2. Over 500 businesses have already These organisations have discovered our figures by the way, they
switched from Sage to the NetSuite what it means to use a truly integrated come from independent analysts,
Business Cloud. They’re already system – no more redundant data entry, the Yankee Group).
realising the benefits freedom offers. no more wasted time, the ability to
Freedom from aging business systems. start anywhere. They’ve found that it’s There has never been a better time to
Freedom from fragmented reporting. possible to get a complete picture of move to a better solution. One that can
Freedom from seemingly never-ending what’s happening in their companies not only help you manage your company
management costs. both quickly and easily. And they’ve more effectively but actually transform
done it all without the IT complexity your business.
Of course, the examples shown in this they’ve come to hate.
guide are just a fraction of the total – This guide highlights the eight warning
but their stories illustrate just what’s It doesn’t end there. Far from simply signs we see in so many Sage customers.
possible when you leave behind the old being freed from the limitations that You’ll see how companies just like yours
to embrace something new, something have held them back, they’ve also have faced the same problems you’re
better. And more are joining them discovered capabilities they didn’t facing right now and not just survived,
every day. know were possible (or at least were but thrived in a post-Sage world.
impossible with Sage). And they’ve done
it all while reducing their total cost of Join the revolution at
ownership by up to 59% (these aren’t netsuite.co.uk/sage
3. Sage Customers: Release your The Sage
Switch
Guide
potential. Join us in the cloud.
Remain calm. Assess your situation.
We’re going to make an assumption: The Hangover: Things start to go sour That’s what this guide is all about.
If you’ve come this far, you suspect that as you seek to grow your business. You We’ve combed through the stories of
your Sage system won’t support the way add CRM and e-commerce applications countless Sage Switchers to identify the
you want your business to grow. that don’t easily sync with Sage. kinds of pains that companies have shed
You struggle. You’re not happy anymore. by going for a cloud-based solution.
Know that you’re not alone. Over 500
companies have switched from Sage to The Cure: You recognise that Sage So here’s a checklist of eight experiences
a cloud-powered solution from NetSuite. isn’t going to work for you anymore, from former Sage users. For each
And IDC reports that demand for cloud and start looking around for alternatives. experience, we provide some examples
computing solutions will grow four times Peers recommend a leading cloud-based and statements from other businesses
faster than the worldwide IT market as system, and soon you can enjoy the that have made the switch.
a whole over the next four years. benefits of an integrated solution
from NetSuite. We invite you to consider whether
In fact, escaping from Sage is a much- these situations apply to you, and –
travelled path that looks something Going from hangover to cure if they do – hope you’ll make the
like this: If you’re in the midst of the hangover switch too.
phase, you want to distinguish between
The Honeymoon: Probably at some the kinds of pains that are just part of There is an answer, and you’re
point a decade or two ago, you invested doing business, and the kinds of pains close to the cure.
in Sage. It may have been your first that stem from outdated software and You will survive. Read on…
accounting software. You were eager business systems like Sage.
to automate how your books were
managed. Sage fitted the bill.
You were happy.
4. Too many applications The Sage
Switch
Guide
doing different things
with the same information
Liberate yourself from all
those applications!
Does this sound familiar? You need to “We were using three different applications. What emerges is an
raise an invoice. What should take five products – Sage Line 50 for ad-hoc architecture that doesn’t scale
minutes takes half an hour because you accounting, ACT! for CRM, and well, inhibits growth and can introduce
need to query three different applications Excel for stock control and the rest. errors; we’ve likened it to an application
– one to determine if the delivery you’re With so many systems, things were “hairball”.
invoicing has been fulfilled, another disjointed and all over the place.”
to see if the customer has made any Agam Jain, Managing Director, Jayex Sage users that have switched to
additional orders and a third to create Technology, UK NetSuite have managed to jettison
and send the invoice. this hairball in favour of a single,
It shouldn’t be like this. integrated system. The quickest
For many Sage users, this is the everyday benefit: Deal with data once,
situation. Two former Sage customers Ironically, many businesses ended in one place. Then move on.
share their experiences: up at this juncture as a result of
growth. Offices that have automated Sound quicker? Our customers
“With Sage/SBT we spent a lot of their accounting often want to get a will tell you: It is.
time and money customising and firmer grip on the customer lifecycle,
integrating different modules. It was which may mean CRM systems,
a nightmare! It took three systems opportunity management or
just to make one sale happen e-commerce applications.
and there was no way we could
systematically track each laptop Because their Sage system didn’t support
that we shipped.” or integrate well with these kinds of
Owner, LaptopSchools.com functions, they had to bolt on separate
5. Errors proliferate as data The Sage
Switch
Guide
travels on and off our
accounting island
Healthy data = healthy bottom line
Former Sage customers described their Business owners know the acute pain of
experience with Sage as like living on error-filled data: “We were duplicating,
an accounting island. We’ve already triplicating and in some cases even
covered the issue of dealing with multiple quadruplicating data entry! Worse
applications; another problem is simply than that, the data wasn’t always
the frequency of errors islands of consistent,” said the CFO of i-nexus,
data create. a Sage Switcher.
Errors enter your business by three i-nexus and others like them that have
basic paths: moved to NetSuite’s cloud-driven solution
note considerably less trouble and expense
1. Data entered in another system is
related to errors.
mis-keyed when entered in Sage
Because data entered once online is
2. Data entered in Sage gets corrupted
automatically synced across their
when it leaves the island for business processes, the issue of
e-commerce land (for example) reconciling inconsistent data vanishes
overnight. Errors no longer lead to
3. Data is updated in one place only.
faulty decisions. And less time is spent
Thereafter, no one can reconcile on case-handling and customer service
which data is correct after errors hit their clients.
According to PriceWaterhouseCoopers Sage Switchers would say: Don’t let
and KPMG, more than 90% of business your accounting system sit on an island.
spreadsheets have material errors in A unified, cloud-based system will
them. This is how they get there. reduce errors, and the hangovers that
errors create.
6. Our systems can’t keep up The Sage
Switch
Guide
with the pace of our life
Updating software versions
shouldn’t be your problem
Users are impervious to software updates. The version upgrade game “…from an IT point of view, the
would be comical, if it didn’t hosted software-as-a-service delivery
Even with countless reminders popping carry real penalties: model meant there was very little
up on the screen (“A new update is to do and the costs would be much
available!”), the average user just clicks • egulations change. Outdated Sage
R lower. We were excited,” said one
right past it and proceeds to what he or versions don’t former Sage customer.
she was aiming to do in the first place.
• ome applications don’t get updated,
S Another cited easier Internet networking,
And that’s how it ought to be. You leading to costly, painful upgrades a lighter hardware investment and no
open your ERP application to produce hidden costs for upgrading. You don’t
a report, not to update your software. • utmoded versions of one application
O need to hire an IT specialist, buy kit or
stop talking to updated versions of manage data backup.
The facts back this up: An Aberdeen other applications
report stated that only 28% of You don’t want to play software
businesses are on the latest ERP Former Sage customers spent much catch-up for eternity, and you
release of their software. of their life on increasingly outdated shouldn’t have to.
versions. It’s understandable; updating is
time-consuming and introduces errors as
data moves over to the new version.
Some of the most profound and
immediate rejoicing heard from users
who adopt a cloud-based, software-as-a-
service platform concerns just this:
7. We pay too many people to The Sage
Switch
Guide
rekey data, and nothing else
How you handle data shouldn’t
have anything to do with hands
Business owners and finance managers 2Pure UK Ltd. estimated that staff Customers that have made the switch
know, perhaps better than anyone, won 25% more time to focus on sales would unanimously argue that the
that time is priceless, which is why this after dropping Sage and the need to cloud increases productivity. A report
experience is so important. manually transfer data from application from Nucleus Research summed up
to application. their experiences:
There are three fundamental ways time
and energy is lost working with Sage: “Businesses that run NetSuite are
able to dramatically reduce manual
1. People whose only, or main, function
processes by integrating order-to-
in the company is to re-enter data cash and procure-to-pay processes,
eliminating time spent rekeying data
2. eople who spend far too long to
P across these processes by 90-100%.”
find the right information, and
Emarket.com can corroborate. CEO
3. People who have to get other people
Suraj Sharma said: “NetSuite not only
to help them (because they can’t get replaced Sage, it has revolutionised
something themselves - self-service) If you’re a Sage user, no matter how the way we do business, resulting in
much time you spend entering data, efficiency gains of 20%.”
We’re not just talking about someone it’s probably more than it should be,
spending too much time during the and more than necessary. Add to this More reasons to cloud up.
day entering data. For some former the amount of time other people
Sage customers, it was a question spend looking for “lost” data.
of employing people – one, two,
many – only to transfer data from
one silo to another.
8. Four examples of the same The Sage
Switch
Guide
customer live in our IT systems
Enter that customer once,
and only once!
For each of your customers, there is one This means the window for error Warmup Plc was one UK company that
true state of the relationship. But many and miscommunication is large. felt these kinds of Sage pains.
former Sage users knew a time when With everyone updating disparate
there were three or more versions of systems simultaneously, oversight is lost. “Now I can produce much more
the business truth. comprehensive sales analysis by
The outcomes aren’t pretty. Former area, by customer, by product, with
One used a bespoke customer database Sage customers report a number of relevant YOY comparisons for
on a server in its head office in issues arising from multiple instances presentation to the board; previously,
Warwick. None of its information could of customers on in-house systems: I had to ask accounts for information
be shared. “This caused massive from Sage”. Tony Barry, UK Sales
problems. Things tended to drop off • illing, fulfilment and customer
B Director, Warmup Plc.
the radar and we had no idea who service errors
we were reaching from a customer With a CRM system that ties into
perspective,” said the Client Services • elays in resolving issues and
D the full accounting back-end and
Director at AbilityNet. questions, and transactional history, one customer
remains… one customer. That’s a
Typically, customers are multi-dimensional, • ecaying customer satisfaction and,
D revelation for many Sage customers
with many different processes going ultimately, retention that have made the switch.
on at the same time, and multiple roles
involved on both sides.
9. We know less than competitors The Sage
Switch
Guide
because our reporting is slow
Create reports yourself – don’t rely on IT
Knowledge is power – that’s a given. Another company explained how, in an Customers that have switched say
But for many Sage users, reporting average month, 1.5 percent of turnover that moving to a cloud-based system
(the route to knowledge) can be a was overdue. Yet, without fast and improves reporting in a few key ways:
painful experience. reliable reporting, they struggled to
account for the shortcomings and • Reporting is self-service; you can build
Listen to this former Sage customer: chase them down accordingly. custom reports without calling in the
“We used ACT! for contact IT artillery
management, Gemini for problem Again, the culprit for most of these
management, Excel for customer problems is growth. The ad-hoc, finger- • Reports are in real-time; you don’t need
quotations and Sage Line 50 for the on-the-pulse kind of reporting that to build in a cushion of error
accounts. We really struggled to worked when Sage was installed, no
produce any accurate and relevant longer seems to work well in a rapidly • eporting spans the entire business;
R
business analysis information, and growing firm. you don’t have to look at the picture
in many cases we stopped bothering one application silo at a time
to ask for it.”
Lightspeed sped up after making
the switch.
“NetSuite gives us a single view of
the customer, rather than having
customer data all over the place.
We have strengthened customer
support and customer relations, and
we’ve been able to speed up order
processing while improving system
availability at the same time,” said
Carl Cox, VP of Operations and CFO.
There it is: speed, and power.
Thanks to the cloud.
10. Our systems, and expenses, were The Sage
Switch
Guide
growing as fast as our business
With the cloud, you can serve more,
with less
Suffering from growing pains? Many A study by the Yankee Group directly
companies that have made the switch compared the total cost of ownership
can empathise with you. of NetSuite and a combination of Sage
products. The study concluded that
Rococo Chocolates is one. After earning the NetSuite cloud-based service
a great reputation at its flagship London provided cost savings compared to
store, Rococo was rapidly growing Sage of 24 – 59%.
through prestigious retail chains, but at a
cost: “I was getting tired of the [Sage At the sharp end of a small- to
Line 50] constant support thing, with medium-sized business, losing
add-ons and upgrades that didn’t money while you grow feels
deliver what we needed,” particularly painful. You want to
said Financial Controller Gerry Kerins. be able to direct that hard-won profit
back into the business and expand,
“Since we implemented NetSuite, instead of patching IT systems that
sales have shot up 25%.” aren’t keeping up.
Basically all Sage software requires you Businesses across industries have
to manage the hardware, servers and reduced their IT spend from 3% of
databases, in addition to upgrading, revenue to 0.1% of revenue, saved
troubleshooting and maintaining the over £150,000 annually and slashed
applications. These things carry a ERP costs by 80+%, by moving from
hidden cost. traditional on-premise systems to modern
cloud-based business management.
Growth shouldn’t have to hurt. Former
Sage customers used to spend time and
money on IT system work-arounds when
growth came along. Now they don’t.
11. Everything had to go through The Sage
Switch
Guide
one guy, slowing it all down
Everyone should be able to do what
they need to do, anywhere!
You and whoever else runs your Former Sage customers found that,
business’s books shouldn’t feel like even if Sage gave other users permission
a bottleneck. Yet, that’s how many to access data, they were accessing a
Sage users end up feeling. version of data that they suspected to be
old or incorrect. That’s the same as not
“Outside my office, there were giving them permission. They needed to
queues of people wanting access ask someone else for information.
to business critical data. It was my
machine that accessed the data so One of the key advantages of a cloud-
everything from buying a bottle of based solution like NetSuite is persistent
milk with petty cash to customer self-service. Anyone can see what they’re
queries and order management supposed to see, anywhere,
caused constant interruptions to my at any time.
day – it seemed like everything came
through me,” said the finance manager “Being completely online and within
of one former Sage customer. the cloud allows staff to work just as
effectively from home - enabling a
There are two interrelated issues here: flexibility and work ethic that many
businesses can’t afford,” said another
1. Access: The ability to get at needed Sage customer that made the switch.
business data, wherever and whenever
it’s needed, and In this day and age, business shouldn’t
be limited by access to one specific
2. Permissions: The authority to access computer or database. That’s the core
information crucial to your role idea behind the cloud.
12.
13. Switch from Sage The Sage
Switch
Guide
to Cloud NetSuite.
You’ll never look back. END
If this guide has shown you anything, NetSuite has been recognised by Gartner
it’s that there is life beyond Sage. as the UK’s fastest growing top 10
financial management solution vendor
Over 500 companies have already for three consecutive years, and was
successfully made the switch to the also recently named the winner of the
NetSuite Business Cloud. Not only have prestigious 2011 CODiE Award for Best
they found a better way to manage Financial Management Solution.
their companies, they have seen their
businesses thrive.
Let’s take a moment to revisit
some of them:
Rococo Chocolates has seen sales
rise by 25% (in a down market).
2Pure has increased its turnover TAKE YOUR FIRST STEPS TO FREEDOM
30% year-on-year. Switching from Sage to NetSuite is easier than you think.
i-nexus grew its revenue by 800%.
Learn more at netsuite.co.uk/sage
Emarket.com increased the efficiency of Call us now on 01628 774400 to discuss how you too
its operations, logistics and finance teams can break free.
by 20%.
Download one of our white papers to discover what
And that’s just the beginning. Isn’t it time NetSuite can do for your business:
you switched too?
The Benefits of Running Your Business Software in the Cloud:
netsuite.co.uk/sage
Strategies for Success
Why Cloud Computing Matters to Finance
The TCO of Cloud Computing in the SMB and Mid-Market
Enterprises
