Windward System Five vs Envision Salon & Spa: Which is a better fit?

Ketan K

General Manager

The implementation staff was great and the support is great. When ever I have contacted support they responded very quickly and the webinars have helped make the software better.

We waste a ridiculous amount of time waiting for support to figure out problems. After the initial conversion phase which was rough, we are largly left on our own.

Inventory control and details that can be entered into each item is awesome. Customer sales tracking is great.

Sales/Upsell warnings can be on a report, but not data loaded. Purchase warnings can be data loaded, but not put on a report.

We find that their software is secure, robust, and has many great reporting features for detailed analysis which range from inventory reports, to customer/product sales reports and charts.

When you try to use a date range for printing vendor accounts it does not work. Trying to get it to work with other programs has been a problem, and everthing has a price tag associated with it.

Is very robust and functional. Implementation following Windward recommended practice is seamless.

The techs continue to make horrible mistakes when we are getting support. Not only do they rarely call on time for a scheduled appointment, the last 2 times data as well as templates were deleted.

I love Envision and love that it has all the reports we need to grow our business and team. I have recommended it to many salons.

It's just not something they offer and I can submit a request on their blog for something I want them to create. The entire business model is a mess and I am shocked they are still in business.

Alicia A

Director of Marketing

I like the simplicity of the appointment calendar from an appointment-scheduler perspective. I also like the ease of setting up hours, location, confirmations, etc.

When I had to lower costs due to a financial hardship I immediately was just a number and realized I was only a dollar sign. The fact that I had been a client for 12 years no longer mattered.

Email marketing is included so we can send out promotions and updates to all of our clients, which was super helpful to update everyone during COVID.

It has several ways of doing the same thing which can be confusing.

I find Envision very user friendly. It has a nice design that is easy for everyone in the office to use.

Payroc processing seems to be run out of someones home there customer service is terrible.