Many businesses are still reliant on manual processes and spreadsheets to fulfil their financial obligations, despite having accounting software in place. In contrast, we do not think twice about booking travel on smartphones, using banking apps for our personal finances, or shopping online. So why are some businesses not embracing technology as readily when it comes to running their business?
Habitual work practices, perceived project timelines and costs, resistance or fear of change, and inexperience are some reasons why businesses continue to support labour intensive processes and procedures. These reasons are far outweighed by the benefits that solutions bring to putting in place effective and efficient back office functions.
As your business evolves, so should the tools you use to run your business otherwise your business will be hard pressed to fulfil its potential. While you may have considered hiring more people, recruiting a consultant, or finding another accounting add-on, upgrading your accounting software will offer you a faster, more affordable solution to integrate and manage your business now and in the future.
7 Tell tale signs you have outgrown Sage Accounting
- Systems are disconnected and information is siloed – having disparate systems that do not talk to one another, can result in data gaps, data manipulation in spreadsheets and key man dependencies.
- Multiple data sets without a single source of truth – different databases can lead to inconsistencies and lack of trust in data, which makes supporting strategic decision making and the allocation of resources more difficult.
- Accurate reporting and forecasting is challenging – gathering data from different sources is time consuming and results in overly complex and lengthy month end processes.
- Accounting occurs in spreadsheets not in Sage – when exporting financial data into spreadsheets to make changes or calculations, you lose all audit trail and increase the risk of manual errors.
- Lack of workflows – this opens you up to inconsistent processes, and difficulty in understanding the progress of tasks and workloads.
- Moving data outside of secure systems without security roles – this could result in GDPR issues, and employees having access to restricted/confidential data.
- Not all of your team can access the system – some versions of Sage restrict the number of users, and you either share login’s resulting in a security risk or some team members have to work exclusively in spreadsheets.
If you recognise some of these issues and are using spreadsheets and manual processes, then it really is time to consider an upgrade. Dynamics 365 Business Central is Microsoft’s all in one business system that manages finance, operations, sales and customer service. It provides advanced financial capability, with built in AI and Power BI dashboards as standard. Combine reliable reporting with the ability to automate processes and you have the opportunity to transform your finance department.
Download our guide on outgrowing Sage to understand how Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central could help you.