BlackLine vs. ScaleFactor

BlackLine is well-suited for us when it comes to the bank reconciliations, as our systems feed right into BlackLine, and the various match sets reconcile the data effortlessly. BlackLine would work to its fullest extent if all departments utilized it, so you can take advantage of all the various products that are available.

I work with several businesses and have attempted to bring ScaleFactor into multiple. Thus far the business status/environment has been suitable for ScaleFactor only once, but I'll continue to look for more. ScaleFactor is great when a company has matured beyond the owner making all accounting and banking entries. As soon as multiple systems are needed, it's likely a decent time to call ScaleFactor. I'm confident my operations could run through ScaleFactor for a long time as the next step for us would be something akin to NetSuite or some other more rigid enterprise solution. Additionally, our business has a geographically displaced work force, typically working from home. Having access to all systems via the cloud has been great. No longer do we have to pass a specific computer back and forth for a physical computer software license. It's enabled maximum work flow convenience.

Incentivized

• Maintains certification records, clearly showing reviews and approvals of tasks and reconciliations.
• It has multiple reconciliation templates, allowing the user to find the best template for their needs.
• It includes useful metrics and visuals to help the user keep track of their assignments and tasks/reconciliations that are coming due.

Incentivized

• Delivering accurate financials quickly at the close of each month.
• Getting small business's organized and set up for success.
• Providing infrastructure and support at a fraction of the price of in-house talent.

Incentivized

• On the home page I can see Team Assignments usually first time not My assignments.
• JV posting is slow.
• Many error emails about failed JV with the same context.
• We receive emails about task certification. Can we receive the list of reconciliations monthly?
• Posted/prepared JVs cannot be deleted from the to-do list (there is only one extraordinary case, where we had a BL issue and the JV was booked but without a Document ID).

Incentivized

• Seems to be a constant turnover in my team at ScaleFactor, which means a lot of explaining what our business does and needs again and again. And that means a lot of emails, disorganization and phone calls (Taking my time).
• Chatbot doesn't seem to work well. Never answers the questions I'm in need of for a quick answer!

Incentivized

Because this is a great tool with many possibilities and cool perks. Plus, as an admin - because I am both user and admin - I can say that this is easy to handle, you don't even have to be able to write a single piece of code to do so

Incentivized

There are some processes that we currently use that cannot be done in BlackLine. Our users don't want to change their processes or learn new processes even though it would make their jobs easier. We have very few users who have adopted BlackLine fully, and management has not made it a requirement to use the application.

Incentivized

ScaleFactor has been a great resource for me as I got my business off the ground. They have allowed me to focus on marketing and strategy while they handle my Quickbooks and other accounting needs. Great accounting and finance solutions that don't require you to hire an in-house staff.

Incentivized

We never experienced an outage with BlackLine. The only time the system was unavailable was during planned outages for updates and upgrades usually Friday evening after 6pm pst until Saturday morning at 6am pst.

Incentivized

BlackLine performs rather quickly considering the amount of data we were pushing in and out of it.

Incentivized

In my experience, the support team is beyond exceptional. They are incredibly knowledgeable and dedicated to the customer. You can expect prompt, professional and succinct responses. I have been working with the support team for BlackLine for more than ten years where I have been a customer four times. If anyone does Support right, it is definitely BlackLine. Not only can you trust your financials, but you can trust the team to support you through all your objectives!

Not sure if support is still available.

Incentivized

Trainings are available for all topics on the BlackLine U portal. These were incredibly helpful when first starting with BlackLine to get the hang of it. Trainings are useful for any module. I have personally used this to teach myself how to use the tasks and variance modules, which are now fully utilized by my organization. The support team is also very helpful in training our team on anything additional we have needed.

Incentivized

You will have to meet up with your final users, approver, internal auditor and accounting policy holder. Everyone has to agree. When you have a well written process, workflow, policy, approval requirement, and control, your implementation process will be much easier

I have not used any of the other products, but we did evaluate them during our discovery phase. BlackLine was the "Cadillac" of the product offerings. You could get a similar product, and maybe even at a lower cost, but we wanted the best of the best, and that's what BlackLine is. We wanted a product that we could grow into, rather than a product we would outgrow over time as our organization grows. We have only touched the surface with BlackLine so far, and we've already reaped the benefits.

Incentivized

Scale factor, can be used like Xero I believe. However all my past data was already stored in Xero so I used it as an add on. It is a lot more user friendly and helpful, i.e. you don't need to be an accountant to use it. However I am not sure it is useable anymore or supported, so i have gone back to using Xero alone.

Incentivized

After implementing BlackLine our company acquired another large company with multiple operations. We were able to use the COVID shutdown to bring them on board with BlackLine with little effort in the setup and training of the users.

Incentivized

• Improved visibility into reconciliations & tasks.
• Ability to centralize certain functions across the team into one role, as opposed to having multiple team members perform the same function for their entities.
• While not a negative impact, it's important to note that getting the best use of BlackLine is a time commitment. The time, resources, and energy you put into it will determine how successful you are at utilizing BlackLine to transform how your team gets the job done. This optimization journey is a continuous evolution and will not be an overnight transformation.

• Increase productivity.
• Help financial management.

Incentivized