Award Nominations

By Sinéad Hayes, Sales & Marketing Manager

October has been a great month for Advent in terms of award nominations.....

We were delighted to have received a nomination from the D15 Chamber in the IT Innovation category. The event was held in the Castleknock Hotel & Country Club earlier this month. We are proud of the software applications that we have developed and were very pleased to receive recognition for our work.

Advent also received a Sage Business Partner of the Year award. We enjoyed a great night in Finnstown House with our colleagues from Sage and were delighted to be presented with our award.

Sage 50 Mobile - Something to Shout About!

By Arshad Abdul, Sage 50 Account Manager

I have been selling Sage 50 Accounting software for the past two years
and I can honestly say that the new Sage 50 Mobile is the most fantastic
new feature that I have seen. Now you can just download the Sage 50
Mobile App onto an iPhone, iPod Touch or Blackberry device and within
seconds you will have access to your Sage 50 system.

It's very handy for users who are not office based or directors who like to keep a close eye on the business while on the go. The new version in 2011 also allows users to process transactions.

It's not surprising that Sage 50 Mobile was a Silver Medal Winner for “Best in Mobile Innovation” at the Digital Media Awards 2010.

What you can achieve with Sage 50 Mobile while Mobile?

Dashboards for company performance

Access to real-time customers and supplier data

Create Invoices, Sales Orders and Quotations from your iPhone

View Invoices, Sales Orders and Quotations from your iPhone

View transactions on customers, suppliers and bank accounts

Check customer and supplier accounts and activity on the move

Rapid access to information through 'Favourites'

Straight-forward to set up and use

Remote access to important information

Make decisions quickly based on up-to-date information

Guess what?? You can avail of the above with no extra cost - just make sure you are running Sage 50 Accounts Version 2011 on your PC/network and that you have a compatible mobile device. It really is that simple and is definitely something to shout about!

Information Everywhere

by Sinéad Hayes, Sales & Marketing Manager

In today's world, we are all used to having information

readily available when we need it.

In business, information is critical, but it's not so much about the quantity of information but the quality of information. What do we need to know and how often do we need this information? How easy is it to get access to this information? How long does it take somebody to produce the required reports?

It's not just about having the best Accounting Software or the best Sales & Marketing system in place. There is little point in investing in software unless it brings new efficiencies to the business and enables the business adapt to the changing technologies.

It's about having a joined-up approach enabling information to flow from one place in the organisation to another. It's also about being able to readily access and analyse this data to enable businesses make important decisions.

Essentially, it all comes down to having the right tools. In this highly competitive world we live in, tools such as Business Intelligence, Software Integration & integrated CRM tools can make all the difference -helping to give your business the competitive edge.

It makes sense - why make life difficult when technology is there to help us be efficient and smart in our work?

For more information on how to use technology to give you better information, call us on

01-8223 200 or Email: sales@advent.ie

Being JLC Compliant is Simple

By Ray Ryan, Managing Director

What is a JLC?

While there is a legal minimum wage in Ireland, there are also other pay agreements in place which cover certain types of workers. These agreements on pay and conditions are made by Joint Labour Committees (JLC's) and are known as Employment Regulation Orders (ERO's).

It is the JLC that agrees the working conditions and rates of pay for workers in the JLC sector of employment for example RGAT (Retail, Grocery and Allied Trade). An Employment Regulation Order made by the Labour Court makes such a JLC legally binding and is actively enforced by NERA (National Employment Rights Authority).

Updating to MicroPay Professional V2011

Updating to the latest version of MicroPay will bring you the following key benefits:

- Compliance with NERA

- Reduction in time spent processing JLC rates of pay

- Potential cost savings in cases where you have been paying employees over the recommended JLC pay rate.

My advice is to become compliant sooner rather than later. Avoid the headache of inspection audits and get your payroll system in order - it will save you a lot of hassle that you could probably do without.

The CSNA have been working closely with Sage Ireland to ensure that the software provides the necessary functionality for JLC's.

Speak to us if you would like to find out more or click here to download further information.

If you would like to see a demonstration of Sage Micropay, please contact us on

01-8223 200 or Email:sales@advent.ie.

Introducing Sage 200 Version 2010

By Sinéad Hayes, Sales & Marketing Manager

Sage 200 2010 is the latest release of Sage’s mid-market accounts solution. Sage 200 Version 2010 includes plenty of new features. Whether you are considering upgrading from previous versions of the Sage mid-market range (e.g. Line 100, MMS or earlier versions of Sage 200), upgrading from Sage 50 or are looking at purchasing a Sage product for the first time, Sage 200 has lots to offer.

New features include:

• Sage 200 Mobile (useful for viewing key information on the go)
• Purchase Order Authorisation Enhancements (new levels and methods of PO authorisation)
• New Sage Report Designer (making report designing easier)

For more information on these, and a range of other new features, please click here to download our Sage 200 2010 New Features Guide.

If you would like to see a demonstration of Sage 200 2010, please do not hesitate to get in touch! Call us on 01-8223 200 or Email:sales@advent.ie.

Announcing Our World Cup 2010 Sale!

by Sinéad Hayes, Sales & Marketing Manager

With World Cup 2010 in full swing, we were delighted to launch our World Cup 2010 Sale.Despite the fact that Ireland are not participating (thank you Thierry!), our customers can still avail of excellent prices on a range of Sage software, extra users and upgrades as well as discounts on our expert services.

Customers can also be in with a chance to win a range of football prizes, including tickets to a Republic of Ireland match at the recently opened Aviva Stadium.

Divided into groups, we have a range of excellent cost-savings software solutions on sale with discounts of up to 10% off software and services:

• Group A: ACT Sales & Contact Management Software
• Group B: Sage 50 Upgrade
• Group C: Sage 200 Upgrade
• Group D: Spindle Document Manager Software

For more information on the discounts available for each Group, drop us a line. The Sale runs until the World Cup Final, taking place on 11th July 2010.

Call one of our Account Managers on: 01-8223 200 or Email: sales@advent.ie.

Connections Newsletter - ShopFront Issue 03

by Cormac Kehoe - Marketing Executive

I am delighted to announce a new issue of ShopFront, Advent's retail newsletter published specifically for convenience stores in Ireland.

In this issue, we highlight important legislative issues concerning cash register and EPoS system compliance with Revenue guidelines.

News items featured in Issue 03 include:

• A Connections Update
• Is Your Retail Business Revenue Compliant?
• Get Connected & Make Annual Savings in Your Store
• What Connections Users Say
• Can Your Business Benefit from Connections?

Click here to download a copy of ShopFront Issue 03

If you have any questions on queries on any of the items features in this Issue of ShopFront, please do not hesitate to contact me or any of the team at Tel: 01-8223 200 or sales@advent.ie.

Make Your Job Easier with Custom-developed Sage 200 Software Add-ons

by Sharad Nair, Development Manager

Have you ever thought, "there must be an easier way of doing this?" Or are you sick of having to use spreadsheet to manage certain aspects of your business?

If so, then a custom-developed add-on might be a great way for you to manage a task in a more time efficient manner, making your job quicker and more productive.

As part of Advent's offering to customers, our software development team works closely with customers to develop add-ons to help streamline their business processes. This may be as simple as a special report or as complex as whole module. As part of the Advent Software Development Department, John, Giuseppe and I are always available to discuss your requirements to see if we can deliver a cost- and time-effective solution to your business.

To date, we have a range of add-ons which have been developed to meet the requirements of customers. These could be of use to other Sage customers. These add-ons include:

• Head Office Invoicing Module
• Calculation of WEEE Charges on Electrical Goods
• Smart Invoicing - Sales Counter Invoicing
• Unique Customer Order Number Checking
• Stock Transfer between Warehouses
• Incremental Second Reference Number on Supplier Invoices
• Fourth Schedule VAT
• Nominal Replication Routine
• Direct Debit Generations
• Sales Analysis Reporting Tool
• Recurring Supplier Invoice Routine

For a more information these add-ons for Sage 200, download the brochure.

If you would like to discuss any of these add-ons or a custom-developed add-on for your Sage 200 software, we would be delighted to hear from you. You can get in touch by phone on: 01-8223 200 or email at: development@advent.ie.

ACT Now to Improve Your Sales & Customer Interaction

by Cormac Kehoe, Marketing Executive

In an economic downturn, marketing is an essential function of a business in order to drive sales and improve customer interaction. To market your business, products and/or service effectively, you must manage your customers and prospects.

A natural reaction is to cut back all "unnecessary" expenditure and unfortunately, sometimes marketing falls into that category. For a business to survive, and in the longer-term thrive, it is imperative that some marketing function is either put in place if none existed before, or is ramped up to take advantage of any opportunities in your chosen market place.

To manage this marketing activity, we recommend using a CRM software solution. As a leading Sage Business Partner in Ireland, there are a range of CRM solutions from Sage that integrate with your Sage accounts package to help drive your marketing and then your sales function.

To help you get a grip on marketing during a downturn and why you should do it, Sage have published a very interesting white paper. To download and read the white paper, click here or on the thumbnail image to the right. It makes for some compelling reasons to get marketing!

If you would like some help in choosing a CRM solution that suits your business budget and needs, please do not hesitate to contact one of our CRM experts on Tel: 01-8223 200 or sales@advent.ie.

Announcing New Leasing Finance for I.T. Projects

by Ray Ryan - Managing Director

We realise that in the current market place, financing for new I.T. investments is difficult to obtain. The traditional payment-on-delivery scenario is often no longer an option with tight monthly cash flows and increasing reluctance by banks to fund new investments.

This is why we have spent quite some time investigating means by which our customers can finance new cost-saving I.T. projects without hindering cash flow or needing to approach their bank.

Therefore, I am delighted to announce that we have recently come to an agreement with a locally-based finance company specialising in all I.T. Hardware and Software to provide leasing finance at competitive rates to our customers.

With financing available for I.T. projects from a minimum of €500.00 and above, our customers can now investment in that upgrade project, new module or additional hardware without negatively impacting their cash flow.

The benefits of leasing your software project from Advent include:

• Monthly or quarterly payments to help manage cash flow more effectively
• Competitive rates giving you the best possible value for money
• A turnaround time on applications within 20 minutes to help speed payment processing
• Full leasing available for software, hardware and installation services
• Benefit from cost-saving I.T. projects supplied by Advent

So if you have been quoted by one of our sales team in the past or if you were considering an upgrade but cash flow was an issue, we now have a cost-effective financing solution available.

Please do not hesitate to drop us a line (E-mail: sales@advent.ie or Tel: 01-8223 200) for more information on competitive monthly or quarterly payment plans!

*All Leasing Agreements are subject to approval. Terms & Conditions Apply.

Go Mobile with Sage 50

by Arshad Abdul - Sage 50 Account Manager

I'm delighted to announce that Sage 50 users can now access their on-premises data on the road, removing the need to constantly contact the office for customer/supplier information. Sage 50 Mobile allows owners, sales people or any staff on the road to view their Sage 50 data via a Blackberry® device.* This new and exciting feature is available as standard in Sage 50 2010. At the moment, the feature is read-only (i.e. users can only view information, not edit or add new information).

However, Sage Ireland inform me that v2 of the feature will have a read/write functionality, meaning that mobile users will be able to enter sales/purchase orders, invoices, edit customer accounts, etc. This read/write version is pencilled in for release in May 2010.

The current read-only version is perfect for Sage 50 users who have staff on the road who would like to access their Sage data remotely. The main advantages of this include:

• Accessibility: Blackberry smartphones are far less obtrusive than laptops, ideally suited to you when you and your staff are on the move. Blackberry smartphones can be used anywhere, any time.
  Immediacy: Real-time information can be accessed at any time, ensuring that valuable customer data and opportunities are always captured.
• Discretion: When checking customer data, it is often not practical, convenient or appropriate to refer to a laptop. Blackberry devices ensure that the flow of conversation is not interrupted when being used to retrieve information.
• Value: By providing Sage 50 users with the information they need, when they need it, significant value is added to a mobile workforce.
• Productivity: Giving your mobile staff critical business information at their fingertips cuts down on calls back to head office requesting information.

This excellent feature is a must for any Sage 50 user with staff on the road. With Blackberry devices available at extremely competitive prices and the Sage 50 Mobile module available as standard in Sage 50 2010, it is worth investigating.

If you would like to see a demo of how it works, just drop me a line and i can arrange it for you. Email: arshadabdul@advent.ie or Phone: 01-8223 200.

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*Sage 50 Mobile is only available in Sage 50 2010 (v16) and is only compatible with the following Blackberry devices:

- 8800 Series (8800, 8820)

- 8830 Series (8310, 8320)

- Pearl 8100 Series (8100, 8110, 8120)

- Pearl 8220 (also known as Pear Flip)

- Bold 9000

New Year, New Sales Pipeline

by Sinead Hayes - Sales & Marketing Manager


The start of a new year always brings new challenges, especially in this difficult economic climate. With it, however, also come opportunities.

In conjunction with a concise marketing plan, a sales pipeline projection for the year is always useful to map out the best, and worst, case scenarios for the year. Without knowing what potential sales are in the on the horizon, you can enter a new year in the dark.

I find a marketing plan to be absolutely critical for any salesperson, no matter how big or small their company is. Not having a marketing plan in place for the coming year is like setting out on a long journey without a map (or nowadays a SatNav!) - you will have no definite way to reach your destination of annual sales targets!

A good marketing plan should answer the following questions:

• What products/services will my company sell?
• What marketing activities will we need to carry out to meet the sales targets for the year?
• When is the best time to carry out those activities?
• To whom will we market our products/services to?

From this marketing plan should come an idea of how your sales target can be reached. Your sales pipeline can be then devised by week, by month, by quarter and/or by year to give you a clear picture of your sales prospects at any given time.

If you would like to hear more about sales pipelines and sales management, please do not hesitate to drop me a line by email or phone (01-8223 200)!

What is Business Intelligence and what can it do for your business?

by Brian Doherty - Senior Management Consultant

The recession has seen companies, large and small, re-assess how they do business. It is now necessary to maximise resources and opportunities to ensure sales are made and costs are reduced. To this end, there has been a strong interest in Business Intelligence (BI) software and how it can help businesses analyse the data they collect for cost-cutting or sales opportunities.

I will give a quick overview here of BI as a concept.

What is Business Intelligence?

In its simplest form, Business Intelligence refers to technologies used to gather, analyse and provide access to data to help businesses make better business decisions. It helps companies make practical use of their existing data.

What can Business Intelligence do for my Business?

• Identify trends and patterns in your existing data to gain a better understanding of your business
• Transform your existing data into actionable information
• Support future planning by identifying opportunities to increase revenue or reduce costs
• Reduce data duplication and use of multiple Excel spreadsheets
• Make better and faster business decisions by analysing metrics and KPIs that are not easily measured in a non-BI environment
• Produce management and ad-hoc reports
• Give a 360° view of your business, from sales and marketing figures, to stock and suppliers

As part of the Sage 200 platform product, Sage have recently launched a Business Intelligence (BI) module. I will be taking the technical training course next month to gain certification in Sage 200 BI and will report back with my thoughts on the product!

If you would like any more info on Business Intellience, please get in touch either by email or phone (01-8223 200). I'd be delighted to help!

New Issue of Advent News - Winter 2010

The Winter Edition of our quarterly newsletter "Advent News" is now out.

To view your own copy, simply click here

In light of the need for companies to reduce costs and maximise operational efficiencies going into 2010, we have been working on solutions to help our customers achieve these goals.

In the Winter Edition of Advent News, you can see:

• How Sage 50 2010 allows Sage 50 users to improve cash flow
• Business Intelligence for Sage 200 enables users to easily analyse trends & anomalies using graphical reports, helping them to make important business decisions (BI software is now Free of Charge for Sage 200 Version 2009 users)
• Our Hints & Tips section allows customers to get the most from their Sage system
• We are also delighted to welcome new staff members to the Advent team
• Boost your sales with CRM software!

We hope you find it's a good read!

Welcome to Our Blog!

The Advent team would like to welcome you to our blog. In the coming weeks and months, we will be posting news items, features and opinions to this blog to keep our customers, prospective customers and partners informed on the latest I.T. and software news from both within Advent and the wider market-place.

As one of Sage Ireland's leading Business Partners and one of Ireland's leading software development houses, Advent has grown over the years a skill-set that is second to none in identifying and developing solutions to help clients work more efficiently.

We hope this blog will share our skills and knowledge and will be a point of reference for the latest I.T news.

To read any of the posts, simply choose the month & title on the left-hand pane.

Here's to a Great 2010!