Canopy Erfahrungen

Game changer

Vorteile:

We luckily chose Canopy as our client portal system pre-pandemic. When the shut down occurred, we were ready to continue servicing our clients during this very termultuous time. AS we move forward from the pandemic, our clients have found they like having a single source to share documents virtually. We as a firm continue to develop our skills in Canopy and now use it for engagement letters, tax documents and any communications with our clients

Nachteile:

Wish there could be better isolation of reminder emails or emails when a client performs as action.

Canopy is Great for Small- and Mid-size Tax and Bookkeeping Firms

Vorteile:

The two features that my firm likes the most in Canopy is the Client Portal and Tax Resolution (IRS transcript delivery service). When purchasing the software, we knew we needed a Client Portal through which clients could exchange documents with us via their smartphone, and we've really liked that feature (being able to brand it as "ours" is a nice touch). What we didn't know - until we used it - was just how much time we save with pulling IRS transcripts through Canopy's Tax Resolution tool versus pulling transcripts through IRS e-services. Once your Form 2848 is on file with the IRS, you can pull every transcript for which you're authorized for a given client with the touch of a button. They download directly from the IRS in PDF format, and with one more button you can save every transcript to the client's file. The time savings is incredible, versus downloading individual transcripts one year and one form at a time.

Nachteile:

I personally feel that the e-signature process is a bit clunky, but that's probably just because I don't have much experience with IRS-approved e-signatures (which require knowledge-based authentication). But at least I know that Canopy is compliant with IRS regulations concerning e-signatures!

Showed some early promise but now payments are a disaster

Kommentare: From 2021 to now it's been satisfactory but I've been impatient with the limited API functions. From May 2023 its been horrible after the payment processor switch to Ayden. Stay away!

Vorteile:

The ease at which my clients were able to upload and send me documents

Nachteile:

Their payments used to be with Paysafe and it was okay but they recently moved to Ayden and it's been a nightmare. We can't add new payments, can't run old payments and we now don't see decline codes. There's no transparency any longer with CC or ACH ledgers and our business has become a nightmare collecting payments from our clients.

Best Tax Resolution Software Out There!

Kommentare: Love Canopy and can't imagine doing our jobs without it!! The support staff is outstanding both via chat and calling in. They have been open to new ideas, are positive and almost always help us to solve our problems.

Vorteile:

The software is intuitive and easy to use. I'm sure we under utilize it but it works great for our small office. The thing we like best is that it keeps us organized! There are so many great features though including allowing us to be paperless.

Nachteile:

I wish we could customize the text in the "Notes" section. We use Notes a lot. Would love to be able to use colored text - red for deadlines, green for amounts due, etc. Also wish we could search the contact list by phone numbers. We often receive incoming calls in which the name listed on the caller ID is not the name of the actual person. Currently, we have to enter the phone number into our cell phone to see if it is someone we have spoken with before or a current client.

Thomson Reuters File cab vs Tax Canopy

Kommentare: Within two weeks of starting my 30 day free trial, I had it set up (so I could evaluate the details and functionality) and decided to switch from Thomson Reuters File Cab. Another local CPA had also finished his vetting process so Tax Canopy already came highly recommended.

Vorteile:

Free support - chat in or ph call. Templates for global folder creation. Once this is figured out, you can populate new client files with all the needed folders in less than 30 seconds. Using "Tags" to identify clients to send email blasts inside Canopy - brilliant! Unlimited file storage. Thomson Reuters charges me which is odd in this day and age with super affordable data storage. Annotations to files (i.e. PDFs) without paying for an ADobe license. Client portals. I've used other portal software, including the Thompson Reuters VO portal, but Canopy has this down to simple science. The Desktop Assistant allows you to edit live Word and Excel files.

Nachteile:

File migration from File Cab. I wrote a how-to process sheet for my firm so this is doable just time-consuming. Don't let that deter you as it is part of the pain to switch from one software to another. We also are ditching Thomson Reuters Practice CS (i.e. their time and billing software) for the one inside Canopy. The invoicing and reporting are much weaker in Canopy compared to Practice CS so this is a problem but wasn't a deal-breaker. Canopy has assured me that better reports are forthcoming and I trust Canopy.

Canopy is a good option- not sure if they are the best though.

Kommentare: On a scale of 1-10, I would say it is a 6.5 or a 7. There are many functions that make this very easy to use, however, as time passes the development team decides to take the ease of use and make it more challenging. Too much focus on making the interface "pretty" and not enough on actual items that make productivity better.

Vorteile:

The product is simple to use. However, Canopy likes to make changes to items that do not need any changes. In doing so, they break their own system for several days and the new function isn't worth the hassle. Transcripts are now significantly more complicated and time-consuming to get to.

Nachteile:

The fact that the backend team decides to make changes as to what they think is best for the client. Most of their changes do not have any positive effect on how we operate the practice and only make things more challenging and frustrating to use.

Where to start

Kommentare: There are other options out there and I could easily stick w sharefile. However I wanted to up my game and show my clients a better higher tech experience. As you know, solopreneurs have a hard time competing w the small to middle size firms. Seems like you need to up your game or at least let me know about your game!

Vorteile:

Clients like the portal. It has helped improve the perception that my firm cares about their info. It also feels very organized. It is easy to set up a portal.

Nachteile:

Yegads, what to me seems like obvious items, the organizer doesn’t roll over from prior year to current year. Your current solution is for me to set up customer accounts for each member of a family unit. This seems dumb and a waste of accounts, my and my team’s time, my money and the client perception and experience. If i as a customer was asked by my firm to re enter all prior year into, I would be beyond annoyed. I would wonder what kind of high tech experience Alison isn’t offering me. As a customer, I would also be less inclined to complete it because It is a waste of my time. Your customer service and training library aren’t helpful. Since it is very self serve, I have no idea what to look for in terms of better ways to use canopy because I don’t know what I don’t know. You let us all know at the innovation summit about the 100 new features you have rolled out. My admin and I were dumbfounded to learn this. How did we not know About the cool ways you are trying to make my life better? Do you offer monthly training or “ask me anything” webinars that don’t require me to pay extra or upgrade to a higher level. If you do, why don’t I know about them? If you don’t, why don’t you? It seems like you would help me have a better experience with the software and keep me as a recurring customer. Also, it is hard as nails to get requests followed up on. Customer service isn’t great.

Canopy Tax Practice Management Software

Kommentare: My overall experience is positive, the customer support is top notch and the product development team are listening to customer and continuously bring out new and updated enhancements to the software.

Vorteile:

The software is fairly easy to use and it is constantly being updated with new features.

Nachteile:

There is a lack of good reports around tasks and the software is built to be a little bit generic. We would find it even more useful if there were more features implemented specifically for tracking tax return tasks. I also wish the pricing was less module based. I wish that we could have access to more features for a straight forward monthly per user fee. I also wish that we could only pay for seasonal accounts during the busy months when we have extra help that needs access. Also, it would be nice if Canopy expanded their integrations to more than just contact information. Being able to integrate with other software based on tasks would be amazing.

Impressed Customer

Kommentare: It is so helpful in maintaining adequate project management and clear workflow for all staff.

Vorteile:

Customer support. I have questions and suggestions all the time and I love that by using the chat support I get prompt answers and endless follow-up from support staff.

Nachteile:

Transferring clients over created several duplicates and ultimately some lost information in the transition.

Great product, with a price tag to match

Kommentare: Document collection and management was great. They also have a great product roadmap and I got the impression the product is only going to get better as time goes on. It took a while, but we finally got a "collapse/expand all" feature for the documents. Very impressed with the customer service. Also, the UI is very clean and overall pleasant to use. The only feature I didn't pay for was the workflows, because I was already disappointed with the way that "tasks" were tracked, and didn't feel optimistic more money would make me more satisfied.

Vorteile:

From a customer experience perspective, this is one of the best in class products. You can customize the portal login page, and I had great success training clients well into their 70s to use the client portals. Each file can be hidden or shared with the client, and for simple documents, Canopy offers a decent in-app pdf editor that doesn't share your annotations with the client. Haven't found anything aside from Engagement I liked better for document management, and Canopy is much cheaper on that front, and includes a client portal.

Nachteile:

Honestly, the only dislike is price. That, and I found some of the automations (like engagement letters for example) were clunkier to use than those of competitors (say, TaxDome).

Giving Trello a Run for Its Money

Vorteile:

Not sure why more people dont talk about Canopy! Great tool for project management

Nachteile:

Robust - not made for small teams, You need at least 20 people for it to be worth it

Going to miss Canopy!

Kommentare: I love Canopy. I am closing my CPA practice and joined a national firm. There must be 50+ applications and multiple locations for document storage and management. I still find myself using Canopy every day while transitioning my clients over to the new firm. I can't say enough how functional Canopy is in managing the client work. Also, the folks at Canopy are great to work with. New additional functionality is added all the time. The development team has an open ear to ideas and improvements. Canopy is only going to get better with time. I would continue to use it if I could.

Vorteile:

Canopy is a great tool for all-in-one tracking of client relations, tasking, workflow, and running a CPA firm. I loved being able to go straight to the client home page and having access to all of the client information. Contact information, notes, tasks, important contacts related to the client, recent files, engagements - all of the information right there! Fantastic. Then I can drill down under communications to all of the client emails and correspondence with the client. Tax organizers are accessible from there too. All the information in one location! The fact that I could request an IRS transcript through Canopy for clients was amazing.

Nachteile:

I didn't use the online payment system since I used another system to payments. I wasn't a fan of the pricing plan but it still was comparable with other vendors. Overall there wasn't much about Canopy that I didn't like.

Canopy Tax Software - excellent overall with room for some improvements

Vorteile:

Ease of use, availability & response of customer service via chatbot, document management, task management, invoicing & billing, client portal, mobile apps, time tracking

Nachteile:

Reporting and analytics, lack or print feature throughout the software, payment processing (takes anywhere from 3 to 7 days for funds to hit our bank when most processors deposit overnight)

Canopy is Great, Even for the Small Firm

Kommentare: We are on top of projects and more in control of our firm than ever before. Canopy solved some major growing pains for us.

Vorteile:

Canopy put everything in one place for us. The implementation was seamless and clients love it.

Nachteile:

QBO integration could be adjusted to not include inactive contacts that are no longer clients. Including these clients creates too much clutter in the software.

Canopy - our new best friend

Kommentare: Our experience with Canopy has been a very positive one. Their customer support is excellent. I have appreciated them reaching out to us to see how we are doing certain tasks and we are able to give them suggestions for change. I would recommend this product to other firms outside our demographic. I don't want the competition to have the advantage we have with Canopy!

Vorteile:

We switched from Office Tools to Canopy over 2 years ago. The implementation and data transfer was almost seamless. The mobile app and client portal have been invaluable to our client base. We were implementing Canopy before COVID so when the shut downs hit we were already ahead of the game for being digital for everything with a portal and app that worked and was easy for our client base to use.

Nachteile:

I wish the reporting was more accurate so our utilization rates were a better reflection. It would nice to customize reports for what the firm values with certain items.

CPA Firm review of Canopy

Vorteile:

I like the client portal because I am able to communicate with the client, request documents from the client, and share documents securely through the portal.

Nachteile:

I do not like that the projects regenerate as soon as you indicate that the current project is completed. I would like to be able to specify when a recurring project regenerates. For example, I do not want a tax return project to regenerate and appear on my dashboard as something that needs to be worked on as soon as I finish the tax return project for the current year. It would not need to regenerate until the following year.

Perfect Solution for CPAs

Kommentare: Fantastic -- my workflow, project/task management, document retrieval/editing/sharing etc.

Vorteile:

Frankly, I purchased Canopy in November of 2019 when I opened up my practice in my home office, and didn't have a full grasp of it as the pandemic hit. 3+ years later - with much of the transition in the last few months - I can't imagine my practice without Canopy. The interface is super user-friendly, there are many options providing the user with a more personalized approach.

Nachteile:

Sometimes certain shortcuts aren't available, or the desktop software errors etc. but it's small things and so far I've managed fine; needless to say Canopy is continuously improving so (not a con) once the "Print" or "Save" option directly to Canopy was available and my contacts were set integrated with emails etc. it's been a breeze.

Good software, but confusing pricing

Vorteile:

Canopy's client portal is very easy to use, and I received many compliments from clients on its user-friendliness. Time tracking and invoicing was simple and straightforward. I am a solo practitioner, so I'm not sure how it works for multi-user organizations, but for my practice it did the job well.

Nachteile:

My biggest complaint with Canopy has do do with pricing. It seems like they completely overhaul their pricing structure every six months--not just raising rates, but changing how the pricing is calculated and how features are accounted for. It just got too much to track and too expensive relative to other software providers. Also, as a law firm I ended up needing an invoicing system that could manage trust accounting to stay bar compliant.

Disappointed

Kommentare: Canopy seems to have lost its way in regards to its purpose. Their response to issues is slow, at best. We have been using the software for almost 4 years and have made the painful decision to change due to a lack of support and increased pricing.

Vorteile:

We liked the ability to access the software/information from anywhere.

Nachteile:

The software does not allow you to export a sorted contact list. A very simple option that has been neglected.

Great, easy and convenient for all of our needs.

Kommentare: Awesome

Vorteile:

File sharing and ease of uploading from anywhere.

Nachteile:

Time tracker is my least favorite as it's hard to remember to turn it off sometimes.

Solve many jobs in a short time with Canopy...

Kommentare: I've been using Canopy for a 1 year now and I absolutely love it. The software is amazing, it works perfectly for my needs and it integrates well with the rest of our system. It's very easy to use, has a great interface and a huge range of features.

Vorteile:

I had been looking for a simple accounting solution to help me manage my clients' invoices, and discovered this product. It is simple, easy to use, and has a ton of features. Within a few months, I was able to set up my clients' invoices in a matter of minutes, and start using it. I also turned it into a project management tool.

Nachteile:

Canopy has proven to be a robust and reliable solution that has helped streamline our document management processes, and it works well with our accounting software. The interface is very easy to use, the adaptation time to the software is very short, and it worked smoothly.

Good Practice Management Software

Kommentare: Overall good experience

Vorteile:

It is cohesive and has a client portal; Tames chaos

Nachteile:

It is seemingly incomplete with a few things that seem to be easily fixable if they were given attention

Outstanding software that keeps getting better and better!

Kommentare: It's an excellent client database and portal.

Vorteile:

Cool features, outstanding customer service, constantly updating to make it better. I love that I can upload files easily to a secure client portal and we don't have to email files anymore. Clients love that they have 24/7 access to their files. We have saved on paper and toner costs. Having all our client information in one place is incredibly valuable. Engagements keep you focused on what you need to do and makes things less likely to fall through the cracks. The integration with gmail makes tracking/finding email conversations easy! Absolutely can't imagine not having this software.

Nachteile:

There are only a few minor issues that I know Canopy will fix as they learn from their customers. I can make suggestions and I know that they will address these requests in future versions of the software: 1. Mobile Access is not perfect. An app would be great. Some screens just don't show up on my iPhone. 2. Tasks take way too long to create. I think it could be easier to create tasks. 3. Inability to print notes 4. Search engine is limited. It would be better to be able to search for partial names. Currently you need to really know the name of the person you are looking for. I have a business client who I can't search for the name of his business or DBA.

A great solution for organization

Kommentare: Customer experience is quick to respond, and is as helpful as they can be. Often the answer will be referring you to the customer request area, but when they have a solution they are quick to provide it.

Vorteile:

The organization is hard to beat across softwares. The ability to bring document management, task management, and billing under one roof is hard to find elsewhere.

Nachteile:

It seems to still have some growing pains, and the large list of customer requests that are still "in development show that.

Canopy takes the headaches out of client management by offering a way to keep client info organized.

Kommentare: Improved practice management and time management. As well as a simple way for clients to securely share their files with me.

Vorteile:

That all client info, files, communication, notes, and tasks are in one application. It has helped eliminate the need to jump around from application to application to find the info I need to manage all my clients accounts.

Nachteile:

The task feature can use some updates in simplification and added features. I still prefer Jetpack Workflow to help manage my tasks until Canopy improves this feature. I also get frustrated that there isn't a way to simply email a file stored in Canopy to a client that maybe isn't using the portal feature, rather than downloading and adding to an email as an atachment,