Ekos Reviews

“sometimes a helpful inventory tool”

Pros

It's a single place to track everything from inputs to outputs, including all the steps in between.

Cons

The price increases have been frustrating and don't feel justified. Even though Ekos still costs less than a lot of other options, raising the price simply because it suits the business feels unwarranted. It would make more sense if the added cost came with better features and noticeable quality improvements.

“Excellent software”

Pros

Order Hub is a standout feature in this and feels truly one of a kind. It lets customers place orders in an Amazon like environment which makes the whole process feel familiar and convenient.

Cons

Something I'd still love to see in Ekos is an auto save feature. Having to remember to click save after making an important change can get a little tedious.

“powerful brewery tracking and reporting”

Pros

Honestly there's not much to praise here. If I had to mention anything, it would be the price but in the end you really get what you pay for.

Cons

Our experience as executives has been almost exactly the same. Their so called customer service is basically just a forum with the occasional webinar mixed in. We even asked for a bootcamp style walkthrough and never got any response. We recently upgraded to their "new" Ekos and that turned out to be a huge mistake. Yes, we requested that they wipe Ekos clean so we could start over. Yes, they explained that everything would be removed so we made sure to export our files beforehand. We received the email on Friday morning saying the upgrade was complete and everything was ready. Then on Sunday, while getting things organized for taxes, we discovered that our invoices had not exported correctly. We called first thing Monday morning hoping they could help, only to learn they keep backups for just 2 days. When I spoke with customer service, they kept repeating that they had warned us everything would be deleted and that we should not have depended on them for a backup. But that completely misses the point. I understood that everything would be erased. I was not planning to depend on their backup system which is exactly why it is called a backup in the first place. A backup is supposed to be there when something unexpected goes wrong. Something did go wrong and on the very next business day we reached out for help. Their response was basically to blame us and refuse any responsibility for helping recover the data. That information included everything we needed to complete our state and federal tax filings. They deleted it all after 2 days on a Sunday. Sign up at your own risk.

“responsive team”

Pros

This covers nearly everything we need to handle in the brewery and being able to trace things back whenever necessary is a huge plus. The reporting features are also a really strong part of the system. It can feel a little overwhelming at the beginning but once you get familiar with how it's organized, it opens up a lot of useful possibilities.

Cons

The software layout can be a bit intimidating for new users and busy production staff at first but with enough training and regular hands on use, our team became fairly comfortable and proficient with it.

“Saves us hours”

Pros

Its interface is very easy to navigate and user friendly which helped us get up and running faster and has improved employee productivity.

Cons

I'd really like to see is built-n graphing features. We enter a lot of data into the system and it would be helpful to turn that into visuals for production, sales and quality control.

“smooth quickbooks connection”

Pros

One of the strongest parts of the software is the team behind it. They genuinely go out of their way to support customers, whether that means taking feature suggestions seriously, fixing glitches or helping users work through the platform. The different tools within the system connect well with each other and the reporting and dashboards keep getting more detailed and useful over time.

Cons

Because it's still a growing company, updates and feature changes happen fast which can be a good thing. That said some of the more recent changes seemed to roll out without enough testing and we ended up losing important features during this year's harvest. As a result, our team had to go back to paper work orders and clipboards instead of using the app. New features is appreciated but only when it's fully ready before launch.

“Its been a great help”

Pros

Even with a well planned production week, batches do not always land into the places they were originally scheduled for. The updates to the Planning feature have made a big difference for me especially the ability to drag and drop batches into different vessels and move close dates with the slider. Being able to handle all of that without loading each batch, opening tasks and manually editing parameters has made the process much more efficient. Since this was added, it has probably saved me hours of work.

Cons

My biggest frustration is that the customizable reports could be more user friendly and have a UI that is easier to read and interpret. We also run into occasional errors with batch tasks that stop us from deleting an incorrect task or batch which means we have to submit a help desk request to get those mistaken tasks removed. It would be much better to have some kind of admin override so we could force-delete those tasks ourselves instead of relying on support.

“tracks food safety concerns”

Pros

Its made it really convenient to keep tabs on all of my COGs and finished goods without a lot of extra effort. The reporting is quick and simple so we can clearly see where products are going, how much is moving and what pricing looks like from beginning to end. At this point I can't really picture running my company without EKOS. On top of that their customer support has gone above and beyond whenever we've needed help.

Cons

Every now and then, there are server glitches that slow things down a bit. I also think the reports, reviews and forecasting features still have room for improvement.

“Inventory accuracy and clear flow”

Pros

The facility view gives us a clear snapshot of our entire brewery operation and it makes checking inventory levels across all sites quick and easy.

Cons

I'd really like the reports to offer more customization options and the overall processing speed could definitely be better.

“flexible reporting”

Pros

One thing that really stands out is how hands-on and accessible the customer service team is especially when you get paired with a standout rep and keep working with them. The interface is also very user friendly which makes day to day use much more manageable. Since it's a relatively small company, updates and changes tend to happen fast and they're usually quick to respond when something needs attention.

Cons

There are a few small complications with inventory management especially around keg shells. That's a pretty specific and uncommon challenge for us because we're a distribution company and track keg shells by supplier so most breweries probably won't run into the same issue. From time to time, there are also glitches or buttons that don't work as expected.

“brewing workflow done right”

Pros

Adding new customers and creating invoices is really easy and the fact that I can handle it from my phone too is a big time saver.

Cons

I'd change a few things about it. One thing that's especially frustrating is that after setting up a new customer invoice, I have to scroll all the way back to the top of the first page to hit "save" or "save and new" instead of being able to save from the page I'm already on.

“Facility view keeps operations visible”

Pros

Honestly being connected with QuickBooks has been a huge plus especially for getting invoices out to our distributors on time.

Cons

Wish it supported distilling the same way it does brewing.

“custom insights in seconds”

Pros

Using Ekos feels very simple and the whole system is effortless to navigate.

Cons

The login error codes can be frustrating at times. I'm not always sure whether the issue is coming from my browser or my internet connection.

“great for order management”

Pros

Inventory tracking is easier than ever and the integration with other software works well too.

Cons

Entering items takes quite a few steps and the system can feel a little slow at times.

“Clear visibility into operations”

Pros

It helps out a lot with production planning, invoicing and TTB reporting, plus keeping up with inventory is so much more manageable now.

Cons

Deleting items in Ekos after making a mistake can be difficult.

“a real stand out program”

Pros

The accounting integration does a really good job of linking COGS with the matching sales which makes tracking everything much more accurate and useful.

Cons

The reporting filters could be easier to figure out because they're pretty hard to use right now.

“tracking cogs with confidence”

Pros

Getting brewing tasks done and entering recipes is much simpler now.

Cons

From what I've heard, the inventory and sales side still needs improvement.

“program integrations work beautifully”

Pros

The QuickBooks integration has been a big plus and the platform can generate a really impressive range of reports.

Cons

Since we're based in Canada, I'd really like to see a POS option that integrates well and is actually available in our region.

“Supportive onboarding”

Pros

Keeping tabs on our inventory has been much more manageable with Ekos and it alerts us when it's time to reorder so we don't run low.

Cons

One thing I'd still like to see is a way to add a section on printed invoices for our clients' preferred delivery hours so our drivers have that information handy.

“all in one tracking powerhouse”

Pros

Once we outgrew spreadsheets, we needed something that gave us a clearer and more reliable view of our COGs and inventory. This has been a big help with that and it also keeps our brewing and packaging workflows organized. Support may not respond instantly but they're usually fairly quick and stay with the issue until everything gets sorted out.

Cons

The hard stops can be annoying when they prevent you from finishing a task in the moment but I do appreciate that they catch mistakes before they're overlooked or turn into bigger problems later. A few parts of the system could also be a bit simpler and it would be nice to have batch creation available in more areas.