Accelo vs Polaris PSA

Get ready to "accelo-rate" your understanding of this PSA and project management software.Accelo commonly uses a dual-menu design, where you’ll find different menu options on the left and right sides of the screen. This setup can ease navigation by grouping related tasks. However, this can require more screen real estate, which could be a disadvantage on smaller monitors or devices, making the interface feel cluttered.Let’s dive into the sales module first, where you can view and manage your book of business (your clients). On the left-hand side, contact info is clearly displayed for quick reference. There’s a visual to see the momentum of your work with each client, including activities vs. hours, revenue and how many times they’ve been in touch with you over the past week.Personally, I liked the sales module and felt like the layout was easy to follow. There’s Recent Work that shows closed tasks like campaign planning, new product visuals and website maintenance.As a multitasker prone to triple checking things, I liked that this helps you track progress and ensure everything’s wrapped up before moving on to the next task. It's great for accountability and communication by keeping details transparent, so everyone stays on the same page without sifting through emails or notes.The page seems intuitive and reasonably simple to navigate. There are tabs at the top for contacts, attachments, assets, tasks and billing.Under the Work tab at the top, you can manage sales opportunities, such as web maintenance. All the info you need is in one place to help reduce time spent clicking around.Click on the opportunity, and from there, view important details. See the sale type to determine the right workflow and help reps understand which stage comes next (there’s also automation between steps). See the sale’s value, how likely closure is and when it’s due. Basically, it’s set up like the answer key in the back of a textbook that gives you all the clear details.Teamwork makes the dream work, right? There’s a sales pipeline report, and you can track effort. It’s known for its resource management feature, helping reduce burnout with automated recurring tasks and skills-based scheduling to get the job done by the best person.Integrate with Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 to track communications between team and customer. Additionally, track time spent on emails directly in Accelo. A timer at the bottom of your emails tracks exactly how long you’ve spent on it.Click Add quote and select a template for creating a quote, and configure it based on your branding. On the left-hand side of the sales opportunity (in this example it’s web maintenance) there are sales details, team, bookings, comments, quote and a visual for sales activity (also additional details, sales email alias and tags).When ready to generate a quote, click the add icon on the right. The process is seamless, with just three steps: create an estimate, edit it and preview/publish.Quotes/estimates hold a lot of info, like details on services, terms and conditions, specific price breakdowns, and your team mission statement. The cool thing about Accelo is you can toggle on or off certain details easily, so if this is a client you’ve worked with a lot and they don’t need a lengthier quote, you can easily simplify it.Once you press publish, you have the chance to generate an email to the client. You can also include a link to the client portal and a PDF of the quote. On the client’s side, accept or decline are clearly displayed in the top right corner. Once they’ve accepted, you can convert the quote into a project.Under the Work tab, there's a comprehensive view of all ongoing activities for a client, including requests, sales, projects and tickets. Important details are all in one place, like billable hours, assignees, contacts and due dates. For a specific task, the left side shows progress, important dates, bookings and schedules, giving you a clear picture of what’s planned and what’s active.Some user reviews mention confusion during onboarding, specifically that having multiple ways to do the same action or task can be tricky. For example, viewing the schedule in different places might lead to mismatches if not handled carefully.The range of options and layout might seem overwhelming at first. While there might be a learning curve, the design aims to provide a flexible and detailed view of everything.Time tracking is color-coded to help you stay within your budget. If you log hours that are well within your limit, they’ll be displayed in green, approaching your limit in yellow and exceeding it in red.Its Tickets module is straightforward for managing and tracking your support requests. When you click on a ticket’s name/title, it opens up and displays key information on the left side, including priority, type and class.At the top of the page, you’ll see the workflow stages like tier one and tier two escalations, ticket resolved, and waiting to track where each ticket stands in the resolution process.On the right side, you’ll see key stats like the ticket’s age, days since the last update and the due date. Below this, you’ll find a stream that captures all communication back and forth, providing a clear history of interactions.The billing module takes a streamlined approach to managing invoicing, and it integrates with QuickBooks Online and Xero so your finances stay consistent.The platform includes an invoicing wizard that pulls together all customer work that’s ready for invoicing and guides you through each step. It also offers a handy Complete and email button, allowing you to finalize and send invoices with a single click.You’ve got a solid selection of templates to choose from and customize. Plus, you can set up automatic invoicing for retainer work, so you won’t have to deal with recurring billing manually. Within the Billing tab, view all invoices you’ve created and sent and track which ones are still outstanding.

User reviews for Polaris PSA paint a picture of a powerful, albeit demanding, PSA tool. Many praise its intuitiveness and flexibility, with one user calling it "a breath of fresh air compared to clunky legacy systems." It stands out in its comprehensive project management, effortlessly handling everything from planning to billing within one platform. Another user loved "ditching the patchwork of apps we used before and having everything in Polaris." However, Polaris' learning curve can be steep. "It's not as pick-up-and-play as some simpler tools," admitted a reviewer. The initial setup can also be complex, especially for smaller teams. This complexity, while offering deep customization, led some to feel limited in tailoring it to specific workflows. "We have a unique process, and while Polaris is flexible, it took more work than expected to get it just right," shared one user. Performance isn't always flawless, with occasional lag and bugs reported, particularly on older systems. Despite these hiccups, many appreciate Polaris' robust reporting and data-driven insights, with one user exclaiming, "Finally, we can make informed decisions based on actual data, not just gut feeling!" Ultimately, Polaris PSA shines for its comprehensiveness and power, but demands investment in training and setup. Users often compare it to Asana or Monday.com, finding it more robust but less user-friendly. If you're a growing team seeking a one-stop PSA solution with deep customization and powerful reporting, Polaris is worth a look. Just be prepared to dedicate some time to mastering its intricacies.