Sage readies integrated software for SMEs
New software due to be delivered to customers in May
Newcastle-based, accounting software developer, Sage has revealed more
details about Sage 1000, its new integrated software suite for medium-sized
businesses, due to be delivered to customers in May.
David Pinches, director of accounts and enterprise resource planning (ERP) at
Sage, said the new suite includes all the components needed to run firms with a
turnover of between £10m and £500m.
‘It’s a generic product that’s applicable across a wide range of industries,’
Pinches said. ‘It has all the core requirements for a mid-market firm, like an
accounting system and operations management, including sales order processing,
procurement, warehousing and inventory of goods.’ Additional modules are
available to handle specialist requirements, such as general manufacturing and
build-to-order manuf- acturing, he added.
Pinches said more and more medium-sized firms are using such integrated
suites. ‘The days of deploying standalone accounting, customer relationship
management [CRM] and manufacturing systems are eroding fast in the mid-market.
These companies want to manage their processes across the entire business, not
at a departmental level,’ he added.
Other elements in Sage 1000 include sales management tools for both field and
office-based sales teams, and a module to manage sales campaigns, including lead
management and sales forecasting. A customer support module includes tools for
service-level targets and the logging of enquiries.
‘Full reporting is available throughout the suite, either using dashboards or
grid-oriented reporting,’ Pinches said. ‘There’s also a self-service web module,
so a company can expose selected information to trading partners.’
The software runs on Windows Server systems and requires Microsoft SQL
Server. Clients connect to the suite via Internet Explorer.
The price of the suite has yet to be confirmed, but Pinches said it would be
competitive for the mid-market. He noted that other products in this sector cost
between £1,000 and £4,000 per seat.