When starting out with Sage 50, there are all sorts of invoicing tricks to get to grips with, but once you’ve started to master Sage 50, you’ll start to see just how streamlined your operations can be. Invoicing can be a tiresome task, but with Sage 50 up your sleeve, the trials and tribulations that invoicing brings will be a thing of the past.

 

Invoicing with Sage 50

 

Sage 50 makes invoicing as easy as pie. To create a sales invoice on Sage 50, all you have to do is click on Job Details, then Job Billing. Once you’ve selected that, simply go to Job Number, Finder Button, then select the required job and hit OK. Then, all you need to do is click New, then Invoice and you can complete the sales invoice there. Then once you’ve clicked OK, your sales invoice is complete!

 

Creating a credit note on Sage 50 is much the same, except for when you click the Finder Button, just select the required customer before hitting OK. Then click New, Credit Note and complete the sales credit note as you need it before completing it by clicking OK. 

 

If you’ve got an existing invoice and you need to create a credit note for it, Sage 50 makes it simple. Simply click Invoices and Credits and select the invoice you’d like to credit. Once you’ve selected the correct invoice, click Credit Invoice. All you need to do then is edit the credit note as required and just click Save.

 

When you’re entering invoices in your Sage 50 account, you can even leave the invoice number field blank, and Sage 50 will automatically assign invoice numbers when the invoices are printed, leaving you one less job to do!

 

When operating a company, it’s important that every document that goes out is branded to your business. Fortunately, Sage 50 is here to allow you to do exactly that. You can use Report Designer to customise your invoice and credit note layouts, so you can tailor them to your specific design requirements. Report Designer on Sage 50 allows you to add your company logo to your invoices, as well as your bank details. You can even create a completely bespoke design, setting your documents and your business ahead of the rest.

 

Sage 50 makes every stage of invoicing a lot easier, giving you the time to focus on other pressing tasks, and maybe even stop for a cup of tea. Here at The Isobar, we’ll integrate Sage 50 into your existing invoicing system, polishing the performance of your invoicing process, and giving you the confidence to control your credit notes.

 

 

Benefits and Features of Sage 50

 

Sage 50 will not only ease your invoicing operations, but will also offer you and your business a plethora of other benefits that will keep your company running at its most productive.

 

When starting out with Sage 50, you should find it easy to understand whether you’ve had accountancy experience or not. There are plenty of video demos to help you get to grips with invoicing on Sage 50, and you can even learn how to use it in Sage 50’s practice mode. Invoices need to be kept safe and secure at all times, and Sage 50 schedules regular, automatic backups, so you can have peace of mind that your invoices won’t go astray and your reputation is protected.

 

Managing customers is easy through Sage 50 too, making emailing invoices to your customers a breeze. Sage 50 allows you to receive and process card payments when your customers are keen to settle up, and you can also see who owes you money from the invoices you’ve sent out, as well as when the payment is due. Before you even commit to sending out an invoice, Sage 50 allows you to calculate the amount of profit you’ll make on quotes, so you can make an informed decision as to whether to take on the next job.

 

Sage 50 also allows you to manage your suppliers with ease. You can create credit notes from your invoices, and even see a cash flow forecast, meaning you can predict what the future might hold and making managing your finances a breeze with Sage 50. You can keep track of all the money going in and out of your business with Sage 50, so you can keep a close eye on all your invoices which are due.

 

You can also have two users at the same time with Sage 50, meaning more than one person can be working on your invoices every day, making the process even more swift and efficient. Sage 50 even allows you to record eBay transactions, so you can keep track of any sales outside of your own website too.

 

Invoicing with Sage 50 makes the process all the more streamlined and productive, allowing your employees to make the most of their time. Here at The Isobar, we can train your employees in Sage 50, allowing them to develop their learning and use Sage 50 to its full potential. Once you’re ready to take on Sage 50, we can also integrate it into your existing invoicing system, seamlessly letting you make the transfer over to Sage 50. Come and take a seat at The Isobar to start making steps towards improving your operations and enhancing your team’s efficiency with Sage 50.

Downtime consists of any unplanned event that means production or productivity comes to a halt. Downtime has the potential to cause a whole host of unwanted results such as customer dissatisfaction, reduced productivity, damage to the business’s reputation and an array of other problems that your business would need to quickly clean up after. In any business it’s a massive inconvenience, resulting in loss of capital and reduced sales, but in IT, downtime can also lead to cyber attacks, which no business ever wants.

 

We’ve put together some tips and tricks as to how you can help to keep downtime away from your business.

 

Why Does Downtime Happen?

Downtime can occur for any number of reasons. Servers don’t like being overloaded, so when there are two many users trying to get onto them, downtime can set in. If the technology isn’t monitored, problems can’t be foreseen, which can also result in downtime. Let’s not forget that network issues can also cause downtime. Security flaws and software bugs can all make problems arise which ultimately results in downtime for a business. Outdated hardware is also a problem when it comes to downtime, as when your technology isn’t running as it’s designed to be, it leaves gaps in security.

 

Less well-known reasons for downtime include natural disasters and human error. Unfortunately, it’s almost impossible to prevent these from happening, so downtime is never completely avoidable. That’s why it’s essential to have some procedures in place to limit the damage and interruptions caused when downtime sets in.

 

Downtime Damage Control

When downtime rears its ugly head, it’s important to be prepared for whatever it might throw at you. Having procedures in place to limit the effects of downtime not only means that your data will be kept safe, but can also mean that you’ll be back up and running sooner than you thought. Having backup systems in place will mean that whatever is lost during downtime can be found again once you’re back in business. Ensuring your data centres and IT teams have battery and generator backup systems may means that you can avoid downtime altogether in the event of a failure. You could also consider using a secondary data centre site to make sure there’s a safety net for disaster recovery if your primary one fails.

 

It’s essential to make sure your IT staff are qualified and trained to respond quickly and effectively to downtime. Having the skills on board to get your systems back up and running could save your business a lot of time, money and resources.

 

 

How Can We Prevent It?

Although downtime isn’t completely preventable in all cases, there are many scenarios where it can certainly be avoided. Keeping on top of the maintenance of your systems is essential. This lets you put your systems to the test, meaning you can identify and address any problems which are lurking in the shadows before they turn into the dreaded downtime. By also monitoring your servers and network, you can ensure they’re performing at their best. This way, if there is a problem, you can make sure you detect it early to nip it in the bud and forget about downtime entirely.

 

You could even automate some routine tasks to reduce the risk of human error. Even clicking on the wrong thing at the wrong time can result in downtime, so ensure your team know all about IT security and how they can do their bit to avoid downtime. Simple tricks such as not clicking on any links in emails from someone you don’t know can save a serious bout of downtime.

 

You should locate your systems in physically secure locations too, to ensure that nobody who shouldn’t have access can get to your data and applications, shutting down your systems and letting downtime take its course. Take the time to meticulously test any major upgrades so you and your team know what to expect and try and schedule them for a time when downtime won’t affect your team too badly.

 

Cloud-based hosting is also worth considering. This often means that downtime is significantly reduced, as you can simply hop on to another machine if yours fails. This kind of hosting also means that you don’t need to rely on an in-house data centre, meaning that there’s less technology that can fail you, and your data can be kept away from harm at all times.

 

Here at The Isobar, our Sage Hosting systems use Cloud-based hosting, ensuring that your data is safe and you can let business carry on without a hitch. Our Automatic Failover feature switches out any faulty or failing hardware, making absolutely sure that your Cloud server can continue working at its best, without a single hiccup. This means that a single-point of failure, such as an in-house server or a PC being inaccessible, is close to non-existent, and downtime becomes a worry of the past.

 

Hop over to The Isobar to let your business glide on with ease, without being interrupted by the effects of downtime.

Remote working is becoming ever-more popular in workplaces over the world. There are many advantages of remote working for the employees themselves, such as being able to wave farewell to tiresome commutes, feeling more comfortable and setting their own timetable. But what are the advantages for a business of letting your team take the plunge with remote working?

 

Remote Working Perks For Business

When it comes to remote working, there are all sorts of advantages. First off are the clear advantages for your employees; they save time in their commute, have a better work-life balance and are generally healthier and happier thanks to the added flexibility of their job, but how does this benefit your operations?

 

A reduced or eliminated commute for your employees means they’re arriving at work without having been stressed out by traffic. It also means you could promote yourself as a greener business, by discouraging the use of cars. Importantly, an improved work-life balance will help make sure morale is constantly on the up, which will actually boost their productivity. Furthermore, it’s a no-brainer that healthier and happier employees have greater job satisfaction, and so are more likely to go the extra mile.

 

Commonly found in people who enjoy the perks of remote working is the willingness to go above and beyond at work. Generally, they’re so thrilled to be able to work from home, that they’re incredibly grateful for and appreciative of their employers, and so they don’t mind putting in the extra time and effort. Plus, with the added bonus of many staff being more productive at home, you’ll find that your team actually get more done in the same amount of time, which is great news for you.

 

Direct advantages of remote working for businesses also include the obvious; saving money. Fewer employees in the office means less office space is needed as well as fewer facilities, which translates into considerable savings for the business. Everybody knows that illness can spread in an office, so remote working reduces the risk of staff sick days significantly, keeping productivity at a high. Even more importantly, when you introduce remote working to your business, you’ll find your staff retention rate may rise, enabling you to keep hold of your most valued employees, and you’ll also attract new ones too. Thanks to remote working, you’ll no longer be held back by location either, allowing you to recruit only the best minds for the job.

 

 

Making It Work

The key to making remote working viable for your business is communication. It’s vital to have consistent communication between you and your employees. This doesn’t mean constant communication, as this would provide continuous distractions which would certainly lower productivity, however, scheduling regular video meetings with your employees lets you keep track of where they’re at with their tasks, and allows them the opportunity to come to you with any problems or queries. During these calls, it’s important to give honest feedback so that everybody stays on the right track. Make sure your employees know what they need to be working on, what you think could work better and, perhaps most importantly, what you feel is working well. 

 

The key thing to bear in mind with remote working is that you need to trust your employees. One of the main advantages of remote working for employees is not having someone watching over you, so you need to know that’s not necessary in order for remote working to be a success in your business. To keep everyone connected, you could also invest in and install some chat programmes. These allow your remote working employees to discuss with their peers the projects they’re working on, as well as let them touch base back in the office and ask for help and advice easily when they need to.

 

Investing in technology will make sure that your remote working process is as seamless and effective as possible. When remote working becomes the norm for any of your employees, it’s essential that it’s safe. You need to be absolutely confident that your data and applications are completely secure in order to prevent a data breach or cyber attack.

 

To keep on top of security, you’ll need to ensure that your systems and hardware are always up-to-date to reduce the risk of downtime or cyber attacks. You’ll also need to ensure that no harm can come to any of your data or your applications, so your remote working employees can continue with their tasks without any unwanted interruptions and your reputation can remain intact.

 

Here at The Isobar, our Sage Hosting service connects you straight to the Cloud. Thanks to this efficient process, your remote working employees will only need an Internet connection to get access to their desktop. You can also be sure that your data won’t be compromised, as every one of our servers is kitted out with dual-layer configured firewalls. All software updates are carried out by us, so you can get any updates you need right away. We’ll also back up your documents off-site to ensure complete disaster proofing, making your transition to remote working quick and completely painless. 

 

Come and take a seat at The Isobar to make a start with remote working, and start seeing the benefits of a happy, committed and productive workforce.

Keeping on top of credit control is a vital part of any business; it lets you know that you’re being paid on time for the jobs you’re doing and helps your cash flow perform at its best. There are several credit control tips and tricks you could apply to your processes that’ll make invoicing run smoothly.

 

Here at The Isobar, we’ve developed our own credit control software, enabling you to get your head back into business, without stressing about late payments. Take a look at our ideas here to set up a credit control process without any hiccups.

 

The Importance of Credit Control

When you give credit to a customer or client for your products or services, you’ll more often than not need to be paid when the end of the month comes around, and that’s where credit control comes in. A credit control process is the strategy that’s implemented by a business to keep on top of the invoices that need to be paid by customers and clients. 

 

As is the nature of business, many customers will not pay their invoices until they are reminded to, so it’s important that your credit control process includes reminders sent out on the exact day invoices are due, if not even a few days before. Having good credit control will not only reduce the debts owed to your business, but will improve cash flow too, meaning there’ll be no need to pay interest on your overdrafts and your business will be less likely to go into debt itself.

 

Invoicing Insights

When implementing a credit control process, it’s important to think about how you’ll be chasing invoices from the get-go. To begin with, make sure you assess the risk of your existing and any new customers from day one. You could even consider researching your customers’ credit management to decide whether they’re even safe to do business with. This nips any potential problems in the bud, before they even have chance to blossom into something bigger.

 

It’s sensible to set out a clear credit control process for your business so your accounts team know exactly what they should be doing and when. This makes for a streamlined credit control operation that’ll keep your customers in line and in the know about when they’ll be required to pay.

 

When invoices need to be sent, make sure they’re on their way quickly and ensure that every one is accurate. An error-ridden invoice will not be paid and you may not even be made aware that there’s a mistake, so if you want to be paid on time, make sure your invoices are correct. Also ensure to address them to the relevant person to get the right eyes on your invoice swiftly.

 

Keep your terms and conditions as clear as day so there can be no misunderstanding when your customer or client receives your invoice. You should also make clear the steps that will be taken if an invoice is paid late, such as any additional charges. You could even consider encouraging early payment with small discounts if the invoice is paid before it’s due.

 

One of the most important aspects of credit control is maintaining a positive working relationship with all of your customers and clients. The nature of credit control means that sometimes uncomfortable conversations need to take place, so having a good relationship will make those phone calls that bit easier and even more effective.

 

 

When Late Payments Come Knocking

As part of your credit control process, there needs to be a plan in place when the due date passes by without a payment. When you’re waiting for late payments to come in, keep checking the business bank account so you can be made aware as soon as the payment does come in, so you’re not chasing an invoice that has actually been received.

 

In the terms and conditions of your credit control process, you may have mentioned that a late payment will incur additional charges. This could be late payment interest or compensation charges.

 

To keep on top of credit control, firstly, remind customers of the payment schedule when they place their order, so they are aware when they should have paid by. As soon as the invoice becomes overdue, send reminder letters, texts or emails out so your customer or client is aware that their invoice is now late and they may soon be subject to additional charges. Send subsequent emails, texts or letters every week from this date to encourage payment. Following these concise steps should mean that there’ll be no need to take further action, and you can continue running your business smoothly.

 

When you want a helping hand, Sage 50 helps you to manage your credit control and your outstanding debtors by enabling you to view transaction histories, so you can see when they last paid you. You can also record contacts for both customers and suppliers, so you know who you need to call when an invoice becomes overdue. Customer credit control from Sage 50 also allows you to make payments, dispute items, handle bad debts and even write off invoices if and when you need to.

 

Over at The Isobar, our experienced and savvy team of developers have created a credit control software specifically to support your business through the ins and outs of invoicing. Our software integrates with Sage, which automatically follows up your invoices via email, SMS or post, saving you heaps of time to realign your focus back to your business growth. Come and have a seat at The Isobar to switch over to a system which will keep your credit control running smoothly.

Data security is of the utmost importance in any business these days. No matter the shape or the size of your business, data is the lifeblood of any company, and keeping data security tight has never been so essential.

Having the right data security not only prevents the loss of any data through unauthorised access, but also protects sensitive data from corruption. Keeping on top of data security means your business can maintain your good reputation, safe in the knowledge that both your data and your customer’s data is being kept under lock and key.

Data security includes all manner of things, such as data encryption, tokenization and specific practices that ensure the protection of data across all applications and platforms used by the individual business. We’ve put together some data security measures that your business can undertake in order to keep up to scratch with keeping your data private.

 

What Technology Can Do

 

When it comes to data security, the first thing to do is to rely on the Cloud to store your data and schedule regular back-ups. To keep on top of data security, you should do a complete back-upevery week, but also back-up some of your files every single night before you leave work. Having the right data security protocols in place will mean that you can recover your data if the storage is damaged in any way.

Firewalls are amazing data security tools; working in the background to monitor and control the network traffic. These clever data security tricks can restrict access to certain files, preventing the spread of any malware that does manage to get onto the system.

Antivirus and anti-malware protection is also essential when it comes to your business’s security. These are the last defences should an attack make its way through to your network, tripping it up at the final hurdle and keeping your data away from harm.

You should also update all of your programs and software regularly, ensuring you can maintain their safety. By keeping on top of any updates, you can steer clear of any issues or holes in security that programmers have managed to fix, keeping you one step ahead of unwanted attacks.

Make sure you remember to secure your devices too. Laptops and mobile phones in particular are at risk, simply due to how portable they are, and how easily they can be lost or stolen. You can tighten your data security on your devices by encrypting them so that without the correct password, none of the data contained there can be read. You can even enable remote wiping so that, so that in case of loss or theft, all data can be wiped remotely from the device, just in time to keep it from prying eyes.

 

What You Can Do

 

With all the best technology in the world, there are still several steps you and your team can take to improve security in your workplace. Firstly, make sure you use strong passwords for all access needs and applications. Upper and lower-case letters, alongside numbers and symbols make for the strongest passwords, particularly when the password is 8-12 characters long. The important thing to teach your team is not to use any personal data as their passwords, such as names or birthdays. To remain on top of data security, change passwords every 90 days, and when it comes to access, make sure each user has their own username and password; never share passwords as this makes it easier for hackers or malware to figure out your data security measures and get past them.

This next part is simple; keep an eye on your data. You can even install data-leakage prevention software that looks out for suspicious patterns that might indicate a data breach. Monitoring your data security means that you can know the minute it looks like someone or something is trying to hack into your system.

When keeping track of your data safety, it’s also important to remember physical security. You could consider controlling access to certain buildings, rooms or cabinets within your office where data, computers, media or hardcopy materials are kept, so you can keep access to an absolute minimum.

One of the most important details of data security is to educate yourself and your team. Encourage safe online use and make sure everyone understands how important and sensitive your company’s data is. Ensure everyone in your workplace understands suspicious emails, warning them never to click on links from email addresses they don’t know, as it could spread malware onto their system. Keeping in the know around your online security means your business will run smoothly, and your data will be kept safe and sound.

 

What We Can Do

 

Here at The Isobar, every single piece of work is backed-up off-site with Microsoft Azure. This ensures complete disaster proofing, and comes as standard with all of our packages, so you can rest easy knowing your important files and applications aren’t going anywhere. Every one of our servers boasts dual-layer configured firewalls as well as strict active directory account policies, essentially ensuring that only the people you want to access your data can do so. All software updates are carried out by us, right here at The Isobar, so there’s no need to hang about if you need to make sure that your data security is on top form.

If you want to amp your data security up a gear, don’t delay. Come into The Isobar and our team will guide you through secure data policies that mean when you begin Sage Hosting with us, you can enjoy enhancing your operations knowing that your sensitive data and important applications aren’t going anywhere.