Cameyo Enables JTM to Access QuickBooks Enterprise from Any Device While Eliminating Licensing & Hosting Costs
JTM Electrical Contractors, Inc. is a licensed electrical contractor company servicing the electrical needs of commercial, industrial, and telecommunication customers throughout the Chicagoland area. For electrical jobs large and small, JTM combines their large company experience with the customer service of a family owned business.
Like many small businesses, JTM depends on QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise to manage their bids and accounting processes. When JTM wanted to reduce costs and give more users access by moving to QuickBooks Online, they realized that this would not be an option, as QuickBooks Online does not have the robust business features that they rely on in QuickBooks Enterprise. As a result, the company was stuck having to pay $150 per user per month for the hosted version of QuickBooks Enterprise.
Things got even more complicated when JTM merged with another company. When they brought the new team on board, they found that their new colleagues were accustomed to using a legacy desktop application called BestBid. That team relied on BestBid for all of their bidding and estimates, so always-on access was business critical. Just as they had faced with QuickBooks Enterprise, the cost of acquiring a server and hosting this legacy app themselves was prohibitive, and JTM needed an alternative.
“It just didn’t make sense for us to get a server and host these apps ourselves, so we went looking for a solution,” said Kari Ugent of JTM Electrical Contractors, Inc. “The folks at BestBid were actually the ones who mentioned Cameyo as an alternative, so we gave the Cameyo team a call.”
We Thought It Would Be Too Expensive
“We are a relatively small organization, so at first, we thought that the Cameyo solution would be too expensive for us,” said Ugent. “But on my first call with Cameyo, they mentioned that we could also utilize their platform to modernize other legacy applications that were costing us a great deal in licensing and hosting fees, and that’s when everything started to click.”
In addition to giving their employees access to legacy desktop apps like BestBid, JTM realized that they could also utilize Cameyo to modernize their QuickBooks Enterprise implementation. Because they were utilizing the hosted version of QuickBooks Enterprise, this also required an additional monthly fee for Excel licensing to use the Excel reporting feature they depended on.
“When I did the math on what we were paying for the hosting as well as the Excel licensing, those costs alone were equal to what we’d pay for Cameyo. So by eliminating those costs, and modernizing the other legacy desktop apps our employees needed to access – Cameyo became an obvious choice,” said Ugent.
Solving an Issue We Thought We Had Solved Before
JTM had originally hoped to utilize QuickBooks Online, but the online version did not offer job costing – which was a critical capability they depended on. When they determined they needed to stick with the desktop version of the app, they realized that paying the high per-user, per-month fee was going to become far too costly. So they had to get creative, and they decided to host it themselves on a single desktop, which they then had various employees remote into to access the application.
“This was not ideal for many reasons, including the fact that only one person could access QuickBooks at a time, and we were frequently dealing with issues with that desktop,” said Ugent. “That’s when QuickBooks mentioned we could host their desktop version on Right Networks, which is what we did. And at that point, we thought we had solved the issue.”
But as the hosting and Excel licensing fees increased over time, it became clear there was a new issue to solve.
“Not only did the cost of Cameyo balance out our previous costs, but Cameyo gives us the ability to grow and scale the number of users cost effectively, enabling us to grow as much as needed in the future,” said Ugent.
Bringing Together Reduced Cost, Flexibility, and Ease of Use
In addition to reducing costs for JTM by eliminating the need for additional licensing and hosting, Cameyo has also given JTM increased flexibility in how they utilize their QuickBooks Enterprise tools.
“Previously, I was not able to connect to QuickBooks unless I had my laptop with me. But with Cameyo, I can be anywhere – and on any device – and get access to our QuickBooks. My boss is in the field 90% of the time, so this gives him access to all of the information he needs regardless of where he is,” said Ugent.
Perhaps even more important for JTM, these cost reductions and increased flexibility were all achieved with very little technical intervention on their part. Like many small companies, JTM has very limited IT resources, and they needed a solution that could be up and running in hours, not weeks. They also needed a solution that wouldn’t require constant IT involvement, and a solution provider who could give the appropriate support when needed.
“I am not a technical person, and I was able to get Cameyo up and running in a matter of hours,” said Ugent. “I needed some support during the deployment, and Cameyo’s support team was extremely responsive. They helped make sure we got everything configured correctly, and I have the peace of mind that if I ever need them in the future, they’ll be there for me.
Conclusion Right off the bat, the cost of implementing Cameyo was neutralized by the hosting and licensing fees that it eliminated for JTM. In addition, JTM is able to give its employees access to the critical desktop applications that they depended on to run their business. Cameyo also provides JTM’s highly mobile executives with access to their applications from any device while out in the field, while also enabling them with unlimited flexibility and scale as they grow their business. And JTM also benefits from Cameyo’s world class customer support to help ensure that this solution doesn’t require any additional IT support.
“The more we realized the capabilities of Cameyo, the more the value of the solution compounded for us,” said Ugent.