Phocas Software Reviews
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127 Reviews for UK Users
- Industry: Marketing & Advertising
- Company size: 501–1,000 Employees
- Used Weekly for 1-5 months
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Review Source
Overall rating
- Ease of Use
- Likelihood to recommend 8.0 /10
Powerful Business Intelligence Tool - Phocas Software
Reviewed on 10/03/2023
It's important to note that the cons of Phocas software will depend on your specific needs and...
It's important to note that the cons of Phocas software will depend on your specific needs and circumstances. It's recommended that you evaluate each software's (exam. Tableau, Microsoft PowerBI, etc.) features, pricing, and customer reviews to determine which one will work best for your business.
Pros
I highly recommend Phocas software for any business looking for a user-friendly, real-time analytics solution. The customizable dashboards and robust data modeling capabilities make it easy to create a single source of truth for your organization. Plus, the seamless integration with other business applications and mobile access means you can access critical information from anywhere. And with dedicated customer support, you can be sure you're getting the most out of the software. Overall, I'm very impressed with Phocas software and would definitely recommend it to others.
Cons
While Phocas software has many advantages, there are also some potential drawbacks to consider. Users may find that some customization options are limited, and the software can have a steep learning curve for those who are not familiar with business intelligence solutions. Additionally, Phocas software may have fewer data visualization options and may not integrate with all the data sources that your organization uses. Finally, It can be relatively expensive, which could be a barrier for some businesses, especially small businesses.
Response from Phocas Software
Hi Khallyl, thanks for taking the time to leave us such a thorough review!
To help get you familiar with the customization options available, please be sure to check out online library of how-to videos that cover various aspects of Phocas products: https://www.phocassoftware.com/academy
And if you're missing a data source in your solution that is critical to your organization, please let us know ([email protected]), we'd love to help keep you feeling great about your data!
Warm regards,
Mike Hills
Global Head of Customer
- Industry: Wholesale
- Company size: 11–50 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Overall rating
- Value for Money
- Ease of Use
- Customer Support
- Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10
Phocas has helped us keep our salespeople on task
Reviewed on 10/10/2019
Phocas software is great! We are just scratching the surface with what it can do and look forward...
Phocas software is great! We are just scratching the surface with what it can do and look forward to using this more.
Pros
We have used Phocas since 2008 and have always liked how fast we can generate reports. The reports that I have setup to e-mail keep me informed on key indicators in our business. We started using CRM a couple of years ago and like how easy it is for our salespeople to enter calls on their mobile device.
Cons
I would like to see a better way to track and run reports on leads in CRM. Sometimes upgrades and support take a little longer the we would like.
Alternatives Considered
Dynamics 365Reasons for Choosing Phocas Software
Microsoft was to expensive and to complex for what we needed.Switched From
Dynamics 365Reasons for Switching to Phocas Software
We like how easy it was to use and customize.- Industry: Consumer Goods
- Company size: 201–500 Employees
- Used Daily for 6-12 months
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Review Source
Overall rating
- Value for Money
- Ease of Use
- Customer Support
- Likelihood to recommend 6.0 /10
Marketing Review 8/2021
Reviewed on 17/08/2021
Overall, I am genuinely happy with Phocas. I'm the kind of person who gets excited about report...
Overall, I am genuinely happy with Phocas. I'm the kind of person who gets excited about report customization and flexibility within the way we structure our data.
Pros
I love the customization of creating reports. Our users enjoy the independence of creating their own reports and the flexibility they have with customizing the structure of any data pulled.
Cons
We have a partner login within our license, and support for this add-on isn't yet where it needs to be in order to foster growth in this area.
- Industry: Wholesale
- Company size: 201–500 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
-
Review Source
Overall rating
- Value for Money
- Ease of Use
- Customer Support
- Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10
Phocas Review
Reviewed on 02/09/2021
It is the primary tool for our management reporting.
It is the primary tool for our management reporting.
Pros
It's intuitive and easy to navigate. Gets to the answers quickly.
Cons
The dashboard graphics/colors do not have as much visual pop as other apps.
Alternatives Considered
Infor OSReasons for Switching to Phocas Software
Drill down capabilities were superior to MITS. Birst was way over priced.- Industry: Medical Devices
- Company size: 201–500 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Overall rating
- Value for Money
- Ease of Use
- Customer Support
- Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10
Best BI Tool
Reviewed on 08/10/2019
I love it, since we really started using phocas(last pug conference) I have decreased the amount of...
I love it, since we really started using phocas(last pug conference) I have decreased the amount of crystal reports by at least 75% or more.
Pros
This software allows me to gather databases from all over the organization and present the, to our users via dashboard/report or let them drive their own reporting.
Cons
It was a bit difficult to understand the Sync/dbdesigner part since documentation on this was a bit vague
- Industry: Wholesale
- Company size: 501–1,000 Employees
- Used Weekly for 2+ years
-
Review Source
Overall rating
- Value for Money
- Ease of Use
- Customer Support
- Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10
Wholesale distributor review of Phocas
Reviewed on 06/08/2021
Great!
Great!
Pros
Ease of use
Speed to market (straightforward deployment)
Cons
Cloud version response time gets a little sluggish here and there but not too often.
Alternatives Considered
IBM Cognos AnalyticsReasons for Switching to Phocas Software
Ease of use, intuitive, less expensive as competitor, we could pay monthly and not tied to any contracts.- Industry: Marketing & Advertising
- Company size: 501–1,000 Employees
- Used Monthly for 6-12 months
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Review Source
Overall rating
- Ease of Use
- Likelihood to recommend 9.0 /10
Phocas Software: Personal Review
Reviewed on 04/03/2023
Pros
The fact that Phocas Software is simple to use and enables quick and simple access to data was appealing to me. Additionally, the visuals are excellent, allowing for simple customization of the dashboards' appearance and feel. The team is always willing to assist with any questions or problems, and the customer service is also excellent.
Cons
I didn't like how the user interface was clunky and not as intuitive as other software applications I'd used before. It was difficult to navigate the system and find the information I needed.
- Industry: Internet
- Company size: 10,000+ Employees
- Used Daily for 1+ year
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Review Source
Overall rating
- Ease of Use
- Customer Support
- Likelihood to recommend 9.0 /10
Brilliantly powerful BI solution
Reviewed on 09/02/2022
Pros
Phocas is pretty easy to use, even to the not nerd people. It's interface is intuitive.
Cons
Dashboards can use some more features. Other than that all looks good.
- Industry: Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing
- Company size: 51–200 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Overall rating
- Ease of Use
- Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10
Best in class BI
Reviewed on 29/10/2019
Phocas is extremely easy to use for a non Technical users. It holds huge amounts of data and is...
Phocas is extremely easy to use for a non Technical users. It holds huge amounts of data and is pretty fast at being able to get the information required out of the system fast.
Pros
It is easy to use for all sales people. Lots of information at your fingertips.
Cons
Having all this data you need to understand d how to use it. This is not always easy.
- Industry: Building Materials
- Company size: 501–1,000 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Overall rating
- Value for Money
- Ease of Use
- Customer Support
- Likelihood to recommend 9.0 /10
Reporting to masses
Reviewed on 08/10/2019
Pros
Phocas provided an ideal solution for producing the same views of information for Different job roles using the permissions in the background. This reduced our dependance on Excel reporting by around 60%
Cons
Phocas is more a visualisation tool rather than deep dive and planning is necessary to ensure output views meet the expected results, particular around columnar structure. That said it has had nothing but a positive impact on the Business reporting consumption by the masses.
- Industry: Arts & Crafts
- Company size: Self Employed
- Used Daily for 6-12 months
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Review Source
Overall rating
- Value for Money
- Ease of Use
- Customer Support
- Likelihood to recommend 9.0 /10
Simple to use Modern and up to date software
Reviewed on 16/02/2023
Pros
This software is very easy to use and it helps me track what sales are most profitable. I would recommend it to anyone looking to grow their sales.
Cons
Phocas is good but I think the pricing needs to be revised to accommodate small organisations and businesses
- Industry: Wholesale
- Company size: 51–200 Employees
- Used Daily for 6-12 months
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Review Source
Overall rating
- Value for Money
- Ease of Use
- Customer Support
- Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10
Fantastic bit of kit
Reviewed on 09/02/2023
Pros
I love from an IT admin point of you how it allows users to build their own reports. Previously we had to write sql queries to get users the custom reports they required. Now users are confident to go in and have a go themselves. The software training academy and weekly live training sessions has allowed users to pick up the software easily.User friendly, very powerful tool. Always new features being added.
Cons
I believe their appears to be a bit of a backlog with the dev team currently so a few bugs aren't being resolved as quickly as they used to be.
Response from Phocas Software
Hi Amber,
thanks for taking the time to leave a review, we love that managed to we've free you up from writing SQL queries every time a custom report was required!
Our team works hard to quickly resolve issues and fix any bugs that our users find, so please let us know if you have anything in particular that isn't quite looking right: [email protected]
Warm regards,
Mike Hills
Global Head of Customer
- Industry: Wholesale
- Company size: 201–500 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
-
Review Source
Overall rating
- Value for Money
- Ease of Use
- Customer Support
- Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10
Getting the most out of data 'NOW' !!
Reviewed on 11/08/2021
Our number one benefit was saving time and delivering information to our Salesforce. Prior to...
Our number one benefit was saving time and delivering information to our Salesforce. Prior to PHOCAS every need for information came as a request to our I.T. department. With a limited staff keeping our systems updated and available was a major time consumer ... leaving very little time to develop the report or query request that constantly came into the department. After Implementing PHOCAS the number of request went down mon th by month as the Salesforce started using PHOCAs and getting their information without having to wait on the I.T. staff to produce it.
Pros
Deliver what was promised. Ease of implementation, Ease of training, Ease of Customer service.
Price point sealed the deal.
Cons
As we looked at several products we found that most of them had the same look and feel. Most wanted a high front end implementation cost along with a 2 year commitment. Phocas was willing to do a 'Install, try and buy' approach.... nothing to lose but some system admin time working with Phocas to setup the environment to prove it worked. So with that said ... our only 'con' comment is ... we wish we had implemented sooner.
- Industry: Wholesale
- Company size: 501–1,000 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
-
Review Source
Overall rating
- Value for Money
- Ease of Use
- Customer Support
- Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10
Phocas is a fantastic tool!
Reviewed on 10/08/2021
I do a lot of reporting in my role with the company, not only internal but external to our vendors...
I do a lot of reporting in my role with the company, not only internal but external to our vendors and also customers.
I am able to provide real time reports via Phocas. This has been where I most have appreciated the software. I used to have to email all my reports which would take countless hours week after week. WIth Phocas, setting up a link takes a few minutes on the front end but then it's done and you can easily share with many.
I have been able to dig into our data and provide analysis that I would have not been able to do otherwise.
Pros
I love the flexibility within Phocas and the ease with which you can customize reporting to fit so many different areas of business. I especially am thankful for the links that you can provide to non-users to share reporting outside of your company. Phocas makes my job so much easier and gives me the power to provide quick and useful reports.
Cons
Until I discovered the online videos and trainings, I was not able to use the software to the fullest! I highly recommend when the software is introduced to a new user, that they watch some of the 101 level trainings to learn all that can be done.
- Industry: Wholesale
- Company size: 51–200 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Overall rating
- Value for Money
- Ease of Use
- Customer Support
- Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10
Phocas is Amazing!
Reviewed on 08/10/2019
The biggest benefit is not having our sales reps rely on our IT department to create a report from...
The biggest benefit is not having our sales reps rely on our IT department to create a report from an old legacy system. They also don't have to rely on standard out of the box reports that can be limited in scope. Phocas allows them to instantly dive into their sales data and find anything they need--from summary numbers to very specific sales data. In fact, this applies across all departments including management. The ease and flexibility of finding information is incredible.
Pros
Ease of use. Within seconds I can find the exact data I am looking for. It requires very little technical knowledge, however, I have set up many advanced sales--and even financial--reports using Custom Mode. The software loads quickly, and I have rarely encountered a bug. On the few occasions where I have emailed the support desk they ALWAYS respond quickly and have a solution implemented right away. This is definitely not the case with many other software companies that I deal with. I love Phocas.
Cons
This is very minor, but exporting reports could use some touch ups. Exporting to Excel comes with conditional formatting. Some users may like it, however I almost always remove the conditional formats because it dramatically slows down other functions I may perform with the data in Excel. Again, this is very minor as I understand the usefulness to some users of having the conditional formats already set up. I also occasionally print a report that displays in a weird format with regards to column headings and column widths.
- Industry: Wholesale
- Company size: 10,000+ Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
-
Review Source
Overall rating
- Value for Money
- Ease of Use
- Customer Support
- Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10
Great Product with First Class Support
Reviewed on 05/08/2021
Phocas has easily been one of our most successful implementations. Users love it.
Phocas has easily been one of our most successful implementations. Users love it.
Pros
Offers easy deployment and maintenance. Database builds are a snap while offering dynamic reporting, dashboards and alerts.
Cons
More access to backend functionality would be helpful.
Alternatives Considered
Microsoft Power BIReasons for Choosing Phocas Software
Cost, functionality and maintenance- Industry: Construction
- Company size: 1,001–5,000 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Overall rating
- Value for Money
- Ease of Use
- Customer Support
- Likelihood to recommend 8.0 /10
Great tool that is quickly gaining traction for PACE Supply
Reviewed on 18/08/2021
I’m a big fan of not only the product but the company. I appreciate how PHOCAS treats their...
I’m a big fan of not only the product but the company. I appreciate how PHOCAS treats their employees and what they stand for.
Pros
Ease of use. Users with no math or data experience can quickly get up to speed.
Cons
Longer lead times on development have been a challenge. No exposed APIs is a limitation.
- Industry: Building Materials
- Company size: 11–50 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
-
Review Source
Overall rating
- Value for Money
- Ease of Use
- Customer Support
- Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10
Phocas motivates our team
Reviewed on 19/04/2022
I would diffidently use Phocas if I ever open up my own business
I would diffidently use Phocas if I ever open up my own business
Pros
Showing Sales figures as opposing to same time last year, we are basing our bones system based on this.
Cons
It should have been accessible to all employee to keep checking the sales stats instead of just one user without a password and username.
- Industry: Mechanical or Industrial Engineering
- Company size: 1,001–5,000 Employees
- Used Weekly for 2+ years
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Review Source
Overall rating
- Value for Money
- Ease of Use
- Customer Support
- Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10
Cost effective Management Information
Reviewed on 31/10/2019
This replaced "hand crafted" Excel and VBA sheets over a 10 day period to the consumer , we then...
This replaced "hand crafted" Excel and VBA sheets over a 10 day period to the consumer , we then developed Phocas to suit our needs and one drop of data updates all users with all views in 1 day.
Pros
Ease of use , ability to develop our own customised views , one change updates all consumers of the views , scalable - we can add more data and create relationships to enrich existing views to the consumer , Enable better decision making data in dashboard views allowing the consumer to pic and choose what is important today .
We have never looked back - we chose Phocas in 2013 to feed our front end business with tailor made views of data to enable swift decision making - we developed our support team to self create views from data feed through to data visualisation - this replaced our Excel and VBA sheets that were people hungry to produce - now we simply load our data periodically and the consumer can a see "all they want to see when they want to see it "
Cons
Understanding how the background of the product , as we decided from day one that we would be self sufficient in all our development needs and not many businesses had taken this approach with Phocas at that time.
- Industry: Wholesale
- Company size: 201–500 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
-
Review Source
Overall rating
- Value for Money
- Ease of Use
- Customer Support
- Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10
BI software that let's me do it the way I want to do it.
Reviewed on 09/10/2019
Being able to run reports in minutes instead of hours has saved me so much time. It helps me work...
Being able to run reports in minutes instead of hours has saved me so much time. It helps me work more efficiently.
Pros
What I most like about Phocas is I can get to the information I need by how I think about it. While someone else in my company can get to the same exact information in a totally different manner. The great thing is we get to the same exact information.
Cons
The thing I like least is the inability to print nice looking dashboards. We have sales meetings and the managers want to print each salesmen's information from a master dashboard. This way it can be handed out to each person so they can see their information as it is talked about generally in the meeting.
- Industry: Wholesale
- Company size: 51–200 Employees
- Used Daily for 1+ year
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Review Source
Overall rating
- Value for Money
- Ease of Use
- Customer Support
- Likelihood to recommend 9.0 /10
Phocas going forward
Reviewed on 09/10/2019
It is giving us an insight we have never had before into our performance and the measure ability...
It is giving us an insight we have never had before into our performance and the measure ability especially in terms of profit and there link to rebates.
Pros
I am most excited about the ability to draw in different strands of information from the various software platforms we operate as part of the business. We generate so much data that frankly its too intimidating to consider analysis of it all without the services of Phocas
Cons
I would like to see more integration in the CRM side of the software. For instance our ERP is ultimately our primary CRM system aswell, so we manage the contacts there, but they do not automatically sync through to the contacts tab of the CRM section. Some further automation from existing systems would be nice.
- Industry: Automotive
- Company size: 501–1,000 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Overall rating
- Value for Money
- Ease of Use
- Customer Support
- Likelihood to recommend 9.0 /10
Jim's Review
Reviewed on 26/08/2021
Good
Good
Pros
Sales reports, inventory reports for customers
Cons
Challenging to learn, glad that you have had training
- Industry: Food & Beverages
- Company size: 11–50 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Overall rating
- Value for Money
- Ease of Use
- Customer Support
- Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10
Phocas - Exceptional software with amazing support.
Reviewed on 29/10/2019
Phocas have been an amazing help with streamlining our business processes. Not only is it easy to...
Phocas have been an amazing help with streamlining our business processes. Not only is it easy to gain insights into our market, the team at Phocas have made it as quick and easy as possible by setting up automatic synchronisations from our accounting software directly to Phocas so we always have the latest data on hand without any effort at all. A favourite tool for the staff here and can't recommend it enough.
Pros
Ease of use and navigation, ability to customise and a perfect support team!
Cons
The functionality is awesome, only think I can think of is to give more options with custom formatting dashboards.
- Industry: Construction
- Company size: 201–500 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
-
Review Source
Overall rating
- Value for Money
- Ease of Use
- Customer Support
- Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10
Brilliant way to save precious time
Reviewed on 08/10/2019
We / I monitor and control stock and sales figures for a large multi-site company that is easily...
We / I monitor and control stock and sales figures for a large multi-site company that is easily done by branch or area and quickly manipulate the figures to show the various results I require in an instant, I would be lost without it.
Pros
I like the instant, fluid information that lets me quickly get the information I want when I want it how I want it, sales me hours a week, what's not to like!
Cons
I wish to learn more about it to maximise on its benefits but find it a little expensive to do the course, other than that its brilliant.
- Industry: Logistics & Supply Chain
- Company size: 1,001–5,000 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Overall rating
- Ease of Use
- Customer Support
- Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10
I've worked with Phocas for just a year, and absolutely LOVE it.
Reviewed on 09/05/2017
Pros
The ease of use is great, and has brought so much benefit to our company. We are able to customize reports and dashboards to our needs as a company, which is a huge deal. Getting reports out to our field is easy and painless. We use subscriptions constantly, and that has made many employee's lives easier.
Cons
I wish, still there was more ability to customize the report layouts. There are a lot of times when I have to create the report in Phocas, export it, and then do additional formatting in Excel. Also, the ability to download an entire dashboard would be amazing! It would make it so much easier than exporting each part individually.