Adrian Peppers’ monthly newsletter (Help 4 You Limited) arrived today. One of the topics caught my eye for various reasons:
A MYOB survey shows that a quarter of small businesses spend at least one day per week on routine admin which adds up to ten working weeks per year.
* 69% of business owners feel there is never enough time in the day to do all the paperwork and office chores.
* 37% of small businesses still use paper and pen to conduct their company’s accounts - despite the growing availability of IT and accountancy software packages in recent years
* 52% of small firms have not automated processes such as the writing of letter templates, fax covers and reports all basic jobs on any standard computer.
* 30% of business owners saying that they find it difficult to keep their finances in order, a headache that could be lessened if firms developed proper financial plans.
The survey suggests that firms could follow simple advice to improve their organisation and get on top of their admin. This would release time to make their businesses work and improve their cash flows.
By reducing the strain that administration tasks cause, small businesses will release valuable time and energy that can be spent on more fruitful business activities, such as marketing the business and talking to customers about their needs.
The main reason this topic caught my eye was that I was planning to compare the Sage Line50 with the MYOB (my own favourite accounting program) software for small businesses, mainly to show that relentless marketing/branding - mainly through Accountants - can get even the worst software at the top of the list.
Still have to find time to do so, though. I did have more time a few weeks ago and looked at the Sage website for a demo (as MYOB has, freely and instantly available on their website). Turns out that to even get a feeling for the Sage Line50 program you have to register, fill in a form and a demo will be send out to you (in these modern days of download all you want/need/can whenever you want/care).
Five days later I did receive a large envelope from Sage, filled with information about the program, but not the demo! When I sent Sage an email two days later someone called back to apologise (the warehouse had been very, very busy) and promised to send out the demo the same day. A week later two cardbox boxes arrived, I am now the proud owner of not one, but two demo-disks.
I’ll keep you posted about the ‘progress’ I’m making (in finding, no make that, making time, as well as with the program), but my hopes are not very high, having had to work with Sage before – for a local charity. That was a lower version (9) though, so I’m ‘eager’ to see if this latest version (12) has as much handy, practical and simple features as my MYOB has.
The lower version of Sage hadn’t.
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