Ignition

Practice Ignition is makes service proposals with complex billing arrangements simple and easy.

Pros:

The three main things I like the most about Practice Ignition are: 1. It's ability to handle complex billing arrangements in a proposal. It is the only platform I have come across that can easily manage up front fees, with recurring billing for a fixed period, and display this easily on a proposal. 2. I love the fact that you can set the proposal to require a credit card or bank details before it is accepted. Practice Ignition then collects the funds for you. One of the most difficult parts of running a service business is getting paid, but with Practice Ignition it takes that all away because the upfront fee is billed on acceptance, then the recurring billable amount is billed as set out in the proposal. It couldn't be easier. 3. The integration Practice Ignition has with Xero and WorkflowMax (XPM) is incredible. Once a proposal is accepted, it creates the job in WorkflowMax based on the job templates you have setup in WorkflowMax, and creates the invoices in Xero. It literally takes all the administration out of running a professional services company.

Cons:

There are a few features I would like to see Practice Ignition develop, but after speaking with them they are going to push it right up the priority list as they agree. These features are: 1. The ability to create a recurring rate on recurring jobs 2. The ability to set a due date on a job - at the moment this is picked up from the contract end date. My understanding is this will be sorted soon, so by the time you read this it may be sorted!

PI for App Advisory Services

Comments: The team at PI are really helpful, from our initial conversations with them, to onboarding and set up, right through to our firm-wide roll out. They are quick to response to emails and jump on Zoom calls as and when needed. The software itself is easy to use and the UI is intuitive. Its been a learning curve for us around setting up our service library but the team have been on hand to give direction throughout. We're now starting to look at the added extras like webconnectors, videos and expending our service library to include traditional compliance services too.

Pros:

This software has helped streamline our service offerings for app advisory service, helped our outline exactly what is involved or included in the scope, and more importantly what isn't. We've had great feedback from our customers when receiving proposals, and we can now create and send proposal in minutes whereas it used to take an hour or more to draft emails explaining it all. The speed of response from clients is amazing, and the turnaround from offering a service to acceptance and deployment of a job is a game changer for us.

Cons:

There has been some internal resistance to using the software as accountants like to rely on the old methods of sending out paper forms to get signed off. However, it the app advisory space, we were able to use this to our advantage and get some real traction with the product before starting to roll it out across the more traditional areas of the business.

Watch Your Chargebacks

Comments: It's going to be easier and to be more in control of my clients since it doesn't matter there's no recourse once Practice Ignition chooses to believe the other person instead of the people paying for the service. I can do the same thing and work directly with any challenges instead of just sucking it up and losing thousands more.

Pros:

After getting used to it, it didn't seem bad at first but then the charge backs hit without any formal notice nor warning.

Cons:

A former client said they didn't receive the services, Practice Ignition asked me to defend the potential charge back but then it was a waste of my time to do anything because they took back the entire amount, on top of already having charged me for the merchant fees.

New Ignition User

Comments: Extremely supportive, patient and knowledgeable onboarding experience. Online help along the way very helpful and after sales still great support! As we are only one month in, I can't comment on how the system will assist overall in the business, but very confident it will!

Pros:

I liked the way the proposals can be revoked and renewed, edited, upated without having to create a new proposal, providing efficiency to both us and the client.

Cons:

The default (un-editable) wording on client facing documents. We use Ignition as our Letter of Engagement after our proposal has been accepted in another platform. This is sometimes confusing to the clients as some of the default wording refers often to Proposal in comms.

Slow to disburse payments, must check billings are processed, professional interface

Comments: My biggest pain point is why they hold onto your money for so long before releasing it. If not for the good reviews, I would be nervous to use them for payments. I asked a customer to provide a payment via ACH so that I can get it quickly, it was debited from their account the day of and I have yet to receive my money on day 8 (business day 6). The software is indicating an estimated disbursement on day 9, so that means you may not receive the money into your account until day 10 or 11. In my opinion, this is excessive for an ACH payment and makes me concerned about their ability to manage cash. I have another payment via credit card that was pushed back an additional day and we're on day 7 and I have yet to receive it. If you are tight on managing cash, ask the customer to mail you a check or use QuickBooks for the invoice, you will get your money much faster. There were instances during tax season where I setup a proposal to collect a deposit at proposal acceptance and when it was time to close out the account, it was never charged, so you should double check your invoices. Once you get used to using the product, it is nice to have for proposal management and has an effective dashboard and ease of use to follow up with customers. I have yet to have a dispute from a customer about the contract, so their templates are excellent. The customer names don't integrate well with ProConnect and double your customers, which can be quite annoying.

Pros:

Professional interface for customers, ease of signing proposals and entering payment details for automatic processing. Dashboard for revenue and proposal management.

Cons:

Slow to process payments even ACH payments can take 7 business days. I have found that on several occasions that customer tax return deposits were not processed even though it was setup to pay at acceptance. Expensive monthly fee for small firms.