2017 Review of Xcentric

From the 2017 reviews of Hosting Providers for accounting firms.

Xcentric is designed specifically for CPA firms and is well suited to firms of all sizes that are interested in having a variety of tax and related programs hosted. Xcentric is scalable, with three versions of the product available, so users can easily graduate to the next level if they outgrow their current subscription.

Xcentric is located in Georgia and offers cloud hosting solely to CPA firms. Current product standards state that Xcentric guarantees that servers will be available 99.5% of the time. Xcentric uses clustered servers and four different Internet providers for their hosting, which helps to reduce potential system downtime. All servers are located in the U.S. at an SOC compliant data center. Xcentric offers SSL or TLS encryption, and also utilizes enterprise class firewalls along with security guards for extra security. They also use advanced backup technology with onsite backups performed daily, with data archived both onsite and offsite for additional protection. Xcentric assigns each firm their own data servers, with scaled server capability, meaning that if employees or additional applications are added, Xcentric will assign additional servers to maintain performance.

Xcentric offers convenient system access from any location, using any type of device including Windows devices, Apple devices and Android devices including all smartphones and tablets.

Xcentric can host more than 1,300 applications for CPA firms including popular tax and accounting applications such as UltraTax CS Accounting CS, CaseWare, Lacerte, ProSystem fx Tax, ProSystem fx Engagement, and QuickBooks, which is offered to both CPA firms and their clients, allowing both firms and clients to easily maintain and share access to all QuickBooks files. Microsoft Office is included in the cost of the subscription and Office 365 is optional in the Core and Pro versions, but included in the Premier version of Xcentric. In addition, all application updates are handled completely by Xcentric.  

Xcentric supports multiple users, with a set amount of storage provided for each user, with the level of storage available dependent on the subscription level purchased.   Along with Cloud hosting, Xcentric also offers consulting services to clients as well as custom network design.

Xcentric offers unlimited support with the purchase of the product for all editions of the application. The Pro and Premier versions also receive an assigned consultant that will exclusively handle all client support issues. 24/7 emergency support is also available for Pro and Premier users, with chat support available for customers of all levels. Telephone support is also available for system users as well. Training is handled through Xcentric Learn, which is accessed through the portal. Users just sign in and click on the Learn tab to the left to access a comprehensive knowledgebase, various articles and training modules. Users can also manage their account through the portal as well.

Xcentric is a good option for accounting firms of all sizes. The product is available in three versions; Cloud Core will run $139.00 per user per month and includes hosting for up to 25 applications as well as up to 5GB of storage per user, and a 1GB mailbox. For firms that need to more than 25 applications hosted, both Cloud Pro and Cloud Premier are available, with 10 GB of storage available per user in Pro and 20 GB of storage available in the Premier version. Pricing for both the Pro and the Premier version of Xcentric are available directly from Xcentric upon request. All versions include unlimited product support, an assigned project manager, and chat support, as well as Microsoft Office applications and Microsoft Exchange Hosting, with mailbox size varying depending on the version purchased. Features not initially included in the Core version of Xcentric are all available to add on at an additional cost.

2017 Rating   5 Stars