Product Update 2 for Sage MAS 90 and MAS 200 4.4 is slated for release before the end of this month (July 2010). Look for these new features:

• Automatic Bank Reconciliation from financial information downloaded from your bank.
• Bank Reconciliation added security - restrict who can make changes to the Current Balance field.
• Bank Reconciliation - Enter checks, deposits and adjustments on the fly.
• Positive Pay Export - Deter fraud by providing your bank with a list of checks that have been written on your account. This enhancement greatly improves on the old Sage Positive Pay because you now can design your own custom layouts.
• Expanded comment field in Bank Reconciliation -  You can now use up to 2048 characters to track information related to why an adjustment was made.
• ACH for Accounts Payable - Stop writing checks! Create a standard file that you can transmit to your bank which holds your payment data. Our clients who use this love it. Also an EXCELLENT solution if you have many remote employees who you distribute expense checks to via Accounts Payable. Definitely worth a look.
• Once you’re using ACH for Accounts Payable you’ll want to add in Paperless Office stubs, checks and extended stubs so that your check process is totally paperless!
• Product Update Pre-Installation Scan - This will be a new addition to your family of MAS software utilities and can detect potential data issues prior to updating to new release levels.

• The Business Technologist – July 2010 – http://eepurl.com/G_cr #

Sugar 6 Sets New Standard for Ease of Use, Flexibility and Openness

Cupertino, Calif. – July 13 – SugarCRM, the leading provider of open source customer relationship management (CRM) software, today announced the general availability of Sugar 6, a landmark release that sets a new bar for ease of use, flexibility and openness. Sugar 6 was developed with the idea that CRM does not have to be complex to deploy or use, nor too expensive for growing companies.

See demo videos or sign up for a 7-day free trial today: http://www.incortech.com/crm-solutions/sugarcrm/demo/

“Sugar 6 closes the gap between robust CRM and applications that employees actually want to use,” says Larry Augustin, chief executive officer of SugarCRM. “With Sugar 6, organizations of all sizes can improve their business processes and empower their customers – with no limits or compromises.”

“Sugar 6 has been a huge hit with every user at BNSF Logistics,” says Shannon Boyd, director of marketing for BNSF Logistics, L.L.C., a leading provider of logistics solutions. “In addition to the incredible look and feel of the application, we love how tools like the enhanced global search save time and increase user productivity.”

Highlights of Sugar 6 include:

Intuitive User Experience

Sugar 6 delivers a clean, bold look with new buttons and icons that allow users to perform tasks more easily while increasing the information density of each screen. Simplified default views, inline filtering and one-click actions conform to the multitasking environment common to busy sales people. For example, users can use the Shortcut Bar to quickly log an incoming call or assign a task without ever leaving the existing screen. The Sugar 6 menus take fewer clicks to access and users can quickly find previously viewed pages from anywhere in the application. With the updated Sugar Global Search, Sugar 6 takes into account where users are in the application and quickly presents the most meaningful search results.

Flexible Design

Building upon its reputation as the most flexible CRM on the market, Sugar 6 empowers users with the ability to view and consume data and applications from nearly any source, thanks to the ultra-flexible Sugar 6 platform. Users can quickly and easily leverage information from social networks and data services-such as Twitter, LinkedIn and Hoover’s-right inside the user interface. In addition, updates to the powerful customization utility Sugar Studio now allow administrators to alter the attributes of default fields and customize more views such as the lead conversion and popup views.

Open Architecture

As a leader in open source, SugarCRM sets the bar in the business applications industry for offering users freedom and choice in deploying and managing their CRM. Sugar 6 is designed to run on any cloud service platform or on-premise operating system.

For more information about Sugar 6 visit: http://www.incortech.com/crm-solutions/sugarcrm/sugar6/

Destination CRM reports that SugarCRM has been named among the top tier of CRM solutions beating vendors like Oracle, Netsuite and SAP just to name a few.

The Sugar 6.0 release is creating a lot of momentum for the now 6-year-old Commercial Open Source product and it is no surprise as Sugar offers tremendous value and flexibility that is easy to use.

DestinationCRM provides a great summary of Gartner’s insights into successful CRM deployments. While they mention firms spending $100 million on CRM software deployments, the principles outlined really apply for Customer Relationship Management at the SMB level as well.

The 25-page report lists three key findings:

1. The process of creating a CRM strategy has three steps: Set the destination, audit the current situation, and map the journey to the destination.

• Step 1 — Set the Destination: Managers are urged to examine the various definitions of CRM, creating their own to gain buy-in and cohesiveness from those involved in the initiative. A vision for CRM that identifies why the organization wants the initiative and that defines its desired results should be established immediately. Teams that drive the initiative should be composed of three key roles: a sponsor, facilitator and project/program manager.
• Step 2 — Audit the Current Situation: Beginning with a full assessment of past CRM initiatives, participants should be asked what they thought needed to be changed in order to understand what did/did not work. The report also states that “assumptions, business case, and goals of past projects remain valid, even if the execution was not as successful as hoped.” Readers are also warned to beware shortcuts in information gathering. “Seek information from external sources first, and weight customer and consumer feedback highest.”
• Step 3 — Map the Journey: Identify the steps to achieve the vision. Core value propositions for customers and motivating factors for customer loyalty should be classified. The company should be revalued on the potential of its customer base rather than on current revenue or profits. Processes and systems that can be altered rapidly and dynamically as individual customers move among segments should be built. Three to five top-line objectives for CRM initiatives should be established — more than five is considered unnecessary. The initiative should be communicated daily to sponsors and executives.

2. A CRM strategy cannot be developed in isolation. It must be relevant and linked to the overall corporate strategy, and it must build on existing sales or marketing strategies that are already in use.

3. CRM initiatives have eight aspects in common: vision, strategy, customer experience, organizational collaboration, processes, customer information, technology, and metrics. Achievement of some of these aspects is not enough to ensure CRM success, which hinges on covering all eight aspects.

I think the challenge for most SMB Sales Managers and Owners is to allocate the time and develop the necessary process mapping skills to complete these steps. Of course, that’s where IncorTech and our Client Advantage Discovery Engagement can help. Interested in learning more? Give us a call at 949-309-5099 or Email for more information.

A very nice article written by Austin Merritt, Vice President of the software buyer’s guide Software Advice has been posted covering the Sage ERP products with several visual aides for seeing how they fit across industries and sizes of businesses. It’s a good primer on one of the largest makers of business software for the SMB market.

• Last chance to sign up before this Wednesday's MAS Reporting Webinar – http://eepurl.com/s1mn #