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!