Posted by Alison Boons on Tue, Aug 24, 2010 @ 03:23 PM
by Geoff Williams (smallbusiness.aol.com)
Sure, some businesses are cash-only and do just fine - the local ice cream parlor, the greasy spoon diner down the street, the flea market that's been around for a century. But these days, in a nation where floating on credit is as American as apple pie, you've got to take plastic.
While they require some infrastructure upgrades & come with annoying fees, it has become increasingly difficult to run a full-fledged business --especially in retail-- without accepting credit & debit cards. But despite the drawbacks, the added convenience for customers could lead to bigger purchases at the register. "You want to be accessible, and you want to broaden your opportunity to close the sale," says Greg Hammermaster, president of Sage Payment Solutions, which helps more than 140,000 business & organizations accept electronic payments, including credit and debit cards, electronic checks, gift cards & automatic recurring payments.
So how can you make your business credit card-friendly? Here are five things you need to know.
1) Apply for Merchant Status - What is merchant status? The term means you can be entrusted to allow customers to pay you with a MasterCard, Visa, American Express and the like. So why shouldn't they trust you?
To read the rest of the article, visit; http://smallbusiness.aol.com/2010/07/05/how-to-accept-credit-cards/
To find out more how Sage Payment Solutions can benefit you & your business, contact us today at sales@plus.ca for more information.
Posted by Plus Sales on Fri, Jul 23, 2010 @ 11:39 AM
by Brian Morris, brian@plus.ca
One of the more frustrating tasks for the average Accpac user occurs when they are presented with a multi-line order, which needs to be rekeyed on a regular basis. Not only does this waste a lot of time in the sales/order entry departments, but it can potentially lead to errors on subsequent orders. There a few methods of automating this process, but let’s first consider the most basic approach: the copy orders function.
In the example above, the OE clerk has just posted a complicated order for ACME Plumbing, with different comments attached to various line items. If another customer then places a similar order to the one just created, the Copy Order function would be used. To run this feature, click on the icon found in the O/E Transactions folder of Order Entry, as in the image below.
On the screen that pops up, you need to enter the Customer Number of the client you want to copy from and to (in the case of a repeat order for the same client, this number could be identical). Then you simply need to specify the quote or order number that you’d like to clone, and click on the blue arrows.
Once clicked, you will then see the individual line items from the cloned order appear (see below). If any of them need to be modified or deleted, you can do this from this screen. In addition to the standard order entry fields, you can also edit the Optional Fields by selecting that tab on the same page. When the order looks correct, just hit the “Create” button at the bottom-left of the screen, and the new order number will be displayed.
That concludes our look at the Copy Orders function, but in an upcoming post we will look at other methods of reducing duplicate entry, such as employing Standing Orders. Please check back often, and post any questions or comments below!
Posted by Alistair Hill on Mon, Jul 12, 2010 @ 01:59 PM
SageCRM is probably one of the most poorly named products in the Sage lineup. While being straight to the point as far as identifying what the product is, it also paints the product into a corner as to what it can really do. CRM stands for "Customer relationship management", which out of the box is most certainly a function of SageCRM, but it absolutely does not stop there.
Where the C in CRM stands for customer, there is the implication of accounts receivables. Because your customers are in AR, right? Sure, but what if you only have AP? SageCRM applies the same logic to your vendors as it does your customers and thus making it also a VRM, although a quick Internet search shows that VRM is general not a typical acronym in this context.
We've added V, but what else can we do? Let's add a few fields to the user record, like birthday, hire date etc, and now we've added H for Human Resources. We can customize the appointment interface a bit and now we have scheduling. Another customization to send details to an Accpac invoice and now we have Time and Billing.
So what are we up to? C for Customer, V for Vendor, H for human, and TBS for Time and Billing. Not your typical CRM software and we're not even done yet. Right out of the box, SageCRM has a Cases module. Lets rename Cases to Workorders (cause you can do that), and now you have Service Management software.
There is almost no limit to the information that you can track in SageCRM; it is not just limited to Customers. With a little imagination, you can change that C to almost any letter combination you want.
Posted by Plus Consultants on Wed, Jun 23, 2010 @ 12:01 PM
by TK Haran (tk@plus.ca)
1. What is Accpac Intelligence?
Organizations are increasingly suffering from information frustration. Having to manage large volumes of data, and needing to report from several databases and using inflexible reporting tools. Information delivery and user empowerment is increasingly taking centre stage in all enterprises with a resulting growth in the end user query and reporting (EUQR) category of the business intelligence market.
Sage Accpac Intelligence is an innovative software reporting solution that offers users, in organizations of all sizes, a powerful and intuitive reporting tool to take control of their own reports. It introduces a revolutionary approach to leveraging the reporting power of Microsoft Excel and protects and extends organizations existing IT skills and investment.
2. What Components does it have?
- Report Viewer
- Security Manager
- Report Manager
- Connector
- Analysis
- License Manager
3. Description of above components
- Report Viewer-This is used to view or to run the standard/shipped reports.
- Security manager- The Security Manager is an Administration tool that lets you (as System Administrator) manage Roles (User Groups) and assign Users and Reports to each Role. When security is enabled the User will be required to login and then will only have access to the Reports selected for the Role that User belongs to.
- Report manager- The Report Manager Interface allows users to design and manage their own reports and to display results in Microsoft Excel.
- Connector- The Connector allows an organization's system administrator to make a connection to their database in order to access the relevant tables for reporting purposes. It also allows an organization's system administrator to configure the metadata to empower the users to create their own reports.
- Analysis- An OLAP (On Line Analytical Processing) database allows business decision makers to analyze data that has been sorted into hierarchical structures. The data is static, so all mathematical aggregations can be built into the database query, thereby providing a more efficient and resource friendly means of reporting. This data warehouse can then be pulled into a pivot table within Excel, where the user is able to drill down into the report, using the hierarchical dimensions built into the query.
- License Manager- The License Manager provides a snapshot of your Sage Accpac Intelligence licenses and module configuration.
4. What Components come with a standard Accpac 5.6 installation?
- Report Viewer (1 user license)
- Report manager (1 user license)
- Security manager
5. Benefits of "AI"
- Works with a standard Microsoft windows look and feel.
- Reduces the need for IT department intervention.
- Reduces the need for custom complicated report creation by hired consultants.
- Consistent format (MS Excel) for reporting across multiple data sources.
- Business intelligence can become a standard desktop tool.
- Avoids inefficiencies in the report development life cycle thereby improving productivity.
- Empowers the user, thereby improving overall productivity.
- Optimizes return on investment by leveraging your existing IT infrastructure.
- Extends MS Excel skills rather than requiring learning of a new set of software skills.
6. Is there standard report/s available?
Yes and the shipped reports are as follows,
- Financials- Financial Report S, Financial Report D, Financial Report SB,
- Dashboard Analysis, Financial Trend Analysis
- Sales Master, Purchase Master, Inventory Master
Posted by Plus Sales on Fri, Mar 12, 2010 @ 01:13 PM
by Mitch McNicol, mitch@plus.ca
See how one CEO stands up against economic adversity.
http://www.youtube.com/user/SageSoftwareNA#p/u/0/HAu2ebzqVC8
Sage Extended Enterprise Suite streamlines internal operations, helping sales, marketing, finance, and operations work as a single team to keep customers happy and your business competitive. By deploying a single platform, you'll eliminate multiple data entry points, reducing the chance for error and giving staff a consistent view of each customer from order to delivery.
Sage Extended Enterprise Suite helps you by:
- Uniting customer-facing systems, like sales and customer service, with back-office financial and operations staff for improved data accuracy
- Managing the customer acquisition lifecycle from lead generation to initial contact through sales quotes and order delivery
- Offering core functionality, including Financials, Distribution, CRM, and Inventory Management, and making it simple to add functionality as needed.
For more information or to find out more about the Sage Accpac Enterprise Suite, contact our office today.
Posted by Wendy Gorrie on Thu, Dec 10, 2009 @ 12:11 PM
Sage Software has released the most recent version of their award winning Sage Accpac ERP software. Clients current on software assurance will find they have access to the new software right away!
We congratulate Sage Accpac on delivering on their commitments of releasing major upgrades every 18 months and concurrent releases of all modules! Gone are the days when clients had to wait for the release of individual modules in order to take advantage of the new version.
Plus and Canuck Place participated in the Controlled Release program where Sage makes the newest version of the product available to a limited number of Sage Partners in order to implement and run the latest release in a live environment prior to official release of the product.
We thank Sage for the opportunity and Canuck Place for placing their trust in Plus and Sage by participating in this important initiative!
Plus and Sage Accpac are excited about the ease of implementation and the balance of added functionality while keeping in mind ease of upgrade.
For more information about the latest version of Sage Accpac Version 5.6, click here; http://www.sageaccpac.com/products/release?WT.mc_id=Accpac56
Or contact us today to find out how you can get going with the latest version; info@plus.ca
Posted by Mitch McNicol on Fri, Nov 20, 2009 @ 11:59 AM
Most businesses say they care about their customers but how many provide actual value to their customers? Differentiating is all about continually proving value. Customers are more sophisticated and self sufficient than ever before, and are looking for partners that can adapt to their changing needs.
I recently attended the Sage Summit Customer Conference in Atlanta Georgia. This was my first time attending the customer event; I have previously attended the Sage Insight Partner Conferences.
I was impressed with the level of organization and professionalism put forward by Sage and its representatives. There were many valuable and interesting sessions to attend, and as always, great business and personal development insight.
The part I enjoyed the most was having the chance to interact with customers and end-users and really get a feel for how they are using Sage products, what pain-points need to be addressed, not only at a product level, but more importantly at a business partner level.
Many of the comments that I heard were related to relationships or lack there of with business partners; how many business partners did not provide services and professional knowledge that was of value to their organization.
I had a chance to really get to know a couple of our customers and start to build a relationship not only at a professional level, but at a personal level. I came away with a much better understanding of what they valued personally and professionally.
My conversations reinforced my belief that we are doing things the way they should be done. Customers should always know their investment before work is even started, end users should have a complete working knowledge of their system before we finish, the work performed should be guaranteed and ALL interactions should be mutually rewarding (win/win) for both the customer and the business partner and are able to provide measurable value to their organization.
Ask your current business partner these questions...
Will I know my investment before I start...GUARANTEED?
Is my investment a fixed fee...GUARANTEED?
Do you offer a 100% money back GUARANTEE?
Will I know how to use my system...GUARANTEED?
If the answer to any of these questions is something other than YES, maybe it's time to take a look at something different.
The success of our customers, leads to our success, and meeting a customer's expectation is no longer enough, we need to be different, and we are!
Posted by Dee Dutton on Fri, Oct 30, 2009 @ 04:24 PM
When dealing with potential clients, many of us have heard the following:
"I think your price is a little high."
Maybe you have some time to spend with these prospects but maybe you don't. Hilary Hinton "Zig" Ziglar, author, salesperson and motivational speaker, suggests you look this prospect in the eye and simply say:
"You know, Mr. Prospect, many years ago our company made a very basic decision. We decided it would be easier to explain price one time, than it would be to apologize for quality, forever. Now, I bet you're glad we made that decision, aren't you? "
Can you close the sale with this phrase? It's honest, straight-forward and firm. Don't sell quality short. Mr. Ziglar believes in this philosophy and so do I.
Reference - "Turn It Around In a Moment", Zig Ziglar