2018 CRN Impact Awards: Wise-Sync

For many resellers, their businesses rise or fall on their implementation of the ConnectWise business management system.

Effectively automating IT professional services can mean the difference between profit and loss, so integrating disparate systems is a priority for many resellers and partners.

But Wise-Sync, a CRN Impact Awards contender, says many practice management systems skimp on the books.

“This leaves businesses hamstrung with inefficiencies, including increased cost of administration for time to manually [enter] data in ConnectWise [and] limited confidence in data quality,” said Wise-Sync managing director Paul MacNeill.

The solution is a system to synchronise accounting data between ConnectWise Manage and cloud accounting software such as Xero and QuickBooks Online, he says.

“Wise-Sync enables partners to improve efficiency in transacting their data to the cloud. Wise-Sync checks and validates records to ensure verification steps are completed, ensuring accuracy of data posted [that] increases operational efficiency and reduces cost of administration.”

One of Wise-Sync's strengths is it was born in the channel: it grew out of Virage IT (now part of PowerNet IT Solutions) where MacNeill was managing director. Now sold through the ConnectWise Marketplace, Wise-Sync has grown through direct sales but, from October 2016, new accounts must use an onboarding team member starting at $795 for three hours.

“We recognise that the success of a partner during onboarding is directly related to the capability of our team,” says MacNeill. “We invest significant amounts into customer success, with consultants located in Australia and the US.”

One of those new accounts is First Focus IT, a Sydney-headquartered cloud and solutions provider with 100 staff at offices in most mainland capitals and New Zealand.

“I installed Wise-Sync with Xero about five months ago and it's already paying huge dividends in our financial accuracy and debt collection,” said CFO Tyler Caskey. “It takes the pain out of the ConnectWise integration. We use the invoices, payments and expenses functions. It saves so much time not doing the low-value finance tasks. Next step, procurement.”

In the US, Pact-One Solutions chief executive Dan Edwards said Wise-Sync straightened a number of kinks in the technology solutions provider’s business processes.

“Before moving to Wise-Sync, we suffered from invalid data transferred to accounting, painful procurement, information double entry and inventory management nightmares,” said Edwards, whose company is based in San Diego, California.

“Wise-Sync helped us onboard to Xero, have up-to-the-minute financial visibility and better access to cashflow.”

Ray Sweeney, operations manager
of Melbourne ICT provider Premier Technology Solutions, credits Wise-Sync with removing growth barriers.

“We moved to Wise-Sync to streamline our administration,” Sweeney says. “We have since built on this with automation and reporting, which enabled our business to scale significantly without further [administration] resources.”  

Wise-Sync is a finalist in the 'Exporting Innovation​' category in the 2018 CRN Impact Awards. For a list of all finalists and further details on the awards, please head to the CRN Impact Awards hub. The awards take place during the CRN Pipeline conference. You can get more information and purchase tickets here.