Sage have announced the latest enhancements to Sage 200cloud in their Summer 2019 release, focusing on Microsoft Office 365 integrations, VAT Compliance and improved bank reconciliation:

VAT Reverse Charge Compliance
Sage 200cloud now ensures you’re up to date with the new VAT Reverse Charge legislation commencing 1st October 2019. For more information on the VAT Reverse Charge and what it means for you, you can read our explainer here. Sage 200cloud will now offer MTD currency alerts for customers who are not operating in GBP or EUR and is compliant with MTD (Making Tax Digital) as well as permitting tax code abilities and text on invoices.

Microsoft 365 Flow
Microsoft Flow is a cloud-based software which enables building out of the box flows simply and effectively to automate your business processes, saving time and money. Microsoft Flow can be used to allow automatic emails requesting purchase requisition authorisation as well as notifications. Audit logs showing when a colleague has made changes to supplier bank details are also available as well as email notification to users with access to the Audit Log.

Bank Reconciliation Improvements
The latest release will reintroduce the ability to part reconcile a bank transaction. They’ll also be adding the URN on the bank reconciliation screen.

Document Attachments
Sage are continuing to improve document attachments. You can now attach documents when viewing sales invoices, credit notes, GRN etc.

More enhancements
Contact Details on Supplier/Customer Listing
Sales, marketing and service migration to Sage 200 CRM
API Extension and new onboarding

For any further information or to upgrade to Sage 200cloud, get in touch today on +44 (0) 2890 668585 for NI or +353 (0) 1 465 9690 for ROI.

Written by Sam McDonald

Many construction firms today contend with increasingly narrow margins and many more difficulties associated with boosting productivity. In a heavily saturated market, estimated to be worth 12.7 Trillion US Dollars globally by 2022, construction software is fast becoming vital to achieving a competitive advantage.

McKinsey Global’s 2017 study estimates that the implementation of digital technologies across the construction sector would result in a 14-15% improvement to the industry’s productivity.

This article will detail our top three ways that job costing software can improve your profits and increase growth, allowing your business to stay competitive.

Improved Estimating Accuracy

Probably the most obvious of ways job costing software can increase profits, being able to breakdown all costs associated with a project, enabling you to more accurately estimate. New projects happen in various phases, meaning each phase may have several associated costs such as labour, materials, equipment etc. By using job costing software, you gain the ability to truly understand these costs on a project basis and ensure you never take on a project which results in you losing money.

Increase Growth & Reduce Risk

Construction firms today operate in a risky landscape with extremely tight profit margins. As a result, many firms keep their bids moderate. The concept being that a £10,000 loss is better than a £100,000 loss. Modern construction software enables you to ensure that every new project increases profits. You may not win as many contracts, but accurate quotes, with a time-saving bid process, allows you to bid for more jobs with the peace of mind that your numbers are correct.

Business Intelligence & More Accurate Future Quoting

Business Intelligence is becoming increasingly more important in many B2B software packages today and construction software is no different. Over time, as you accurately cost projects with the software, you can gain major insights into both profits and overheads, even at the task level. This information not only allows you to improve the accuracy of your quoting in the future, by comparing estimates with actual figures, but also allows you to see which areas are the most profitable. For example, you may find your firm isn’t particularly competitive on groundwork but IS for electrical labour.

Conclusion

Construction job costing software is fast becoming a necessary investment for competitive construction firms trying to increase profits and operate effectively in a tight industry. As previously discussed, construction software grants you a wide-range of benefits including accurate job costing, correctly allocated costs, business intelligence etc. All these factors contribute greatly to reducing risk throughout the business, allowing you to focus on the bottom line; improving profits.

Written by Sam McDonald