Find the Right Sage ERP Platform for Your Business

Table of Contents

Do you need an ERP?

How to choose the right ERP for your business

Differences between Sage ERP versions

Sage ERP Add-Ons & Enhancements

Do You Need an ERP?

The right platform provides efficiency and organization in your daily operations, while the wrong one can impact your bottom line by hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Without a platform that fits the needs of the company, employers face productivity losses, not to mention frustration that can lower employee morale. It’s no surprise that companies take the time to do their research before choosing a platform. The question is, with so many Sage options available, how do you know which one is right for your business? Here are a few considerations to help you get started.

The first question to ask is whether your business needs an enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform. There are business management solutions that may meet your needs without providing the full functionality of an ERP. Depending on your business needs, accounting software like QuickBooks may be a better fit for your business.

Here are eight questions that can help you decide if your business needs an ERP.

1. Is your staff spending more and more time on spreadsheets and compiling manual reports?

As businesses grow, often the systems and processes that worked when the business was small don’t work once the business grows. Expanding to multiple locations, shipping items to new regions, or increasing the number of orders can drastically change your operational and reporting requirements. Relying on endless Excel reports is time-consuming and leaves room for error. Accounting software often has upper limits on data size or functionality that can leave your staff scrambling to manually compile the reports your management team needs.

2. Is your staff spending a large amount of time on manual data entry?

Manual data entry is time-consuming. It’s also prone to error. In the beginning, your business may have needed to rely on manual data entry. While your business was small, your manual data entry needs probably were as well. But as your business grows, data entry needs grow exponentially. Businesses fail or succeed based on how well they can streamline operations. Automating data entry and the flow of data from one department to another saves your business time and money. It reduces errors and provides a better experience for your customers.

3. Does your management staff have limited access to reports or timely information that should drive decision-making?

Good data is crucial for your business. Data allows you to learn what your customers want, to identify and quickly act on new opportunities, and to identify and counter impending threats before they harm your business. But how do businesses get good data? It can be quite a struggle. Even coordinating the flow of data across your business can be a challenge. (If you’ve ever had an experience where every department is running reports off different versions of the data, you know exactly what we mean.) An ERP can provide data visibility across your entire business so that you never have to worry about departments using outdated or different data again.

4. Do you have access to real-time data across your business?

Good data is real-time data. In order to make the best business decisions, your management team needs access to current data. Not data from last month or last year, but from this week. From today. If your employees are relying on manual data consolidation, by the time they turn in the report, it’s already too late. Don’t let this happen to you. An ERP provides you with real-time data visibility across your entire business so you can track orders and changes in real-time.

5. Does your business have difficulty in adapting to new regulations or other business requirements?

Regulatory and tax requirements can be a burden for any business, particularly if you’re operating in multiple states or regions, your business may need to remain compliant with regulations across multiple jurisdictions. That can be a huge headache for your accounting and legal departments, and mistakes or falling out of compliance can be costly. This is where automation can help. ERPs can make regulatory and tax compliance easy.

6. Does your business have inadequate controls around financial processes? 

Businesses, particularly those in the finance, retail, or nonprofit sectors, may face additional security requirements around how they handle their customers’ or donors’ financial information. Companies may also want to restrict what employees have access to sensitive financial information such as company credit cards and bank accounts. ERPs often have built-in controls around your financial processes, as well as user roles and restrictions that allow companies to dictate exactly which employees have access to what data.

7. Are you struggling with bottlenecks that hinder business growth?

Many businesses struggle with bottlenecks. A bottleneck is defined as a blockage or setback that delays your business processes. As an example, if there is a four-hour delay between when orders are placed and when they’re transmitted to your warehouse, that could be considered a bottleneck. Bottlenecks slow your business operations. They can frustrate employees and result in poor customer service. In the example above, a four-hour delay in processing orders could lead to longer shipping times, oversells, and unhappy customers that take their next order elsewhere. ERPs were designed to reduce bottlenecks and streamline operations by improving communication across your entire business and automating data entry.

8. Do you plan for your business to grow, and do you have the tools necessary to support that growth? 

Many business owners want their businesses to grow. Others may be content to remain where they are, or they may face natural upper limits on growth (like a solo therapist who only has so many hours in the day). Business growth is often a chaotic process where your current processes work until they don’t, and then management and your employees are left scrambling to implement solutions while continuing to provide the service that your customers have come to expect. It doesn’t have to be this way. With the right ERP platform, it’s possible to pick business software that will grow with your business. This saves you the headache of switching from one business management software to another. It also means that you won’t have to struggle with accounting software or business software that your business has outgrown.

If any of these questions or challenges resonate with you, it might be time to look into which ERP platform will be the best fit for your business.

How to Choose the Right ERP for Your Business

The first step in selecting the right ERP for your business is to examine your own operations and needs. The answer to the question “what is the best ERP?” is “the ERP that best fits the needs of your business.” There is no single best ERP that will fill the needs of every business. In our years of working with countless businesses across many industries, we have found that the needs of every business are different. They have different processes, different goals, and they often need different Sage ERP software to meet the needs of their employees and clients.

Identify core needs

You need to identify your core business needs. Determine which functions are must-haves with any business management platform, and what functions are desirable but not essential. Depending on the needs of your business, examples of must-have functionality might include bookkeeping and accounting, tax compliance, project management, and more. Other functions, like lead generation, sales, and marketing, might be desirable but not essential.

When identifying core needs, it’s important to talk with every level of employee, from management and your C-suite down to your retail or warehouse staff. One thing we’ve found that might surprise management is that sometimes lower-level employees have a better idea of what functions will be needed than upper management.

Walkthrough a Typical Day of Work

In addition to interrogating your company’s needs, you should conduct a walk-through. Have employees describe a typical day of work and how they would use the new business management system. You should do this process in every department that will use the new system. Hand-over points between the departments, like how orders are transferred from your eCommerce department to your accounting and warehouse/fulfillment departments are also important. It’s important to know if what one department is doing will conflict with another department, or if the second department will end up having to clean up the first department’s mistakes.

You may even want to walk through a typical workday multiple times in the same department, or with multiple employees who perform different functions. This will ensure that your management team has a complete 360-degree view of operations within each department.

Speak with an Expert 

The final step in choosing an ERP is to speak to an expert–someone like us. No matter how much internal research you do, ERP resellers and consultants are experts in ERP implementations. They’ve seen it all, and may identify problem areas that your employees have been skirting around for so long that everyone forgot they were there. They may also be able to recommend features or functionality that you didn’t know were available. The odds that your business will find the right ERP software to fit your needs goes up exponentially when you have the right consultant by your side, helping you every step of the way.

Choosing the Right Sage ERP for You

Sage is one of the oldest providers of ERP software in the business. They specialize in providing software solutions to fit the needs of businesses large and small. They offer different solutions tailored to meet the needs of different-sized businesses and businesses in different industries.

Since they offer such a wide variety of products, it can be difficult to figure out which one is the best fit for your business. As an added layer of complication, some consultants don’t offer the full slate of Sage ERP products. They may steer your business to a solution they offer, rather than the one that’s best for you.

To help you select the best version of Sage for your business, we’ve compiled this handy guide explaining the differences between different Sage products.

Differences Between Sage ERP Versions

• Sage 100 – Sage 100 is the perfect ERP solution for businesses looking for something beyond accounting software. It offers functionality, including General Ledger, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Bank Reconciliation, Automated Bank Feeds, Work Orders, Service Operations, and more. It’s designed to meet the needs of small-to-medium sized businesses (SMBs). It’s designed to meet the needs of businesses in the discrete manufacturing, wholesale distribution, and professional service processes sectors, as well as businesses in the light manufacturing space. It allows companies to track time, materials, and finished goods from a single platform. Sage 100 also has field to office capabilities, manages field operations, and helps managers coordinate with field technicians. 

• Sage 300 –  Sage 300 is an all-in-one business management software for small-to-medium sized businesses. More than 40,000 customers use Sage 300 ERP software to manage their finances, operations, and inventory. Companies can use it to easily manage multiple entities, including multiple locations or multiple languages and currencies.

• Sage 500 – Sage 500 is a customizable enterprise resource planning solution intended for mid-sized companies. It provides businesses with greater insight into their day-to-day operations. It delivers integrated core financial and accounting solutions, distribution and supply chain management, and scalable manufacturing capabilities.

• Sage Intacct – Sage Intacct is a 100% cloud-based ERP that’s accessible from anytime, anywhere. That makes it perfect for remote or mobile workforces. It’s the first and only AICPA-preferred financial management solution. Sage Intacct is not a good fit for companies in the manufacturing space, but it’s great for accountants and CPA firms, financial services firms, healthcare agencies, franchises, and professional services firms, including those in the legal space. In addition, it’s great for nonprofits, wholesale distribution companies, and subscription and SaaS firms.

• Sage X3 –  Sage X3 is designed to handle the needs of large and enterprise businesses. It provides powerful production management, supply chain management, and financial management capabilities. It’s a great software solution for businesses in the food and beverage, process manufacturing, discrete manufacturing, distribution, chemicals, and services sectors.

Sage ERP Add-Ons

In addition to these Sage ERP products, Sage customers can also benefit from a variety of enhancements or add-ons that extend the functionality of Sage ERP software. Some of these add-ons are provided by Sage service, while others are provided by third-party vendors like CertiPro.

Sage Enhancements

Here are three Sage enhancements. They integrate directly with Sage ERPs and provide added functionality that brings value to your business.

• Sage Enterprise Intelligence – Sage Enterprise Intelligence turns complex, fragmented data into useful information. It gives users the ability to easily create and analyze business reports, dashboards, or views. It’s business intelligence software the way business intelligence software is meant to be—intuitive, fast, comprehensive, and easy.

• Sage CRM – Sage CRM helps you gain reliable insights and better understand your customers. It allows you to respond faster to customer inquiries with accurate information about project costs and pricing. It also improves business processes by automating the creation of customer invoices, revenue recognition entries, and more.

• Sage Fixed Assets –  Take control of your fixed assets management with Sage Fixed Assets (SFA). This software makes it easy to manage your entire fixed asset lifecycle acquisition to disposal. It includes automation depreciation calculations and creates easy-to-understand reports.

Why Sage is the Right Choice for You

Sage is different. While it’s difficult to compare ERP providers instead of products, Sage stands out. Both due to its long history, the size of the larger ecosystem of third-party resellers and providers of Sage enhancements, and because of its comprehensive Sage Knowledgebase. Sage customers have two main avenues for support—the self-service Sage Knowledgebase and their personal Sage reseller and consultant. Your Sage consultant will configure and customize your Sage ERP software for you. They’ll also be there to provide ongoing support and training whenever you need.

If you’re a specialty contractor with service technicians, Sage Field Operations makes Sage a perfect fit for your business.  

Contact Us

At CertiPro, we are experts in all things related to Sage. Our certified Sage consultants and developers specialize in Sage Intacct, Sage X3, Sage 500, and Sage 100. We do not work with Sage 100 contractor. Contact us today to see what we can do for your business.