Sage North America today released Sage 50 Accounting 2014–U.S. Edition, which boasts enhancements to accounts receivable, streamlined accounts payable processes, and the addition of a business intelligence tool.
New to the product line is Sage 50 Intelligence Reporting, a built-in business intelligence tool that is designed to give small business access and greater insight into their business information.
Sage also streamlined the accounts payable feature – the most commonly used function in Sage 50 -- with more links to information and reports, as well as more options to pay. Sage also made accounts receivable enhancements, which allow users to drill down to an invoice, use a Receive Money screen, and use editable fields.
Other improvements include increased advice and guidance through the use of the Sage Advisor technology, which includes a QuickBooks conversion guide for users switching over from the Intuit product, as well as more frequent product updates. Typically Sage 50 (formerly Peachtree) was updated once per year, however this year the product launch was moved up by a month and will have additional product updates in July and November of this year.
Rebranding is still a challenge for the long-standing small business product, but Sage is confident its efforts are making an impact with existing and potential users, according to Sage’s principal product marketing manager Shari Willman.
“Our research department end of the year showed the net promoter score increased by 18 points and 85 percent brand awareness through an in-product survey. In short, they got it, they know it’s a different name and not a new product or said they don’t care what they call it just don’t change it because they use it every day,” said Willman. “For perspective customers when they were looking for us they weren’t as aware, so if they saw Sage 50 in retail they may not have known it was Peachtree. Our messaging really is Peachtree has a new name and we will continue to monitor and survey.”
The Sage 50 Accounting 2014 product line will be available through in-store and online retailers in June. The suggested retail price for Sage 50 Accounting 2014 starts at $269.99.
