All Abacus Private Cloud Reviews
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Michaael
2 - 10 employees
Used less than 12 months
OVERALL RATING:
2
Reviewed May 2021
Worst business decision of my career
Ada
Verified reviewer
Law Practice, 2-10 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed August 2018
A Robust solution for today's mobile office needs
Customer rep went above and beyond for me. He did the following for me: He helped me update a laptop running remote access to the APC Cloud so the toolbar could be updated to include a size retractable feature; reinstalled the Message Slips icon; updated java; and created access in the APC to scan folders located on the local computer for 2 laptops accessing the APC. He also recommended the use of micro SD cards to expand storage capabilities for the laptops included in our Abacus subscription. This was really important because these laptops have limited resources and performing Windows updates was becoming impossible. Rep did all of this without missing a beat. Our lives were made a whole lot easier today because of rep' diligent help! Thank you so very much!”
PROSThe software has a wealth of features that can make tracking cases and billing so much easier.
CONSIt does take a while to learn most of the features but it is worth the time.
Jennifer
Law Practice, 2-10 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed August 2020
Fantastic cloud product
I am very pleased with this product.
PROSI was worried about transitioning all of our data to the cloud but could not be more pleased with this product. I especially love the ability to work from any computer anywhere. The product is stable and reliable.
CONSThere were some things that did not transfer from our prior legal software but the important things all transferred.
Reason for choosing Abacus Private Cloud
This checked off all the boxes for all the things that we were looking for.
Reasons for switching to Abacus Private Cloud
Time Matters had many glitches and was not reliable. The system would crash often. Plus, they did not have case management software that we needed.
DAniel
Accounting, 51-200 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
3
EASE OF USE
4
VALUE FOR MONEY
2
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
3
Reviewed March 2020
Happy about the effort and response.
A roller coaster ride. There are good and bad things about this set up and company. I know they went through some growing pains themselves and we road along with them. I fee like they are heading in the right directions and making progress.
PROSIt is cloud based Uses the remote desktop system Creates a remote environment to function in. Security Support response has been getting better each year.
CONSThe overall cost is twice as much as everyone else. The control over the Office 365 account makes it difficult to efficiently function with our growing company. There have been features with the office 365 account that we would like to explore but can't because of the lack of control we have over the account. The constant issues that come up where the issue is tied to server resources or the lack there of. After two years I would hope the server needs were more dialed in. I also don't get the feeling that anyone takes the time to understand a 3rd party software. We use Lacerte, along with "1000" other clients, and there doesn't seem to be a Lacerte expert nor is there a partnership with Intuit to install it correctly in a terminal server environment. I have had 4 different people install lacerte it different ways (on the X drive, on the C drive, on a separate SSD drive,)
Reason for choosing Abacus Private Cloud
At the time the promised services were appealing for what we were trying to accomplish. Price point made sense because we "wouldn't need" internal I.T support. We later found out that wasn't the case.
Reasons for switching to Abacus Private Cloud
Abacus bought out Cloud Nine and initially made aggressive promises about their company and system. Our biggest regret is signing a long term contract with them.
Autunm
Law Practice, 11-50 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
4
VALUE FOR MONEY
3
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
2
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed March 2020
Cloudbased for Times Such as These
Fully mobile cloud base and exactly the same no matter where you use it. I love the feature that prompts you to bill.
CONSIt can be glitch-y and hard to get a person to understand the issues when you call customer service. It is expensive.
Vendor Response
Hi Autumn, Thank you for your feedback. We greatly appreciate it! Would you be interested in being one of our featured customer stories? We are hearing countless testimonials about our APC environment due to the current state and we want to share your experience! Let me know what you think! Natalie Lara The AbacusNext Marketing Team
Replied March 2020
Lynne
Accounting, 2-10 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
4
VALUE FOR MONEY
4
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed May 2020
Cloud Review from a small business
The Cloud allows us to support our clients by being able to login from different locations and help them with their Quickbooks issues. Saves us a lot of time - which is great!
PROSMost important to us is that our clients can login easily to the Cloud and access their software - and if they get stuck, we can login too and see what they are doing. Saves us from traveling to each client's office. The Tech support people are wonderful and very friendly!
CONSWe seem to have the same problem when our clients can't login. If too many of our clients logout improperly, the Cloud gets stuck and won't open for anyone. Somehow, this seems like it should be a fixable problem. Also, the Cloud seems a little pricey for our small company.
Janet
Accounting, 2-10 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
3
EASE OF USE
3
VALUE FOR MONEY
3
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
1
FUNCTIONALITY
3
Reviewed July 2021
Poor experience(s), plural, long support waits, inflexibility, you have better solutions for Lacerte
I could see a 20 CPA firm who are growing and need the CRM to track clients and contacts using this and it not being too costly, but it is to costly in both price and downtime due to long support hold time to be a good partner for 1 to 10 CPA/tax preparer businesses.
PROSYears ago OfficeTools was a way to share client contact information with employees, and integrate a billing system and CRM, but now there is much better competition out there for the cost they charge. Now I will use Right Networks' secure hosting solution for Lacerte, combined with SmartVault for storage for a one-stop cloud based remote work environment with 24 x 7 live support compared to AbacusNext.
CONSWow, where do I start? It is NOT meant for very small businesses like mine as I have downsized over the years, and AbacusNext has proven very inflexible with my request to terminate a very short time after an unannounced autorenewal. I asked to terminate and they said I had (unknown to me) just autorenewed and there was "nothing they could do," I would be forced to pay for a full year of full service. I mentioned an employee told me in writing I could change my service lineup slightly and save $200-$300/month just a few months earlier. Very boor business policies from sales. Prepare yourself for very long support hold times which will be interruptive to doing business, and then long times on the phone with tech support while they try to handle your issues. If you use Lacerte and host it with them, the cost of the time you will lose to waiting while your system access is down for any reason, or to sit through a Lacerte update at a busy time, as just two examples, will outweigh any benefit compared to their competitors. It is awful. You, you will spend 20 minutes to sometimes 45 minute to work with IT once you reach them. The IT personnel are great, they are not the issue, once you get them "live" on the phone (for 20 to 45 minutes).
Reason for choosing Abacus Private Cloud
At the time I upgraded to AbacusNext I was told Office Tools would be improved, that the portal feature in their software would work in the near future, and more. It is a clunky product which was never able to integrate with Outlook and when I wanted to take data out of OfficeTools, I was told it would be "print to PDF" or "export our limited reports to ".csv" format. I was entirely unable to download my contact database and data in custom fields upon leaving their service in the rearview mirror.
Reasons for switching to Abacus Private Cloud
I used basic OfficeTools but AbacusNext bought that company so it made sense to convert up to AbacusNext for my cloud needs. I am wildly disappointed by my experience due to much downtime as my own IT person handling the tech issues with AbacusNext.
Frederick
Legal Services, 2-10 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
3
EASE OF USE
3
VALUE FOR MONEY
2
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
1
FUNCTIONALITY
3
Reviewed June 2020
What Happened?
It used to be a responsive tech provider.
PROSI have used Abacus software for about eight years, and Abacus Private Cloud/Next since it began. Until yesterday, I have received good technical support. I have now called eight times in the last 24 hours, and no one will return my call. I did receive an email from someone - once - who said he had called and left a message, but no call or message was received on my phone. I even used a separate phone on one call, in case they were blocking my number for some reason, but still no call back. I emailed the person who emailed me, and still no response. I cannot have my law practice shut down for a day - or more - just because some sharp MBA manager outsourced their tech support to ... god knows where!
CONSIt is vastly to complicated to use for any law firm smaller than 50 lawyers.
Reason for choosing Abacus Private Cloud
Mistake
Thomas
Verified reviewer
Accounting, 2-10 employees
Used daily for less than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
1
EASE OF USE
2
VALUE FOR MONEY
1
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
1
FUNCTIONALITY
2
Reviewed December 2018
You don’t matter to Abacus
If your business has been running too smoothly amd you’re just tired of it. If you’re looking to rack up countless hours hours and lost productivity. If you’re blood pressure is just too low and you love feeling helpless as your employees sit around the office for days waiting for access to your software, then Abacus is for you!
PROSEverything about this hosting service is inferior from a user interface standpoint compared to cloud9.
CONS“Let’s take all the software and data that are vital to our business and place them at the mercy of Tier 1 techs who will never have any idea how to install/update or repair anything ever but will excel at wasting your time. Also let’s make sure it’s borderline impossible to get the time of day from the upper lever techs or management team if/when you manage to get your problem elevated,” said no one ever. I have sent hundreds of emails amd spent hundreds of hours on tech support issues over the last 16 months. Switching to Abacus was easily the worst business decision I have ever made.
Herb
Law Practice, 2-10 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
4
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed June 2020
APC is a User Friendly Cloud Environment
Very positive so far, although we did get hit with about a 25% price hike when I renewed for another 3 years last month (albeit with more features and memory, more secure email and storage space)
PROSRemote access is very reliable. Creating a ticket for repair or upgrade is easy and straight forward and they respond fastest this way. I also like how they remote in to solve problems with my individual machines.
CONSSeveral times per day, the APC will black out if resources on my computer are being stressed. Wait times for customer service are sometimes long.
Reason for choosing Abacus Private Cloud
Not applicable, but I already was an Abacus Law customer and this is another one of their products, and the 2 work together seamlessly.
Debra
Verified reviewer
Law Practice, 2-10 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
4
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed June 2020
Lifesaver billing and calendaring program
The billing program pays for itself in less than an hour.
PROSWith the recent pandemic, I had to act fast to get up and running my own firm. Having Abacus Private Cloud in place allowed me to bill on time and accurately.
CONSI had this software and was not using it adequately.
Reason for choosing Abacus Private Cloud
n/z
Vendor Response
Hi Debra! My name is Natalie and I'm on the Marketing Team at Abacus. I wanted to reach out and say thank you for the feedback! It's great to hear that AbacusLaw has been a great resource for you during this crazy time. I wanted to reach out to see if you would be interested in being one of our first customers to film a video review? We'd love to include you in this cool new project! Please let me know if you are interested! Thank you, Natalie
Replied July 2020
Denise
Accounting, 11-50 employees
Used daily for less than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
4
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed June 2020
Accounting Plus, Inc. Review
We work with the customer service team at Abacus on a regular basis and I can't say enough good things about this group. They are patient, persistent, and easy to work with. We've also worked with staff and managers in other departments at Abacus and have had nothing but great experiences.
PROSOur company migrated to APC from a set of 3 in-house legacy servers running all of our firm's software programs. We were vulnerable not only to hardware and software issues, but to the potential hacking of the very sensitive data we had collected over 15+ years in business. Our move to APC completely eliminated these concerns. It also made it possible to relocate our entire staff off-site during the COVID crisis in a matter of hours--something that would have been nearly impossible to accomplish securely and without impact to the performance of the system had we been on those old servers.
CONSOur migration to APC wasn't without some frustration and a bit a of learning curve for our staff. Those initial issues were addressed by Abacus and problems were fixed and we're currently very happy with the state of our APC system. My least favorite things about the cloud environment are the difficulties in using local devices (i.e. USB peripherals such as printers, scanners, signature pads, flash drives, etc.) and the inability to load and update our own software on our cloud computers. But we've learned to live with these limitations and have adopted workarounds when possible.
Reason for choosing Abacus Private Cloud
We chose the Abacus Private Cloud over local hosting companies for the high level of security offered.
Douglas
Law Practice, 2-10 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
4
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
4
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed March 2020
Long Time User
Abacus Private Cloud allows me to do what I do best, provide quality service to my clients. I don't have to think about the software. I have my contacts, my notes, my calendar, all at my fingertips without having to tell a client, "please hold on while I get your file". I am organized and know where everything is without having to "fret". I absolutely enjoy using Abacus.
PROSI have been a customer of Abacus for over twenty years. I first started with the company before the Abacus Private Cloud. One of the things that I loved about Abacus was their support. They could and would resolve any problem immediately. When Abacus began servicing customers with the cloud, things became even better. There is nothing better than to simply turn on your computer, go remote and know that all of your work is backed up, protected and accessible.
CONSThe software has a billing component to it. When it first came out, it was unworkable and I opted out of the billing. I don't know whether it has improved and//or whether the "bugs" have been worked out.
Vendor Response
Hi Douglas, Thank you so much for your feedback! We love hearing that firms are finding so much success with our APC environment. Would you be interested in being a featured customer story? Please let me know if you are interested! Natalie Lara The AbacusNext Marketing Team
Replied March 2020
Marla
Law Practice, 2-10 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed March 2020
Highly recommend Abacus Private Cloud
Very positive, most importantly the support team is quick to respond and always able to help. I recommend APC highly.
PROSThe most important feature of the Abacus Private Cloud is the safety of the product. No fear of our computer being hacked. Everything thing is on the cloud. The software program keeps us organized, every matter is linked with names, notes, e-mails, documents and billing. It saves time and actually pays for itself in making sure all the work you do gets billed.
CONSWe initially purchased the Abacus software approximately 10 years ago. We switched to APC approximately 6-7 years ago, and have never regretted our decision.
Vendor Response
Hi Marla! My name is Natalie and I work in the Marketing Dept for AbacusNext. I wanted to reach out and personally thank you for your feedback on APC. And I wondered if you would at all be interested in standing in as a reference for us with a prospective customer for AbacusLaw in our private cloud? In addition, we are currently looking for customers to feature in a few upcoming campaigns. Please let me know if you are interested in that as well! Thank you again! Sincerely, Natalie
Replied June 2020
James
Law Practice, 2-10 employees
Used daily for less than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed September 2018
Safe and easy
The main benefit is the safety and security of our data. Knowing it won't be lost no matter what happens to my computer, and knowing there are smart tech people a phone call away to fix whatever goes wrong, is invaluable to me.
PROSWe've been using the Abacus Private Cloud for about a year now and it has been an excellent service. Very easy to use and adaptable to the programs we use. What I like most though is that our client data is safe. We share office space with a firm that does not use Abacus Private Cloud and they recently were the victims of a ransomware attack where all of their data was seized. They elected not to pay the ransom and subsequently lost ALL of their data. While no system can ever be totally secure, I sleep much better at night knowing that our data is as secure as it can be. I purchased a new computer two weeks ago and called the Abacus support to get my new computer onto the cloud network. They had me installed and up and running in about 2 minutes. I really couldn't ask for better service.
CONSI don't have any cons worth mentioning right now. No software is perfect for every application but abacus does everything I need right now.
Mike
Legal Services, 11-50 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
3
EASE OF USE
3
VALUE FOR MONEY
3
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
3
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed August 2020
Still working out problems 4 years later
Technical Support is usually difficult to connect with (1-2 hour wait for a call back). Would like to say they are excellent, but reliable is the best I can say.
PROSAPC is not software, but a cloud server. It has been convenient being able to access our files remotely.
CONSImplementation did not start for 9 months after signing agreement. Implementation was forced to happen by us.
Reason for choosing Abacus Private Cloud
We were already under contract. We do not want to move, but are looking for better support from APC. They have restructured their team and the experience is improving.
Reasons for switching to Abacus Private Cloud
We wanted to switch from Time Matters (CRM) to AbacusLaw (CRM). Required us to be on Abacus Private Cloud (APC).
Vendor Response
Hi Mike, Thank you for your feedback. you mention that there are still problems being worked out. Do you have any specific issues you'd like me to escalate to our support leadership team?
Replied August 2020
Norman
Law Practice, 1 employee
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed July 2018
Abacus Private Cloud and Abacus Law have case management figured out.
Abacus Law gives me the tools I need to carry out my practice efficiently. Calendaring, Accounting, Contacts, Matters, Form Production, and Conflict Management are in use constantly in my office. The software works great with the original default settings. But, it is very flexible in allowing a practitioner to mold the software to fill specific needs. Furthermore, using Abacus Private Cloud means I have a highly skilled tech team constantly monitoring all aspects of the software, the server, encryption, and off-site back-up of my data.
CONSI would like to see the program develop a more robust word processing capability. It's very good as it is. But, I use MS Word extensively and would love to see some of the functionality of Word be available when entering data into Abacus.
Larry
Legal Services, 2-10 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
3
EASE OF USE
3
VALUE FOR MONEY
2
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
3
FUNCTIONALITY
3
Reviewed March 2020
Private Cloud is secure but expensive
The private cloud with document storage is essential.
CONSWe experience severe latency. Little bugs from time to time with check writing and printing.
Reason for choosing Abacus Private Cloud
We have used Abacus software since 2010.
Misty
Accounting, 11-50 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
3
EASE OF USE
4
VALUE FOR MONEY
2
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
2
FUNCTIONALITY
2
Reviewed June 2020
Growing Pains
We came into Abacus Private Cloud after attending a show in Las Vegas, CA to review OfficeTools. The companies were merging which seemed like a natural progression for us however, there were many bugs to work out with our cloud environment. It has become rather pricey to function and OfficeTools was delayed by almost a year. Now we lack much support and contact on OfficeTools from our original pitch.
CONSIt is very expensive and there seems to be bottlenecks even on the items I have been given admin rights to address such as password resets.
Steven
Law Practice, 2-10 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
4
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed March 2020
APC review
Overall, very pleased and the customer service has been excellent whenever issues have arisen.
PROSThe removal of updating software and upgrading hardware has been the best feature of using a cloud-based program. Access from anywhere there is an internet connection has been fantastic.
CONSNot necessarily a cloud issue, but the Accounting portion of Abacus Law is very complicated and has far too many steps in the process as compared to a "windows" type program (Quickbooks). Our firm has tried to implement the Accounting side of Abacus Law but it is simply too complicated.
CALE
Accounting, 11-50 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
1
EASE OF USE
1
VALUE FOR MONEY
1
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
1
FUNCTIONALITY
1
Reviewed March 2020
Poor Customer service and always tried to upsale me as a client
Very poor!
PROSThey did integrate the software for use, however the software never has functioned well.
CONSSoftware has constant lags in printing, switching display modules, and pulling reports. The Software also has not allowed our admin team to add or delete users or even change passwords for users when these got locked out.
Vendor Response
Hi Cale, We are sorry you have had issues with your APC set up. We have escalated your issue to our client services team and you will be hearing from someone shortly. We sincerely would like to make sure you are properly set up for success! Thank you, The AbacusNext Team
Replied March 2020
Frank
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
2
EASE OF USE
2
VALUE FOR MONEY
2
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
2
FUNCTIONALITY
2
Reviewed February 2018
Still being held hostage by Abacus
Great for remote access, but then it is always slow, NO MATTER WHAT INTERNET CONNECTION I USE.
PROSThe software works great when you keep it local. Do not go to their cloud! You lose all control and every task is an act of Congress to get it going.
CONSEvery time we need to update another program, like Essential Forms, it takes weeks to get to someone in tech support who then has to confer with someone from Essential Forms. I get a different person every time I call. By the time they get back to me via their email help request, I have forgotten the details of the problem
Jeff
Real Estate, 2-10 employees
Used daily for less than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed August 2020
Abacus Private Cloud is a game changer
They have been great to work with - excellent product with great support behind it!
PROSEasy to implement, flexibility for our workforce, and secure
CONSReally have not come across any cons up to this point.
Reason for choosing Abacus Private Cloud
Installing our own network would have been far greater in cost and the daily maintenance would have been overwhelming for just 1 person to attempt to manage, with the Abacus team behind us, we have an entire support organization behind us for all our users to be successful.
Reasons for switching to Abacus Private Cloud
We needed to allow for our workforce to be more flexible to work in virtually any location - office, home, client's location.
Paul
Wholesale, 2-10 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
4
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed May 2020
Abacus Hosting of Quick Books
Easier and quicker access to my account. Glad we made the transition from Cloud9 to Abacus Private Cloud
PROSConnection to the servers is more stable; less lost time accessing my QB account.
CONSHaving to purchase new QB software. Migration of my QB account from Cloud9 was problematic due to inexperience of the customer service reps with the process.
Reason for choosing Abacus Private Cloud
Abacus acquired Cloud9
Reasons for switching to Abacus Private Cloud
Got 30 day notice that Cloud9 hosting would no longer be available.
Anonymous
Used daily for less than 6 months
OVERALL RATING:
1
EASE OF USE
1
VALUE FOR MONEY
1
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
1
FUNCTIONALITY
1
Reviewed January 2018
STAY AWAY. Abacus acquired Cloud9 and forced us to move. Cloud9 had better features and tech support
I have absolutely nothing good to say about Abacus.
CONSThe salesman who bullied us into moving from Cloud9 outright lied to me about an important feature (or lack thereof) on Abacus - webapp (see above). I was also under the impression that migration from Cloud9 to APC would be seamless since they own both companies. For the last 2 months I've spent at least 2 hours per day dealing with implementation issues and it's still not done. We're a small firm of 10 employees and I would put the implementation cost so far in lost productivity. This has been the single worst consumer experience of my life. Hard to believe, but this company is worse to deal with than Comcast. Compared to Cloud9 there are really no redeeming qualities. It's more expensive, it lacks many useful features of Cloud9 (such as web app and ease of login from any computer, which was great for logging in from client sites). Tech support response time is horrible and they never fix anything right the first time, which means you will spend hours and sometimes days trying to resolve issues that never should have come up in the first place.