Your Job or Stock System Just Put Its Prices Up: What Switching Really Involves

When your job management or inventory system puts its prices up, the subscription is only part of the decision. Switching means moving your data and history, rebuilding every integration, retraining staff, running two systems side by side for a while and rebuilding the reports people rely on. Often that costs more than several years of the price rise. So before you move, negotiate with your current vendor, then compare the full cost of moving with the full cost of staying, like for like. Sometimes switching is right. Sometimes staying and fixing what's around the system is cheaper. This guide helps you work out which.

Why this is coming up now

Many of the products Australian businesses use to run jobs and stock have changed owners or pricing in the last few years:

• simPRO and AroFlo. simPRO announced it was acquiring AroFlo (and US-based ClockShark) in November 2021, alongside a large investment from K1 Investment Management (PYMNTS). AroFlo is still sold as its own product. Some simPRO reviewers on Capterra describe moving to multi-year contracts with set annual increases.
• Unleashed. The Access Group acquired Unleashed in November 2020 (Access Group announcement). Some recent reviews on Trustpilot are unhappy about the changes since, such as a second sign-in layer.
• Cin7. Reviewers on Trustpilot Australia complain about price increases every year, including a July 2026 review titled "Unethical Price Increases".
• Xero. Xero stopped selling its Starter, Standard and Payroll Only plans in Australia from 1 July 2024 and planned to move all existing customers to the new plans by March 2025 (Xero). Prices went up again from 1 July 2026 (Kidmans Partners).

None of this means these are bad products. They're good at what they do, and price rises are normal for software. But when several of your subscriptions go up in the same year, it's fair to ask whether you're still on the right setup. Our software sprawl page covers the wider problem of paying for too many overlapping apps.

The full cost of switching

The new vendor's quote usually covers licences and setup. These costs are mostly yours:

• Data migration. Customers, suppliers, products, price lists, stock on hand with its cost, open jobs, open orders, quotes and assets all have to be cleaned, mapped and loaded. Messy data moves slowly.
• History. Years of jobs, service records, serial numbers and sales history rarely come across in full. Decide what you need to look up, and how, before you start.
• Integrations. Every connection to the old system has to be rebuilt or replaced. That includes the link to Xero or MYOB, the online store, payroll, supplier price files, courier booking, scanners, forms apps and anything custom.
• Reports. Gross profit by job, WIP, slow-moving stock, technician utilisation, rebate statements: every report people use has to be rebuilt and checked against the old numbers.
• Retraining. Office staff, technicians and warehouse staff all change how they work every day. Expect slower weeks and more mistakes while habits settle.
• Parallel running. For a period you may pay for both systems while you check the new one gives the same answers.

For example, if your price rise adds a few thousand dollars a year, but the move needs four integrations rebuilt and a month of double handling, the payback could be years away. Add up both sides before you decide.

Negotiate with your current vendor first

You have more leverage before you give notice than after. Before you look elsewhere:

1. Read your contract. Check the renewal date, notice period, minimum users, any lock-in term and what the contract says about price increases.
2. Check what you actually use. Inactive user licences, unused modules and add-ons are often the cheapest saving.
3. Ask for options. Ask about a longer term at a fixed price, a lower plan, fewer users or removing modules you don't use.
4. Ask about your data. Find out how you can export everything, in what format, and whether you keep read-only access after you leave. You need to know this whether you stay or go.

If the vendor won't move and the numbers still don't work, you've lost nothing and you now know your exit terms.

Compare like for like

Price pages rarely compare cleanly. Build a simple comparison that covers:

• The same users and modules you actually need, not the vendor's headline plan.
• Three to five years of cost, including likely increases, not just year one.
• Add-ons you'd need to match what you have now, such as scheduling, forms, purchasing or batch tracking.
• Implementation and migration, from the vendor or a partner.
• Integration costs, including any connector subscriptions.
• Your real cases. Test your messiest job, your most complicated pricing and your busiest day, not a demo with sample data.

Our questions to ask a software vendor about integration give you a checklist for the integration part, and our guide to choosing business software covers the wider selection.

Which integrations break

When you change the system in the middle, everything connected to it is affected. The ones that cause the most trouble are:

• The accounts link. How invoices, bills, payments, tax codes and stock values reach Xero or MYOB. The new system's connector will map things differently, and the first month-end will show it.
• Stock value. On the cutover date, the stock value in the new system has to match the inventory account in your accounts. Reconcile both before the move, or you carry the difference forward.
• Job costing. Labour, materials and subcontractor costs have to land against jobs the same way, or your job profit reports change meaning without anyone noticing.
• Online store and electronic orders. Orders from your website or retailers that come in automatically have to keep flowing on day one.
• Payroll and timesheets. If time comes from the job system into payroll, the link has to be rebuilt and tested before the first pay run.
• Anything custom. Spreadsheets, scripts or reports someone built years ago that read from the old system.

If you're on a trades job system, our post on outgrowing ServiceM8, Tradify or Fergus covers what moves in that kind of switch. For stock systems, see outgrowing Cin7 or Unleashed.

What to keep from the old system

Don't switch off the old system until you know how you'll answer questions about the past. Plan to keep:

• A full export of all records, in a format you can open without the old system, such as CSV files or a database.
• Attachments, including photos, signed job sheets, certificates and supplier documents. These are often stored separately from the data and easy to miss.
• Read-only access for a period, if the vendor offers it, so staff can look things up while they get used to the new system.
• History you need to report on, loaded into a reporting database or spreadsheet so you can still compare this year with last year.
• Records you must keep for tax and compliance reasons. Check with your accountant how long you need them for.

A sensible order of steps

1. Write down why you're considering a move, including the price rise and anything else that bothers you.
2. Negotiate with your current vendor, and get their offer in writing.
3. List every integration, report and export that depends on the current system, and who uses each one.
4. Cost both options over three to five years, including the switching costs above.
5. Test shortlisted products against your real cases.
6. Clean your data before migration, not after.
7. Pick a quiet period for cutover, away from month-end, end of financial year and your busy season.
8. Run a trial migration, check the numbers, then do the real one.
9. Run both systems in parallel for a short, fixed period, and reconcile them.
10. Archive the old system once you're confident, then cancel it.

When staying is the cheaper choice

Staying is often the right answer when:

• The vendor offers a reasonable deal, or you can cut costs by removing unused users and modules.
• Your real complaint is about setup, integrations or reports, which a move wouldn't fix.
• You have a lot of integrations and custom reports that would all need rebuilding.
• Your history matters day to day, for warranties, service records or recurring maintenance.
• The business is in a busy or unsettled period, and a big change would add risk.

In that case, the better investment may be fixing what's around the system: clean up the data, tighten the accounts link and get reporting right. Then, if you do move later, the move will be easier.

Getting help with the decision

If the decision is close, or several systems are involved, an outside view helps. Our software selection work is vendor-neutral: we cost staying and moving, test the shortlist against your real cases and plan the migration and integrations. If you're not sure what depends on what, our $5,000 Process & Systems Audit maps your processes, systems and integrations and gives you a written report to decide from.

Frequently asked questions

Is it worth switching software because of a price increase?

Only if the full cost of moving, including migration, integrations, reports, retraining and parallel running, is lower than the cost of staying over several years. A price rise alone is rarely enough. A price rise plus a poor fit often is.

Can I negotiate a software price increase?

Often, yes. Ask before your renewal date about a fixed price for a longer term, a lower plan, fewer users or removing modules you don't use. Get any offer in writing.

Will I lose my history if I change job management or inventory systems?

Usually not all of it, but it often won't come across in full. Most moves bring across master data, open work and balances. Keep a full export, attachments and any read-only access the vendor offers so you can still look up the past.

What breaks when you change inventory or job management software?

Mostly the connections: the link to Xero or MYOB, stock values, job costing, online store orders, payroll and any custom reports. List every one before you start, and test each before go-live.

If a price rise has you weighing up a move, book a free initial chat. We'll help you cost both options, and tell you honestly if staying is the better choice.