wants to implement and configure the software to meet business needs, ALERE makes this possible.

Cons:

Not well know in the industry and localized in Eastern PA makes it difficult for Central and mid west companies to know

Excellent ERP Program for SMB Market

Comments: ALERE is excellent ERP solution for small to medium size business in distribution and manufacturing industries. Well organized and connected data structure provides powerful and easy to use ERP program without complex and confusing user interface. Reason pricing and low maintenance cost allow users to keep up with latest version which comes with new enhancements and better reports.

Pros:

Easy to learn and use in most area of company work including accounting, inventory management, distribution and manufacturing. Normalized data structure eliminates duplicate information stored in multiple places. Drill down allows auditing process or researching information work pretty simple and straight forward. Reasonable purchase price and low maintenance cost is the best in SMB ERP market. Fast and knowledgeable support team provides dependable assistance in problem solving.

Cons:

Front end program is still based on VFP9, which make some large transaction processing slow. VFP also creates ungraceful program crash in case of program or data error.

reiiew

Comments: like the product. the customer support is great and quick

Pros:

we only use it for manufacturing, not for the financial part.

Cons:

user right set up is not that easy to use.

Reviewing Alere

Comments: Tracking the bills that we pay and being able to hyperlink them to the actual invoice.

Pros:

We can import our time from a timesheet making billing very easy. At any time, I can review where we stand in the month.

Cons:

Having customers that need to connect to other websites other than the ones that TIW has made available can be difficult which the customer does not understand.

Great software product!

Pros:

It is an all-in-one product for us. From maintaining customer information, creating sales orders and purchase orders, to creating work orders. This software also maintains our inventory system and includes lot integrity. It is our most important tool in our everyday use.

Cons:

Nothing - it is a very nice software program and can not think of anything negative to write.

Flexible Business Management Software

Comments: All accounts receivable, accounts payable and inventory for our business is maintained in ALERE.

Pros:

Consistent flow throughout multiple functions/menus. Follows traditional bookkeeping format and is easy to audit. Good reporting filters and criteria that get better with newer revisions.

Cons:

I have no issues with the software. After using the program for over 15 years, I haven't experienced a weakness in the package.

Alere Version 15

Pros:

Ease of use and integration with existing processes

Cons:

I don't dislike any major features of Alere