LiveFlow vs. Datarails

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Are you looking for a solution to streamline your financial reporting and analysis? Need help to decide between Datarails and LiveFlow?

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Pour yourself a cup of coffee and join us on a deep dive into these two FP&A platforms. We'll unravel the features, pros & cons, and help you decide the right tool for your financial reporting needs.

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What Sets Datarails and LiveFlow Apart?

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Let's start with an overview of both platforms before diving deeper into a one-on-one comparison.

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Datarails is a data connector that automates data collection, consolidation, and analysis from many sources like Quickbooks, Oracle, Xero, or Sage using FinanceOS, its proprietary platform.

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Datarails’ FinanceOS enables users to gather financial data and create custom dashboards or export reports to Excel or PowerPoint.

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On the other hand, LiveFlow is an FP&A platform specializing in QuickBooks Online. 

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LiveFlow powers the creation of live, impactful reporting in seconds by pushing your QuickBooks Online data to Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel and creating a dashboard you can share with clients or stakeholders.

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By seamlessly integrating QuickBooks Online (QBO) with Google Sheets, LiveFlow offers real-time data analysis, customizable reports from 100+ templates, and multi-entity consolidation in under 3 minutes.

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So, now we understand both companies in a nutshell. Where else do they differ?

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Integration Capabilities

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As mentioned above, Datarails can act as a financial data hub. It supports integration from various sources, including QuickBooks Online, Sage, Oracle, Xero, Microsoft Dynamics, and One Drive.‍

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LiveFlow focuses solely on QuickBooks Online.

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So, if you use Sage, Oracle, Xero, or any other platform that isn’t QuickBooks Online, you can stop right here. Datarails would be the best choice for you.

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However, if you use QuickBooks Online, you can just read onward.

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User Experience and Features

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The features offered by DataRails and LiveFlow are functionally similar in that they can connect data from QuickBooks Online to a spreadsheet and create reporting dashboards. However, Datarails offers a significantly clunkier user experience.

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Don’t take our word for it; check out this Datarails product demo from their YouTube channel:

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After looking at their product demo, there is a steep learning curve to get up and running with APIs, modules, data management, and exporting through their proprietary operating system to Excel or PowerPoint when you need to share a report.  

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In stark contrast, look at this quick LiveFlow demo by Lasse Kalkar, LiveFlow co-founder, that illustrates the ease and simplicity of our platform.

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With LiveFlow, it's clear that the platform is designed with speed, efficiency, and customization at its core. Here’s what LiveFlow brings to your financial management toolkit:

• Instant Updates: Get fast, live updates of your QBO reports once they're synced with LiveFlow, ensuring your data is always current.

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• Quick Consolidation: Consolidate multi-entity business reports in under three minutes, a game-changer for businesses with complex structures.

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• Detailed Transaction Insights: Drill down into every transaction for the context you need, all without logging into QuickBooks Online.

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• Customizable Templates: With over 100+ prebuilt financial templates at your disposal, tailor your reporting to meet your specific needs, saving time to focus on strategic decision-making.

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• Top-Notch Security: Rest easy knowing your data is protected with SOC-2 standard security, keeping your financial information safe and sound.

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• Supportive Customer Success Team: Our dedicated Customer Success Team ensures your onboarding is as smooth as possible, guiding you every step of the way.

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Additionally, LiveFlow doesn’t stop there; it extends into budgeting, forecasting, and data visualization, offering a comprehensive yet streamlined approach to managing your financial reporting and analysis.

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Customization and Flexibility

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While Datarails offers some customization in data handling and report generation, their platform predominantly focuses on backend data integration and not on speeding up your reporting.

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LiveFlow, on the other hand, excels with customization and flexibility. It empowers users to fine-tune their financial reports and dashboards within Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel, offering unparalleled control. 

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Let's look at a real-world scenario where you must create a last-minute report for a client or stakeholder. With DataRails, the workflow involves extracting the data from QuickBooks through their API, formatting it in FinanceOS, and creating a report or dashboard within the platform. Do you want to take that data to Excel or Google Sheets? There's another step for that

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LiveFlow, on the other hand, streamlines this process.

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Once QuickBooks Online is synced with Google Sheets, creating a customized cash flow analysis report is as straightforward as using one of the 100+ prebuilt financial templates or quickly customizing them to suit your requirements. What sets LiveFlow apart is the ability to see these changes reflected in real-time. If you adjust a forecast figure or categorize a new transaction in QuickBooks, the changes instantly update in your Google Sheets report, providing an up-to-the-minute accurate view without any additional steps.

This ability to manipulate financial data in real time provides unmatched flexibility and enables businesses to adapt to changes quickly. LiveFlow’s prowess in customization, especially within the familiar confines of Google Sheets, makes it the more adaptable tool for active financial planning and analysis.

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Ready to Transform Your Reporting Workflow in 2024?

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Overall, if you’re deciding between Datarails and LiveFlow for your FP&A platform, you need to ask yourself a few questions.
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• Do I need to connect data from multiple platforms, or am I focused on QuickBooks Online data?

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• Am I prioritizing speed and efficiency in creating live dashboards that automatically pull my data?

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If you are using QuickBooks Online and need to scale reporting quickly for your business or clients, LiveFlow is your solution.

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Imagine spending less time on creating spreadsheets and more on the analysis side. A 30-minute chat with our LiveFlow experts could be all it takes to speed up your workflow. 

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Book a free demo today and see why LiveFlow is the best choice for streamlining your financial reporting.

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Also, if you're interested in understanding how LiveFlow stacks up with the rest of our competitors regarding the ease of integration QuickBooks Online to Google Sheets, read here