Switching instruments. Managing a number of logins. Making an attempt to determine the place to get assist when one thing breaks. That’s the price of software program constructed on infinite integrations. 

Karbon’s technique is to indiscriminately combine with every part and all people. And within the different nook, Cover builds the options companies truly use, underneath one roof and underneath one contract. 

Whereas each are observe administration options, you might be selecting between two very totally different philosophies and the outcomes present up in your workflow, your help expertise, and finally, your backside line.

Constructed-In vs. Bolt-On: What is the Distinction

There actually is a distinction between software program that’s constructed deliberately to work collectively and software program that’s stitched collectively haphazardly. 

Karbon’s method is bolted on. They depend on integrations with third-party instruments for consumption, doc administration, portals, reporting, engagements, and extra. You’re anticipated to attach all of it collectively your self, pay for every bit individually, and pray the connections maintain 12 months after 12 months.

Cover takes the inbuilt method. Each main perform you should run and develop your agency like workflow, billing, CRM, doc administration, e-signatures, consumer portal, is natively developed, maintained and supported by the identical group. It’s designed to work collectively from the beginning.

Cover vs. Karbon Match-Up

What 80+ Integrations Actually Feels Like

Karbon desires you to suppose its 80+ integrations are a promoting function. However for lots of companies, it’s a full-time headache. 

As a result of what that basically means is you’re juggling disconnected methods that by no means totally play good… and will even have overlapping performance. You’re consistently managing:

• Sync errors that mysteriously break
• A number of logins and person permissions throughout instruments
• A fractured expertise that’s complicated on your workers. And even worse on your purchasers

And it’s not simply in regards to the integrations breaking. It’s about how they make your complete workflow really feel. Disjointed. Inefficient. Unpredictable.

That’s why extra companies are switching to Cover, a single, unified platform constructed to exchange all these further instruments. No extra chasing down issues throughout 5 totally different distributors. No extra syncing nightmares. No extra cobbled-together workflows.

Only one login. One supply of reality. One platform your group and your purchasers truly take pleasure in utilizing.

Workflows, Not Workarounds

When your software program stack is stitched collectively from third-party instruments, your “workflow” rapidly turns right into a patchwork of workarounds.

Each activity turns into a hop between tabs. Each handoff will get delayed by one other damaged sync. And each new rent has to study not simply how to do the work—however the best way to navigate the workaround circus.

We hear it on a regular basis from companies making an attempt to juggle disconnected instruments: challenge administration in a single app, consumer communication in one other, time monitoring in yet one more. Nothing is related, and every part takes longer than it ought to.

That isn’t a workflow. It’s a survival technique.

With Cover, your complete course of lives in a single place, from consumer requests to doc administration, activity monitoring to billing. Which means no extra duct-taping methods collectively or counting on somebody’s reminiscence to shut the loop.

Actual workflows imply: 

• Each consumer activity routinely strikes by way of the subsequent step
• Your group all the time is aware of what’s subsequent and what’s on their plate
• Time will get tracked whereas the work is occurring
• Nothing slips by way of the cracks

With Cover, your complete course of lives in a single place, from consumer requests to doc administration, activity monitoring to billing. Which means no extra duct-taping methods collectively or counting on somebody’s reminiscence to shut the loop.

Why Simplicity Wins Throughout Tax Season

When deadlines are looming and consumer questions are piling up, the very last thing your group wants is to be bouncing between half a dozen disconnected instruments.

That’s the fact for companies utilizing Karbon. Have to bill a consumer? You’re switching to Ignition or QuickBooks. Need to accumulate eSignatures? Open up Dropbox Signal. Time monitoring? That’s one other tab. Each perform lives in a distinct place, and that friction provides up while you’re deep in tax season.

Cover takes a distinct method.

We’ve constructed core features (workflow, billing, doc administration, consumer portal, eSignatures, time monitoring, engagements, and consumption) right into a single, related platform. No syncing points. No lacking information. No questioning which app has the proper model of the file.

Right here’s what that simplicity seemed like this previous tax season:

• 15 million+ duties created and tracked in a single system
• Over 800,000 invoices generated and despatched from the identical place
• 30 million+ recordsdata uploaded—no leaping between cloud drives
• 410 years of billable time tracked straight inside workflows

This isn’t nearly numbers. It’s about peace of thoughts. Throughout the 2025 tax season, Cover  ran with 99.999% uptime and 0 outages throughout peak season, so companies weren’t left scrambling when it mattered most.

When every part lives in a single place, your group strikes sooner, communicates higher, and delivers a smoother consumer expertise. 

When Integrations Do Make Sense

Integrations aren’t inherently unhealthy. They’re crucial while you’re connecting purpose-built instruments, like tax software program. 

Let observe administration software program be observe administration software program, and let tax software program be tax software program. You want a bridge between your observe administration system and your tax engine, and that’s the place integrations are available in. 

Integrations can break down once they’re used as an alternative to core performance. 

As Jason Staats put it:

“I burned 3 years of productiveness selecting the WRONG system (Observe CS) as a result of I obtained suckered by a gross sales individual and the advertising and marketing entice of ‘integrations’.” 

It’s a entice many agency house owners fall into: chasing flexibility and “connect-anything” methods, solely to comprehend they’ve constructed a brittle tech stack that creates extra upkeep than momentum.

At Cover, we’ve taken the other method by constructing the core instruments natively, after which integrating the place it is smart. Which means:

• Deep, safe connections with key work service software program (like your normal ledger)
• API entry for customized use instances

As a result of the reality is, you don’t want 20 best-in-class apps. You want one system that simply works and the pliability to plug in the place it counts.

What Accountants Actually Need

Most accountants aren’t asking for extra software program.

They don’t wish to study 5 new instruments simply to get one job executed. They don’t wish to handle a rising stack of apps or spend hours determining why one thing isn’t syncing.

They need software program that works the way in which it ought to proper out of the gate.

That’s why many accountants are skipping the mix-and-match methods it’s a must to assemble your self, and selecting a single platform that covers the core features companies use on daily basis. 

As a result of what agency house owners actually need is:

• A constant, dependable person expertise for his or her group
• Fewer logins, fewer help tickets, fewer workarounds
• Extra time for purchasers, technique, and progress and fewer time troubleshooting software program

And the numbers again it up. Fifty-seven % of accountants say they wish to be utilizing simply 1–5 instruments three years from now, signaling a transparent shift towards simplicity, effectivity, and higher accuracy by way of software program consolidation.

In some unspecified time in the future, simplicity wins.

Commerce ten totally different instruments for one system that your group can belief.

Able to study extra about Cover?