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5 Mistakes People Make When Buying (or Subscribing To) Sage 100 Accounting Software

April 26, 2016 by Wayne Schulz

Purchasing, licensing or subscribing to accounting software is sometimes not a pleasant experience.

Reality: ERP Selection Steps Most Companies Take:

  1. Google or Bing for info/research
  2. Email a bunch of consultants/VARS for pricing
  3. Pick brain of any who answer the phone and seem half-way knowlegeable
  4. Get free demo, free info, free second opinion
  5. Think about it
  6. Think some more
  7. Can’t wait any longer
  8. Oh heck, let’s buy from the company with the persistent salesman that keeps calling asking if we’re ready to buy because they are running a 20% discount special this month which expires soon.
  9. Implement
  10. Google or Bing for better consultant/VAR or for free information on whether consultant or VAR who company just spent $100k with knows what they’re doing (Hint: If you have to ask…)

Reality: The 5 Mistakes Companies Make Selecting Accounting Systems (ERP)

Recognize any of the problems above? I won’t say that they happen in every ERP selection process.

The exception may be users who’ve previously worked with a particular system, left their job and taken another where they will then purchase or license the same solution.

Others starting fresh in their search for an ERP system tend to make the same mistakes over and over. Here’s a quick summary of the top 5 problems that can arise during your RFP or evaluation of a new system.

1 – The Solution Is NOT Meant For Your Industry

Ten of fifteen years ago companies would buy generic accounting software and force it to fit into their business processes.

Fast forward to today and there’s little reason to force a square peg into a round hole.

Solutions exist for nearly every type of business. Do you haul waste? Run a lumber yard? Sell inventory from multiple warehouses? Need to track projects? There are multiple solutions which have been built specifically for your industry.

Key tip: Ask the consulting firm how many customers they have that are in your specific industry. Then get names and check references. Consider it a huge red flag if the consulting firm is unable to name names.

2 – The VAR / Reseller Has Little Experience

A Google or Bing search will uncover dozens of names of consulting firms. What’s more relevant than just compiling a list of names is to know the extent of the recent experience those firms have with the solution you’re considering.

Key tip: Look for experience in your industry. If you are selling diamonds or groceries or fuel oil – the only relevant experience is that provided by a consultant to a company in your same industry.

3 – Promised Integrations – Don’t. Or They Integrate Poorly.

The biggest landmine, and point of failure, for almost every complex ERP implementation is the quality of third party integrations.

In many cases you’ll be using third-party enhancements which perhaps allow for multi-company or cash basis operations. Sometimes enhancements are purchased that add full Warehouse Management (WMS) or Electronic Data Interchange (EDI).

Don’t be fooled by the promise of integration ease. Ask the person who is selling or recommending the integration how many systems they’ve integrated to. The systems should be the EXACT type which you are considering purchasing.

Key tip: Third party developers are sometimes over-confident. It’s not unusual for them to over-promise in order to get the sale. Once sold, the integration is often under-delivered. Do your homework and verify how many integrations the developer has made and how happy the users are with the integration.

4 – Base a Purchase On a Free Demo, Free Evaluation, Free Meeting

In today’s market most companies looking for a new ERP should go through a paid proof-of-concept. This is a setup of the system using your companies data and some test transactions.

If you rely on a free demo, free evaluation and free meeting then you’re really only getting a sales pitch. This leaves you to do 100% of the critical analysis.

Key tip: When you’ve relied solely on a free demo you’ve really only gotten a sale pitch. Do not expect any critical information to help you make an informed decision.

5 – Buy Based On The Cheapest Google Search

Google or Bing are wonderful search engines. If your needs are simple and only require GL/AP/AR with no integrations or unusual concerns then by all means Google or Bing for the cheapest accounting software.

All others should ignore anything labeled “guaranteed lowest price”. The prices are low for a reason and it’s often that these companies are focused solely on selling, winning Presidents Circle trips and selling you some more.

 

Observation

  1. Nobody ever believes this
  2. Until they’ve spent all their money with an inferior consulting firm
  3. By then, there’s no money to fix problems

Get off on the right foot with a more focused selection that zeros in on your company’s key success factors and not the sales goals of a consulting firm trying to make a sales quota.

 

Filed Under: Sage 100 ERP Tagged With: erp, selection

Up To 25% Of ERP Users Looking to Upgrade Or Change Solution

December 20, 2011 by Wayne Schulz

Forrester Research has an interesting study predicting that up to 25% of companies might be in the market for either upgrading or completely changing their accounting system.

What’s interesting about this news post is there’s no clear direction that companies are headed. The decision between a SaaS (software as a service) offering which is hosted off-site and an on-site offering is, according to this article, largely made on a company by company basis.

 
From The Computerworld Post:

An ERP boomlet, born of necessityFor the past decade, ERP has been the poster child for IT projects that overpromise and underdeliver. It was notorious for painfully complex rollouts that took years to implement, required massive customization, and were often only partially realized. Billions of dollars were spent just trying to get ERP systems to work as advertised.

Now ERP is back — and not just for big enterprises looking to refresh legacy systems. According to surveys by Forrester Research, roughly one out of four SMBs and enterprises plans to either upgrade their existing ERP solutions or implement a new one over the next 12 months.

Many of these are small to midsize companies that have been getting by for years with QuickBooks or Peachtree but now need to take managing their businesses to the next level, says Forrester Research analyst China Martens.

Computerworld

Filed Under: Sage 100 ERP Tagged With: erp, saas

View a Free Sage ERP Demo – Recorded or Live

October 10, 2011 by Wayne Schulz

Interested in viewing a free demo of Sage ERP MAS 90 or 200 – without having to schedule a convenient time for several people to meet in your conference room? You’re in luck!

Sage has a site where they list both live and recorded versions of their most popular Sage ERP MAS 90 and MAS20o demonstrations.

Presently they have listed:

LIVE Sage ERP MAS 90 and 200DEMOS

  • Paperless Payroll with Sage Payroll Paycard
  • What’s New In Sage ERP MAS 90 and 200 Version 4.5 (October 20, 2011)
  • Maximizing ROI on Your ERP Investment with doc-link Document Imaging and Workflow Solutions

RECORDED Sage ERP MAS90 and 200 DEMOS

  • Sage TimeSheet
  • BI in 2010 – Abolishing Technology Hindrances (Parts 1 and 2)
  • Business Alerts Professional for Sage ERP MAS 90 and 200

 

More

Filed Under: Sage 100 ERP Tagged With: demo, erp, sage

What’s New In Sage ERP MAS 90, MAS200 Version 4.50?

September 19, 2011 by Wayne Schulz

Sage is now shipping their latest upgrade to Sage ERP MAS 90 and 200. This latest version 4.5 includes enhancements to payroll, sales commission processing, job costing, SageCRM and more.

The new release started shipping September 8, 2011 to new customers. Sage have begun sending out announcements and encouraging existing users to update their records in anticipation of an October 2011 release to their existing users.

Here’s a look at a summary of new features included in Sage ERP MAS 90 , MAS 200 and MAS 200 SQL.

Sage ERP 200 WhatsNew 45 Brochure

Filed Under: Sage 100 ERP Tagged With: 4.5, erp, mas200, sage, Sage 100 ERP, upgrade

Sage Insights 2010 Collaboration via Google Wave

March 20, 2010 by Wayne Schulz

The Sage North America Insights 2010 Conference takes place May 17 to 20, 2010 in Denver Colorado. As usual the three days of sessions and networking promise to provide lots of value for Sage partners, CPAs and Vendors.

We’ll be there in the audience for all the major keynotes as well as the all new 1.5 hour Insights 2010 Sage Executive Question and Answer session.

Each year though it’s nearly impossible to sit in on all the major sessions, so this year we’re going to collaborate on note taking – sharing our notes with any others who care to join us. This will help ensure that nothing is missed during product sessions – and also allows those collaborating to make comments or share their own opinions on the happenings.

This year we’ll be using Google Wave which is a free collaborative tool from Google that you access via the Internet and your web browser. It will allow for anyone to update our notes at sessions — as well as to catch up on notes for sessions that they may have missed or want to know more about.

If you’ve never used Google Wave (or if you’ve tried it and given up) it’s a free collaboration tool in open preview from Google. Most of the use of Wave seems to be to jointly take notes or share bits of information — something that we think makes it an ideal tool to use for Sage Insights 2010.

Here’s a short video that explains and demonstrates Google Wave

During the keynotes and other sessions you’ll be able to search for and participate in the live creation of notes – provided that you’re a member of our conference Google Group (which is the only way Google Wave allows for easy sharing with a group of users).

If you’re not attending Insights you can still join the Google Group and participate in viewing the group Waves as well as providing feedback or asking questions. Google Wave’s are updated in real time so you’ll see people creating notes as the sessions are happening.

Here’s how we’ll use Google Wave for Insights 2010 – and you’re invited to join us

First, if you don’t have a Google Wave account — apply for one right now. You won’t be able to read or reply to any of our conference Waves without an account. The approval process for those appying with their Gmail accounts appears to be 3 to 5 days — so you’ll need to apply well in advance of stepping off the plane in Denver.

Apply for Google Wave Account

Secondly, after you’ve applied for the Google Wave invitation – join our Google Group. By being a member in the group you’ll be able to view and edit any of the Wave’s we create at Sage Insights.

Because of the way that Google implements group sharing – these Waves will only be visible and shared with the group.

When you join the Google Group – be sure you join with the same email address you used to sign up for Wave (Do NOT join with your @googlewave.com address).

Subscribe to Insightful
Email:

Visit this group

A few things to keep in mind:

This group has nothing to do with Sage.

They’re not sponsoring it – though they’re welcome to participate if they wish.

Once you are active with both Google Wave and a member of our Sage Insights Conference Google Group you’ll be able to search for Wave’s that are directed to anyone in the group.

It’s important to note that until you’re a member of our Google Group that any Google Wave search for Insights Conference notes won’t work.

Within Google Wave – simply search for:

group:insightsconference@googlegroups.com

If you’re already on Wave and have questions – contact us at wayne.schulz@googlewave.com or email wayne@s-consult.com.

Filed Under: Sage 100 ERP, Sage software Tagged With: 2010, collaboration, colorado, conference, denver, erp, Google Wave, insights, keynotes, sage, Wayne Schulz

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