Sage 50 is one of the most popular accounts software solutions in the UK. The Sage 200 suite is a fully integrated business management suite, offering a wide range of benefits. But how do you choose between Sage 50 and Sage 200, know when to move from one to the other, or stay with your current application?
This article provides a comparison of the two solutions, with 10 points to help you decide which is the best solution for your business.
A recent survey by Concentrix found that Sage 50 (previously known as Sage Line 50) is one of the most popular accounting solutions in the UK. The product is aimed at small to medium sized businesses, and some of the reasons behind its popularity are that it has a good reputation (it's been around a long time), it does most of the things a small or medium business could want it to do, it's easy to use and fairly priced. However, depending on your precise business requirements Sage 50 can have limitations. Users sometimes wish it could do more, or do certain tasks a bit more efficiently.
The next product in the Sage business management software range is the Sage 200 suite. Sage 200 is a fully integrated business management solution for mid-sized businesses, which brings together all the key processes of a business.
So, if you're considering Sage mid-market business management software, which do you choose? Sage 50 of Sage 200? How do you know when to move from one to the other, or stay with your current application?
Well, it depends on your business requirements. If your business has grown, or you're finding Sage 50 restricting, it may be time to look at the Sage 200 Business Management suite. But then again, it could be overkill if your requirements are pretty straightforward.
So, you need to compare both solutions. Here's a comparison of the two software packages to help you choose between them, with 10 points to help you make that decision:
1) Number Of Users Past, Present and Future
Sage 50 is based on a proprietary Sage database. This limits the number of users and the amount of data the software can store. Sage recommends up to 6 users with Sage 50 (although there are examples of many more using it successfully). The database also locks - restricting users from the same activity at the same time. Sage 200 is based on Microsoft SQL Server database which has been tested with up to 50 users. So, if you have, or are likely to have, more than six users, you should use Sage 200.
2) Number of Transactions
The Sage 50 database has a limited number of transactions it can hold without archiving them (about 100,000 transactions). This means it often archives data which could be valuable in reports. It also means that Sage 50 users running the system near to its transaction limit often complain of slowness and data corruption. However, the Sage 200 database doesn't have a transaction limit, so if you're finding Sage 50 slow or you know you're looking at medium to high transaction levels, you need to consider Sage 200.
3) Transactions and Foreign Currencies
Sage 50 offers limited foreign currency functions. If you process frequent foreign currency transactions, you'll find the Sage 200 functionality far more efficient than Sage 50, and far more user-friendly. For example, with Sage 200 you can pay, receive or invoice in any currency. Unlike Sage 50, you don't need a separate bank account for each foreign currency to support each trading currency.
4) Reporting, Analysis and Business Intelligence
Reporting, analysing business performance, trend analysis and anomaly spotting is, much quicker, easier and enables more depth in Sage 200 compared with Sage 50. For example, Sage 200 offers powerful drill downs across each module. It gives easy access to data and also allows you to create your own profit and loss reports. However if the standard reporting functionality with Sage 200 isn't powerful enough for you, the Sage 200 Business Intelligence module offers even deeper, more flexible analysis.
5) Open and Closed Accounting Periods
Sage 200 allows open and closed accounting periods. Period lengths are definable and can be closed individually by Sales, Purchase, Nominal, Stock and Cashbook. By comparison, Sage 50 only works on open periods, which can lead to users waiting to post transactions at month end. It could also lead to inaccurate reporting because transactions may be posted to open periods after management reports have been run.
6) Cost Centres and Departments
Sage 50 offers a single level nominal ledger structure. This keeps things simple, but in comparison with Sage 200 only enables a limited analysis of income and expenditure. Sage 200 supports cost centres and departments which allows analysis of income and expenditure by multi levels within the chart of accounts.
7 ) Multiple Warehousing
You can set up stock items using Sage 50, but only record one stock holding value against each stock item. Sage 200 supports multiple warehouses and can attach them against stock items. Using Sage 200 means that warehouses can be two level, allowing bins and racking shelves to be recorded within the warehouse.
8) Batch Numbers and Serial Numbers
Sage 50 does not allow recording of batch or serial numbers. If your business processes needs to, or would benefit from working with batch or serial numbers, Sage 200 enables full batch or serial number recording and allocation. This is a great advantage for stock traceability. It also enables you to record by or use by dates.
9) Sales Order Processing
Sage 200 increases efficiency, accuracy and convenience of sales order processing compared with Sage 50. Sage 200 records sales orders automatically, and enables back to back purchase orders that can either be delivered directly to the client or into stock and immediately allocated.
10) Prices and Discounts
If you have a variety of pricing, say for different target markets or customers, or similarly different discounting schemes, you may find Sage 50 limiting. Compare this with Sage 200, which has a price matrix within the Sage 200 Commercials module. This allows you to easily manage prices and discounts throughout your customer base, using either price banded or discount-based pricing (or a combination of both) and applying them to groups of customers.
So, Sage 50 or Sage 200 - to Move (or Not to Move)? This comparison of Sage 50 and Sage 200 should give you an idea which of the products is right for your business. If you need further guidance, software demonstrations or any other information, don't hesitate to contact Concentrix.
Concentrix is a UK business management solutions provider, and a fully accredited Sage Partner. Formed in 1999, Concentrix specialises in products including Sage 50, Sage 200, Sage CRM and provides a full range of related services. Concentrix also provides a comprehensive range of CRM, business management solutions, IT infrastructure and hardware from other key providers including Microsoft, FrontRange and HP.
