From the CEO's Desk: Getting Ready for 5.0

Well, you've probably heard by now about the upcoming xTuple 5.0. We just recently published the "alpha" release (for testing purposes only!), and we've been reaching out to people about how best to position their business to take advantage of what will be a major upgrade for all xTuple users.

Here I recap for you what's included in the 5.0 release, such as major CRM enhancements (including sophisticated marketing automation), tax integrations and subscriptions to name a few. And let me also tell you how xTuple is helping keep customer's ERP current, safe... and supported!

5.0 — What's In It?

• Dozens of improvements on the integrated CRM functionality. All enhancements are aimed at making your data more usable (within the system and in external systems). See the entire list below, included across six (6) releases. One of the cool things that we support really well now is integrating outbound Campaigns with marketing automation systems. You may have heard of — or may already be using — email systems such as Constant Contact or MailChimp. Now you can connect with them directly — or better yet — with our partner Mautic, which does everything those systems do, and much more, managing and tracking sophisticated campaigns across websites, email, phone activities, and more. We'll have a powerful two-way, real-time integration with Mautic available with the final release of xTuple 5.0.
  • 5.0.0-alpha
  • 4.12.0-alpha
  • 4.11.3
  • 4.11.2
  • 4.11.1
  • 4.11.0
• A major overhaul of the sales tax system. As more states and localities are getting into taxation of business-to-business sales (which have historically been insulated from sales tax), it's getting harder and harder to comply with all the different tax authorities. xTuple has always had strong support for these multi-level tax structures, but it's been up to you to keep the tax tables up to date — and that's getting to be more and more of a pain. That's where companies like our partner Avalara come in — they maintain every single one of those tax tables for you, all across North America and much of the rest of the world as well. Starting in xTuple 5.0, you can choose whether you want to maintain tax authorities yourself (the old, hard way), or through a third-party service like Avalara.
• New functionality around the idea of Subscriptions — products or services that your customers buy from you on a recurring basis. Subscriptions can be physical or digital, and there are lots of powerful configuration options that you'll want to explore if you're in that kind of business, or have plans to be.

There's lots more! Here's the full release notes for 5.0.0 alpha.

What's the Deal? Hint: it involves a 5 and an 0.

You might have seen the link on the integrated welcome page in your xTuple ERP application, or maybe even received a postcard in the mail from us (with the cool "Hawaii Five-0" style graphics, above). There are two separate promotions we're running to try and encourage everyone to get ready for version 5.0 when it ships next month:

• If you're current on your software maintenance (annual or perpetual license), we're offering a 50% discount on the cost of an upgrade to 5.0, performed by xTuple professional services. What's the catch? You need to reserve your spot by December 20, as demand is high, and we want to make sure we get everyone scheduled in a timely fashion. Upgrade offer details here.
• If you've dropped off maintenance ... no hard feelings! We want you back, and will take 50% off the cost of getting you current on your software maintenance. Again, this offer expires on December 20, so hurry! Off-maintenance details here.

As you can tell, we're super-excited about version 5.0, and can't wait for everyone to start using it. We're already running a test pilot of it ourselves internally here at xTuple, as our sales and marketing team has been clamoring about it for months! Please make sure you read the release notes, though, as there are a lot of changes under the hood, and you'll definitely want to do some good testing before cutting over in January or February 2019.

Thanks again for your business, your partnership, and all your support of xTuple. From all of us at xTuple, we extend our best wishes for a happy holiday season, and a successful new year!