Introduction

Developed by a small team in New Zealand, WorkflowMax was revolutionary when it first emerged on the scene in 2007. In a landscape where PSAs weren’t yet a mainstream staple of professional service businesses, WorkflowMax was groundbreaking.

Here’s what the founder of WorkflowMax had to say about early development:

I started WorkflowMax in 2007 with a small outlay of capital – just enough money to buy our first server. We built the company on sweat equity. A lot of late nights, early mornings, and weekends. We took a lot of financial risks, and made sacrifices, as did our families.

In 2012, Xero acquired WorkflowMax with high hopes for its further development and despite steady growth for 11 years, competition from newer alternatives made it increasingly difficult to remain competitive.

As a result, Xero recently announced that they will no longer be able to support their investment in WorkflowMax, and the product will be retired in June 2024. This decision will impact businesses worldwide.

Due to this, we have prepared a list of 11 alternative solutions to help businesses choose the best software for their unique requirements.

What is WorkflowMax?

WorkflowMax is a cloud-based project management software solution with more than 10,000 customers. It is designed to be a comprehensive solution for businesses, offering a range of features to help manage jobs, from job creation to invoicing.

Their website lists their core features as, quoting, costing, reporting, lead management, time tracking, and timesheets. In addition, being in-house with Xero has given them a strong integration with the beloved accounting software giant.

Overall, WorkflowMax has historically offered a comprehensive solution for businesses looking to streamline their operations, but as of 2023, their features don’t stack up compared to the newer PSA options listed in this article.

Who is WorkflowMax for?

WorkflowMax is targeted towards small to medium professional service businesses. They list their main users as, IT consultants, engineers, architects, creative agencies, and construction companies.

Despite its previous popularity, WorkflowMax is now set to retire its platform, leaving its 10,000 customers without a simple solution. As a result, many businesses are now exploring alternative software options that offer similar features and capabilities, but with a more up-to-date platform.

WorkflowMax integrations

WorkflowMax offers 30 integrations with a variety of tools, including accounting, design, customer support, CRM, time tracking, payroll, proposal, and document management software. This makes it easy for users to integrate WorkflowMax with their existing tools and workflows, streamlining their operations and increasing efficiency.

WorkflowMax users will now be looking for a platform that seamlessly integrates with their favourite software, while also providing new ways to manage modern teams. For example, there's currently a gap in WorkflowMax's integrations when it comes to tools for software developers like Azure DevOps and Jira.

How to choose a WorkflowMax alternative for professional services

When selecting an alternative to WorkflowMax for professional services, it is crucial to consider your business's specific needs, the size of your operations, and any known areas of weakness you are wanting to improve.

Small to mid-sized consultancies may significantly benefit from having a software ecosystem that they can customise to match their needs. Using a large program can confuse your team's processes and lead to more wasted time, rather than time saved. We strongly advise focusing on software that is tailored to the size of your operations.

Free trials will also help you find the program that meets all your requirements. Often, it is challenging to determine how a new platform can benefit your business until you try it yourself.

Lastly, ease of migration will be a top priority for many WorkflowMax customers. Our advice is to look for a team that has a proven track record of successfully completing successful WorkflowMax migrations.

WorkflowMax alternatives

Projectworks

Projectworks is a platform built specifically for the professional services industry.

It’s core features include resourcing, forecasting, invoicing, timesheets, leave tracking, expense management, project management, budget tracking, and reporting.

Projectworks is also a leading Xero partner and has the most in-depth integration of any product in the professional service automation category.

“We did a lot of research when making the decision to switch from Workflowmax to Projectworks last year. So happy with our decision. Was a seamless process, we finished using WorkflowMax on a Friday afternoon and were live on Projectworks with all our historic data in place on Monday.” - Deanne, Financial Controller, Egmont Dixon

Tradify is a top-rated job management app for tradespeople. It helps you manage enquiries, quoting, estimating, scheduling, job tracking, staff management, timesheets, subcontractors, website building, invoicing, and more.

According to a Tradify representative, their platform offers the following benefits:

“Tradify is the fastest and easiest job management app designed specifically for tradespeople. Thousands of electricians, plumbers, gas engineers, HVAC techs, builders, landscapers, and tradespeople trust Tradify to run their businesses. Tradify cuts out hours of admin, saving customers 10 hours a week!”

If you’re in the trades and looking for an alternative to WorkflowMax, our friends at Tradify offer a great option. They also provide free setup, training and ongoing support, and a 14-day free trial.

Link: Job Management Software | Tradify™

Workguru

WorkGuru is an excellent choice for tradespeople and construction companies. With WorkGuru, you can manage all your timesheets, control stock, and organise purchasing and invoicing in one easy-to-use platform.

This all-in-one solution eliminates time-consuming paperwork and helps construction companies ensure their jobs are profitable.

WorkGuru also offers a free trial and customer support to help you get the most out of your team.

Link: Home

Harvest is a time-tracking platform that helps you analyze your employees' time and manage their expenses. It is often used by businesses with under 7 employees due to its limited functionality. However, if you are looking for a simple time-tracking app, it is a great option.

One thing to note is that Harvest does not have options for forecasting, margin reporting, or managing complex projects. So while it excels at time tracking, it does have its limitations.

Link: Time Tracking Software With Invoicing | Harvest

Float is another option for time-tracking. It goes a step further than Harvest by allowing you to resource the time of your people. It's a good choice for businesses seeking a simple time-tracking tool.

However, Float does not offer in-depth functions for financial management. Therefore, if you need revenue forecasts or invoicing capabilities, it will not meet your needs.

Link: Float - Resource Management, Planning & Scheduling Software

monday.com  

Monday.com is a comprehensive task management platform that can assist with managing tasks for a variety of areas including creative projects, software development, marketing, project management, sales and CRM, HR, and operations, among others.

This platform is best suited for large companies with 10,000+ employees looking for a streamlined task management system with different functioning departments. While individuals can use a free version, a monthly subscription per seat is required to get all team members on Monday.com.

monday.com | A new way of working

Scoro is an end-to-end solution for managing your sales and customers, planning your team's time and projects, and keeping track of your business results. They offer different levels of functionality based on your subscription bracket.

They also offer different levels of migration fees to gain access to their migration specialists. While this customisation may work for some tech-savvy businesses, those wanting the best possible migration experience should note that even paying the highest amount won't guarantee unlimited migration support and training.

Link: End-to-End Work Management Software | Scoro

Workday is a software vendor that provides on-demand financial management, human capital management, and student information system solutions. Their focus is on helping organisations achieve maximum productivity from their workers.

If you run a tight ship and are looking for software to support your finance and HR teams, Workday is definitely worth considering. Additionally, its features for student information systems make it a great fit for the education field as well.

Link: Workday Enterprise Management Cloud | Finance, HR, Planning, Spend

BQE Core is a comprehensive time-tracking service that is part of a combined software platform. This platform includes features for expense tracking, project management (PM), invoicing, and accounting.

BQE Core has also expanded to include support for human resources. Therefore, if you are looking for time-tracking software with HR functions, BQE will be an excellent platform for your business.

Link: All-In-One Accounting and Invoicing Software | BQE CORE

Deltek is a software company that offers enterprise software solutions for project-based businesses. Their range of software products and services is designed to help businesses manage their projects, resources, finances, and workflows. The company's software is best suited for large businesses with 10,000 or more employees.

Deltek's products include project management software, enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, customer relationship management (CRM) software, and human capital management (HCM) software.

Link: https://www.deltek.com/en-gb

Oracle Cloud is a sophisticated Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) that provides a secure, scalable, and reliable platform for managing and storing large amounts of data. It offers advanced features such as high availability, data encryption, and partitioning, as well as support for various programming languages and data types.

This solution is best suited for large, multinational businesses with 10,000 or more staff.

Link: Discover the Next Generation Cloud Platform

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