Frequently Asked Questions

Is my data secure?

• Absolutely.  We take all reasonable precautions to keep your information safe and secure. Our state-of-the-art servers are hosted and professionally managed by Rackspace, a recognized leader in high-end hosting. You can read about their Zero-Downtime network and data center and what makes Rackspace the best place to host mission-critical websites and applications.
• Crik-IT® utilizes some of the most advanced technology for Internet security available. When you access Crik-IT®, Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology protects your information using both server authentication and data encryption, ensuring that your data is safe, secure, and available only to registered users that you have authorized to view your data.

What must be installed on the dealer's computer to allow accessing Crik-IT®?

• Nothing!  All the user needs is a web browser.  Crik-IT® is designed to work with Internet Explorer 7 or newer.

How does all the information (i.e. items, order confirmations, etc.) get from the vendor to Crik-IT®?

• If the vendor runs their business on QuickBooks Premier, Pro, or Enterprise, they can use our Crik-Sync for QuickBooks app to connect their QuickBooks company to Crik-IT. 

• The vendor's information must be put into a format that Crik-IT® can work with.  This can be a series of text files, Excel spreadsheets, SQL Server tables, or any number of different options.  The number of files required depends on which Crik-IT® options the vendor chooses to use, but can be as few as 6 files. 
• This information can be produced in a variety of ways.  For example, a custom report writer, such as Crystal Reports, could be used to create the files needed by Crik-IT®.  Or, SQL Server queries or views could be created.  There are other options as well.  We will work closely with the vendor to determine the best option for them.
• The files will be produced by the vendor's system on a regularly scheduled basis.  This will happen at least on a nightly basis, and some information can be created much more frequently than that (for example, inventory availability information may be produced as often as every half hour).
• Once produced, the files will be transmitted via encrypted file transfer methods from the vendor's system to the Crik-IT® servers.  Once there, Crik-IT® sees the new information and makes it available via the Crik-IT® web service for dealers and reps to access.

What systems has Crik-IT already been integrated with?

• We have subscribers who send information from Sage MAS90, from Sage Pro, from MYOB's AccountEdge (Macintosh system), from QuickBooks (Pro, Premier, Enterprise), as well as from custom built systems.  Just about any current software system can be configured to send info to Crik-IT®.

Who pays for the Crik-IT® service?

• The vendor pays for the Crik-IT® service. 

How does Crik-IT® pricing work?

• Pricing for Crik-Sync for QuickBooks subscribers is based on features selected and number of users.  More info is available here.
• For all other subscribers, we have a couple of different pricing models.  With either model, pricing is based on the value received, as determined either by the number of times a dealer, rep, or in-house user accesses a vendor's data in Crik-IT®, or by the number of users a vendor sets up to use Crik-IT®. 
• Pricing has been designed to enable smaller vendors to be able to provide the Crik-IT® service to their dealer channel when it would be cost-prohibitive for them to provide such a service any other way.  It allows the littler guys to compete more effectively with the bigger guys.

I'm a dealer.  One of my biggest headaches is updating my own inventory system when my Crik-IT vendor updates their pricing... or adds new product lines or items.  Can Crik-IT help me?

• You bet we can!!  If you use the QuickBooks® system, you can use the Crik-Link to QuickBooks program which lets you download prices/costs, new items, etc. from Crik-IT and put them automatically into your QuickBooks system.  This will save you hours and hours and hours of time... AND protect your margin! 
• Guess what else?  If you use Evosus® Software, Crik-Link now works with your system too!  Get more info here.

I'm a dealer.  Why would I want to enter POs via Crik-IT® instead of into my own PO system?  And does that mean I have to enter the purchase order twice.... once into Crik-IT® and once into my own PO system?

• Crik-IT® offers several advantages when it comes to entering POs:
  • Many email alerts are designed to notify the dealer if there are issues with the vendor's order confirmation for a particular PO.  To make use of these email alerts, the dealer's POs must be in Crik-IT®.
  • If the vendor uses the matching accessories option in Crik-IT®, when the dealer enters a purchase order for an item with matching accessories, Crik-IT® walks them through ordering only those accessories that go along with that item.  This dramatically reduces ordering errors, as well as the customer frustrations, shipping costs, installation delays, and other headaches that accompany such errors.
  • Purchase orders that are in Crik-IT® can be emailed to your account manager (customer service rep) with a simple click of the mouse.  The purchase order is emailed as a professional-looking, easy-to-read PDF attachment directly to the account manager, with a copy going to you, the dealer.
• If you use the QuickBooks® system, you can use the Crik-Link to QuickBooks program which lets you import purchase orders directly from Crik-IT® into your QuickBooks system.  You simply enter the PO number (or a date range of POs) that you want to import, and the system does the rest... it goes out to the Crik-IT® website, finds the POs, then automatically puts them into your QuickBooks® system as purchase orders!  It's that easy... and it eliminates errors that can happen when entering a purchase order twice (once into Crik-IT® and again into your QuickBooks® system).
• If you use a different purchase order system and are interested in getting this sort of functionality, have your software vendor contact us.

Well, I really like my own PO system and I don't want to enter POs directly into Crik-IT®... but, I also want to take advantage of the Crik-IT® email alerts and other benefits... is there anything we can do without having to do double-entry?

• Yep, if you're running your business on QuickBooks® Pro, Premier, or Enterprise we've got ya covered!  With our Crik-Link to QuickBooks program, you can upload POs from QuickBooks® to Crik-IT®.  It's a snap!