Cyrious Control License

[JamFRS]

Hello all,
My sign company is getting ready to pick up software to help is with project tracking and management. So far I have looked at several other products that I'm sure many of you are aware of (shopvox, Vsign, etc), but the owner is strongly leaning towards Cyrious' Control software; this is partly because we have the old cyrious software from like 2001, and transferring all of the old order data will be much easier.

Cyrious has 3 options 1. Subscription to their online platform, 2. Subscription to their desktop application, 3. Purchase of the desktop application. All of these services come with a recurring fee, although with #3 we would have the option to cancel the subscription and associated services and just use the application indefinitely. We are going with #3, and the owner is indeed expecting to cancel the subscription after a few months.

Have any of you had experience with this particular option? What are your thoughts? Part of why I am asking is because my experience with tech companies like this tells me that the continual subscription/service will end up providing us with things that we eventually decide we CANNOT do without, and so while we may have the option to cancel the continuing monthly fee, we will be strongly, strongly incentivized to keep it going. Is that something you have found?

If that is the case, I suspect we may find a better option using something else, or even another version of Control. Thank you all!

 

[ColorCrest]

software to help is with project tracking and management.

You mentioned tracking & management but you’ve omitted job costing which is most important. Is the exclusion just an oversight in your post?

For option 1, I suggest a principal call Cyrious to have them refer a minimum of 3 satisfied customers so they may have an in-depth conversation with each.

For option 2, I can only imagine any upgrades or problem solving would be slower and / or more problematic to remedy than the option 1 which is their online platform.

For option 3, I imagine ya’ll might be searching for a yet another option again in a relatively short while. Software at this point in time is in a profound state of flux.

Of course the decision making process requires some arithmetic and “what if” scenarios.

 

[TrustMoore_TN]

transferring all of the old order data will be much easier.

Don't automatically assume this. The two systems are built on completely different back end software and even if you were able to somehow transfer them, it's extremely doubtful that they would be displayed in any format that resembles the old version. It may be that the old invoices and estimates can be displayed, but not cloned or edited. The way the pricing is determined is completely different. I've used both versions. The old version was great in its simplicity but that was its problem as well because it didn't allow for enough customization.

If you get a demo of control, I would have them show you specifically how old data is displayed and whether it can be edited. There's really no way to get around the fact that moving to a different system is going to require a lot of work on your part and it will be painful. Don't let the sales pitch convince you otherwise (from any company). It requires a lot of rethinking your existing processes, workflow, and possibly bookkeeping practices since Quickbooks (or other accounting software) integration seems to never be exactly what you would expect it to be.

Have you taken a look at Corebridge yet? It has its fans and detractors as well, but that might be another option for you to consider. Let me know if you have any additional questions. Good Luck

 

[dale911]

I bought Cyrious back in 2014 and bought the stand alone version. The problem with the stand alone is that you pay out a ton of money for a version that doesn’t get updated. I have the lowest package still which has unlimited quotes but is limited to 100 invoices per month. It was $2145 at that time. It came with one year of updates and support and then I was on my own. That was fine for a couple of years until I had a glitch and the software wouldn’t open. I then had the option to do support based on their hourly rate or sign up for annual support. The math showed me to sign up for support. Since I had been off of support, I not only had to pay for the year ($75 per month) but I also had to pay a reinstatement fee of something about $300. This is for a 1 seat license that only works on one computer. I love the software but if I had it to do over again, I would have done the subscription version as it would have cost me the same or less for the same software. Where they really suffer is. It having an app for creating invoices. I take a lot of orders when I’m not in the shop but have to use google Remote Desktop to access the computer running control. That’s where I would have liked to have a cloud based software but other than that, Cyrious is awesome.

 

[ColorCrest]

Don't automatically assume this. The two systems are built on completely different back end software and even if you were able to somehow transfer them, it's extremely doubtful that they would be displayed in any format that resembles the old version. It may be that the old invoices and estimates can be displayed, but not cloned or edited. The way the pricing is determined is completely different. I've used both versions.

Actually, I would be very surprised to learn Cyrious could not easily transfer any and all data using their migration methods or tools to any newer system they’ve designed at no charge to those who upgrade. It would behove them to do so.

Also, old invoices and estimates should not be able to be edited, as they should be locked. They should, however, be able to be duplicated but using new dates and record numbers as they would be, in fact, new records with previous data but which may be updated.

It requires a lot of rethinking your existing processes, workflow, and possibly bookkeeping practices

Very possible.