What Is SAGE 200 and How Can It Benefit Your Business?

Cloud accounting and financials have enabled businesses to gain instant access to their data anytime and anywhere, removing the need for centrally located office-based computers. The move to the cloud brings flexibility, adaptability, and scalability, accessibility as well as strong cyber-security for your business.

As the world becomes more intelligent, fast-paced and, connected, Sage’s accounting software, Sage 200cloud (hereafter Sage 200), enables businesses to keep up with the momentum and thrive in today’s ever-increasingly digital world. Sage 200 is a powerful management solution and the UK’s leading business ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) management tool, operating with a number of modules enabling you to access all parts of your business, whether that’s sales, finance or project management, Sage 200 enables businesses to manage their financials, stock, production and sales orders at their convenience.

Sage 200 comes in two forms, Sage 200 Standard (SaaS solution) hosted by sage in a multi-tenanted Azure Cloud and Sage 200 Professional which has multiple deployment options. Whilst both offer similar capabilities, there are fundamental differences between both services which you may want to consider for your particular business’s interests.

What is SAGE 200 Standard?

Sage 200 Standard is a straightforward online accounting solution for small and medium-sized enterprises, that is, businesses with anywhere from 10 to 200 employees and those with an annual turnover from £1m up to £50m. The software is extremely adaptable and scalable meaning that it grows just as your business grows, as well as being tailorable to your specific business’s priorities; whether that’s adding or removing customers, companies, additional services or reporting.

In addition to the software’s adaptability, it is also highly accessible meaning you can access and share your data anytime, anywhere. Sage 200 links with other areas of your business and is connected via a central software package meaning you have access to timely and accurate information that is integrated with Excel, enabling you to harness the power of excel to easily analyse your business’s data. In addition to Excel, Sage 200 Standard can also be integrated with Microsoft 365 and Power BI. Sage 200 Standard is a common choice for those wanting an upgrade from Sage 50. With Sage’s inbuilt migration tool, your existing accounts with Sage are automatically transferred to Sage 200, making the move as easy and efficient as possible.

On the whole, Sage 200 offers a powerful solution for your business’s Financials, Payments (out of your business), Bill of Materials, Connected Users, Commercials, and Excel Reporting on the Go. By both offering these solutions and integrating with a number of different modules in the Sage 200 range, Sage 200 Standard is a competitive accounting solution that will exceed your business expectations.

What is SAGE 200 Professional?

Sage 200 Professional on the other hand offers a more detailed solution for businesses with more complex processes that have specific requirements. Sage 200 Professional is a more customised solution for better insight and control.

Unlike Sage 200 Standard, Sage 200 Professional can be both an on-premise solution as well as being hosted on the cloud, accessible via an RDS. Since Sage 200 Professional is a cloud-connected accounting solution, it offers an extensive range of integration opportunities such as the Microsoft 365 applications, it also offers integration with an extensive range of additional modules and applications, available from 3^rd party developers.

Sage 200 Professional of course offers the same capabilities that Sage 200 Standard offers in terms of; Financials, Payments, Bill of Materials, Connected Users, Commercials, and Excel Reporting on the Go. Importantly, however, Sage 200 Professional also offers integration to Sage CRM (manage customer relationships and offer the highest quality of service and support), Manufacturing (choose what’s right for your business), Business Intelligence (tools that help identify key trends and patterns) and Project Accounting (understand the details of each and every project you manage). Fundamentally, Sage 200 Professional offers a far more expansive range of services for each of your particular business requirements and is also far more adaptable and tailorable to your business needs.

Benefits of SAGE 200 Standard and Professional?

Flexibility:

It’s up to you how you want to pay for your Sage 200 service. Pay via annual payments or by monthly payments so you can budget your software expenditure into your overall business expenses. Interact with different currencies, receive payments faster through online portals, and deal with VAT and tax requirements for HMRC all through Sage 200.

Adaptability and Scalability:

Configure Sage 200 features and functionalities to your specific business needs. Become more agile by getting a holistic, 360 degrees view of your business through Sage’s one platform overview.

Accessibility:

Since Sage 200 may be cloud-hosted, you can access your data 24/7 and anywhere there is an internet connection. Sage 200 also links with other areas of your business meaning you have access to all of your business’s data at your fingertips. Whilst Sage 200 is an accounting software, the scope of its use for your business’s is far from limited to only accounting.

Cyber-Security:

Sage 200 when hosted via Microsoft Azure, which itself is hosted from data centres, managed by Microsoft’s Global Foundation Services (GFS). The GFS is managed and operated by Microsoft’s industry experts with years of experience. Azure itself incorporates security practices at the application and platform layers to enhance security, as well as incorporating automated data back-ups meaning that you will never have to worry about saving a copy of your business’s data.

Why Choose SAGE?

Sage is a FTSE 100 company with 5.7 million customers worldwide. Over 800,000 UK businesses and over a third of the FTSE 100 choose Sage as their software provider. With over 1000 partners and developers, Sage’s support network is one of the strongest and widest in the industry.

Why choose BCN for your business’s Sage Software?

BCN has over 12 years of support experience committed to Sage excellence delivery, our Sage Promise Charter demonstrates our commitment to providing you with the best solution possible.

By choosing BCN, our sage consultant experts will take the time to understand how your business uses Sage 200 and provide support, guidance, and recommendations on improvements you could implement for your business. We’ll discuss other business problems you may face that can be solved with additional Sage modules or partner add-ons from BCN’s partners. BCN will help ensure your business is operating at its most efficient and get the most out of your investment.

As Sage strategic partners, BCN has the knowledge and experience to help you get the most out of your Sage software. Continually up to date with industry news, regulations, and legislation as well as working closely with other Sage add-on partners, BCN will deliver updates, training, and events to you.

Here at BCN, we pride ourselves on forming close relationships with our clients. By becoming a BCN business partner you will have a dedicated account manager as your main point of contact who will personally get to know your business and understand what your unique requirements are. Our Sage support services are also some of the most competitively priced in the UK, meaning that our fantastic service doesn’t have to break your bank. Compared to our competitor’s 25% handling charge, BCN’s small charge shows our commitment to fair pricing.

BCN understands that your financial end-year can be busy and challenging, our consultants can be called upon to assist you during these busy periods, providing guidance and support to ensure that all critical information is in its place.

Please take a look at our Sage webpage for more information on Sage 200 and BCN’s other Sage services.