Our very own Steve Boyes and Amy Hughes discuss the challenges currently facing distributors, how upgrading Sage 50 to Sage 200 can help to overcome these, and how Envisage (a Sage 200 Partner) can assist.

It isn’t uncommon for organisations to have external approval systems in place with spreadsheets or forms covering everyday functions such as holidays, timesheets, expenses and sales orders. These functions often aren’t integrated with core ERP systems either and this can cause several problems. Not only does the lack of integration mean these functions require manual checking and manual sign-off, but it also prevents transparency and audit trails. Of course, the duplication of effort is a waste of time and resources too.

Regardless of the industry you serve, as a wholesale distributor, having control of your supply chain is essential. Not only do you need to ensure that the right product is delivered on time to the right customer, but you need to be able to provide any required information about the supply chain from point of manufacture through to point of delivery. For this reason, having end-to-end traceability is more important than ever before and distribution businesses of all sizes are placing a bigger emphasis on ensuring they have visibility throughout their whole supply chain.

Sage software can be extremely useful for your finance team and many businesses within the distribution industry use Sage software solutions to manage their accounts, payroll, cash flow and payments. However, many growing distribution businesses continue to use Sage 50cloud when it may no longer be the best option available for finance departments.

For any business dealing in physical goods, a delivery docket is an essential piece of documentation as it describes not only what is being delivered but how much of each item is in the delivery also.

Typically, in a retail store, each delivery docket has a long journey. One document will travel from the distribution centre or manufacturer into the delivery truck, through to the store where it’s accepted in by the team, then it is passed to the accounts department to post onto the accounting system and finally multiple dockets are taken by courier to more filing cabinets in head office and eventually to an archive storage location.

Sage 50cloud is a tried and tested product, and whilst it has been a popular option amongst small businesses for over two decades now, upgrading to Sage 200 may be the logical next step for your business. When you run a distribution business that is growing rapidly, it’s likely that your needs will change in relation to your finance and business software, and Sage 50cloud may no longer be able to accommodate these needs. Thankfully, upgrading to Sage 200 couldn’t be easier. With a range of options to suit your business, it can offer you the enhanced flexibility and functionality your growing business requires.

It isn’t uncommon for convenience store owners to have small back office teams. Even if they have a handful of stores in different locations and large transaction volumes, they might not necessarily have a dedicated in-house accounting team, for example. In fact, many store owners will have multiple responsibilities, including ensuring their accounts are always correct.

Every day, warehouse managers spend much of their time ensuring that all areas of the warehouse are working efficiently, from the operatives to the machinery to the software used.

But, with the ever-changing landscape of business these days, older and disparate systems can struggle to keep up with demand. Slower stock movements, larger SKU's, inaccurate stock projections, new and additional locations and higher landed costs can put pressure not only on the warehouse but on the entire system including finance, sales and procurement.

One of the best things about Sage 200 in my opinion is the variety of options you have at your disposal to report on the data. We have noticed that Sage 200 users typically start out using one or two of these but may have forgotten about the other options that exist. For new and existing users, we thought this article might be helpful as little reminder of the reporting options available to you.

When you’re considering implementing new solutions for your business it can be difficult to draw realistic comparisons and truly judge the potential value the solutions can add. Actually being able to see the software working in front of you can be invaluable when making an informed decision.