Are Sage Softwares are best?

[Zahidparvez]

Do you think Sage software is best to manage accounts and payroll? Why its so famous compare to other solutions, is it their marketing, strong brand or its functionality, flexibility and user friendly?

Which software you think is best when it comes to cost, functionality, remote client and bookkeeper access and remote access for bookkeeping and payroll?

 

[Philip Hoyle]

Sage has market domination because it is the oldest product. Go back 20 years and you only had Sage and Pegasus doing off the shelf software for small business. Pegasus left the smallest business market in the 1990s and now concentrates on medium-large businesses. Sage is still popular because it is the main software taught in colleges and accountants still recommend it because they recommended it a decade ago and don't know what is new to the market these days. Sage does the job and there are lots of people who know how to use it. The downsides are that it is far more expensive than comparable modern equivalents, it is cumbersome in that it still uses the old fashioned "month end" and "year end" procedures, and there is a lot of accountant jargon such as journals and day books. Basically, it is a computerised version of the old hand written ledger based systems. Modern equivalents such as Quickbooks, Kashflow, etc are far more user friendly, cheaper and don't have the same cumbersome period end routines to follow.

 

[DuaneJackson]

Sage has market domination because it is the oldest product.
...

Sage is still popular because it is the main software taught in colleges and accountants still recommend it because they recommended it a decade ago and don't know what is new to the market these days.

That sums it up really. In 2009 small business don't use Sage, or pay some one else to use Sage for them, they use products like KashFlow.

 

[billie1]

Many small businesses use Sage or Quickbooks. If you go to bookkeeping or accountancy adverts they are the top two softwares which employers require candidates to have knowledge of.

As Philip said they have market domination and are taught in most colleges. I'm hoping others can offer colleges their software courses, this will help change the market.

 

[KM-Tiger]

......they use products like KashFlow.

.......and the many others on the market which are also both user-friendly and inexpensive.

The major decision is between standalone - running on own computer, or SaaS (Software as a Service) which is accessed from a web browser. There are pros and cons to both.

 

[Business News]

SAGE has established a dominant position not through innovation but through acquisition. This has left the company in a precarious position with high levels of debt. SAGE offers very expensive software and even more expensive customer support packages. They tie you into their support package by time limiting reports (not an uncommon practice) which are required for HMRC compliance. You can work around this if you know what you are doing when editing the reports but it isn't straight forward. Their accounts software is very inflexible and very effectively hides historical data which is always useful info for a business. An accountants dream is a business managers nightmare.

We run the professional version of payroll and the latest instant accounts. We are planning to move payroll to Moneysoft at some point as we have heard good reports on this package.

 

[myles-at-icomplete]

KashFlow is much better, lots a young (smart) business people use it.

My brother paid Sage £400 then dumped it.

simple makes easy!

(Sage'asaurs, might best fit them.) They were good 5-10 years ago.

M.

 

[David Griffiths]

Sage is nowhere near the best at the small business end of the market. It's bloated, expensive and driven by a sales oriented machine. They will try to sell you unnecessary support, and if you don't take it they will phone back in a few years and tell you that they're not going to support your version in future. I'm not sure how this is actually phrased, but my clients who have heard it have believed that their version will actually stop working, so they have to fork out for a new one. Not so, and in many cases the old version does exactly what they want.

And that's without starting on the program's idiosyncracies, and so called
"enhancements" - usually years behind other products

 

[billie1]

Why don't the other software companies introduce their software for courses to colleges around the country. This will take alot of time and work but it will be worth it in the end. Its time Sage have some real competition and begin loosing most of its market shares.

 

[DuaneJackson]

Why don't the other software companies introduce their software for courses to colleges around the country. This will take alot of time and work but it will be worth it in the end. Its time Sage have some real competition and begin loosing most of its market shares.

Sage are losing plenty of customers. Don't you worry about that! : )

Their position is being challenged by changes in technology.

Colleges and schools will (slowly) follow the market. Not the other way around.

A few business training companies have KashFlow for free, but it's not a matter of us "giving" software to schools and colleges. They wouldn't want to take it. They want what's seen as the market leader. As I say, they follow the market, not set it.

 

[debbidoo]

That sums it up really. In 2009 small business don't use Sage, or pay some one else to use Sage for them, they use products like KashFlow.

Erm... I do, actually

But that's because I'd worked in an accounts department for a few years and they used Sage, so I was comfortable using it. That said, Sage Instant (which I use at debbidoo) lacks some of the features of Sage Line 50 (which I used in the other company). Can't remember what they are off the top of my head, but I know there have been a few times over the months when I've tutted at not being able to do what I want with Sage Instant. Oh and I really hate their report designer - jeeze, talk about complicated

If I'd discovered UKBF before I got to the "which accounting software should I use?" stage, I would've used KashFlow instead of Sage; I've heard a lot of good things about KashFlow (not all of them from Duane ) and I'd be much happier giving my money to a smaller business than to a big faceless corporation.

As for payroll... well, I have a few years' experience with Sage Payroll too, but when I started debbidoo I didn't even consider Sage - I'm the only employee at the moment, so it would be an extravagance to use an expensive piece of software when the HMRC payroll disk does exactly what I need it to

 

[garyk]

As other posters have said being the incumbent due to their long history in the accounting software market means they are the market leader, like em or loathe em thats the plain and simple fact of it. They gained massive market share by giving accountants referral commissions with their 'accountants in practice' scheme and there are still *alot* of small businesses/startups that either use it or get recommended to use it.

Gary

 

[Michael Barber]

Hi Zahid

Firstly, I need to point out that I work for Sage and we are proud of our software. But the best thing you can do when choosing is to decide for yourself; you can TestDrive our software from our website (just search Google for 'TestDrive Sage') or download Sage Invoicing for free and see how you get on.

Thanks

Michael

 

[billie1]

Hi Michael

Why don't sage make their prices more competitive like other software packages and why don't they improve their software making it more user friendly. From what I've heard Sage isn't at all user friendly and its very expensive.

 

[ken_uk]

Hi Zahid

Firstly, I need to point out that I work for Sage and we are proud of our software. But the best thing you can do when choosing is to decide for yourself; you can TestDrive our software from our website (just search Google for 'TestDrive Sage') or download Sage Invoicing for free and see how you get on.

Thanks

Michael

Yes, so proud no one from sage ever comes into this forum to answer the questions about the security problems, they only come in to spam.

I used to work for sage, I know what the software is like, I used to fix it for a living, and I also know what the company culture is like. I also know their ethics are dubious in the extreme.

 

[NCA]

There is no such thing as "the best" accounting software. The fundamentals of the double entry system haven't changed in 500 years. Any accounting software can be pretty much guaranteed to be able to handle the basics.

"the best" accounting software is the one that best reflects your businesses processes. If you have stock you need a system which has stock control. If you business offers a service that is billed monthly or quarterly you need a system which has repeat invoicing features. If you are an antique or caravan dealer you need a system which will apply VAT on mark up. There are lot more important considerations than how easy it is to post a journal or to add nominal codes. These things are done rarely compared to other tasks