There are many differences between Sage 50 and Sage 100cloud (Sage 100c). In fact, the two are so different that you can only make a meaningful comparison based on your business goals, not feature/function specifics. This post explains why.

A Broad Business Platform vs. Accounting Software

Sage 50 provides easy-to-use accounting software straight out of the box. Over the years, Sage 50 has incorporated many accounting functionalities and even provides approximately 100 reports to summarize your financials. Add reasonably robust inventory management functionality, and Sage 50 is ideal for startups or small businesses with a single office location where desktop-based software is not limiting.

By contrast, Sage 100cloud is a full-functionality enterprise resource planning system for growing businesses. Within 100cloud, accounting and inventory management are just two of the many modules; others include manufacturing, business intelligence, reporting, sales and customer management, purchasing and supplier management, HR management, time and project management, and alerting – to name just a few.

So what's the difference between Sage 50 and Sage 100cloud?

Manufacturing

For manufacturers, Sage 100cloud represents a giant leap forward from Sage 50. 100cloud manages a broad range of manufacturing processes and its bill of materials tool maintains accurate reports for work orders and functions for planning and managing material requirements. When combined with Sage 100cloud’s materials requirement planning and work order processing tools, you gain visibility and highly accurate reporting in your end-to-end manufacturing process.

Accounting & Finance

Sage 100cloud surpasses Sage 50 by providing a general ledger tool that eliminates the need to create your own accounting charts. The system’s standard charts are customizable for reporting that corresponds to your financial reporting, and special tools enable automated management of sales tax and general tax reporting as well as compliance with federal and state tax codes.

Business Intelligence & Reporting

While Sage 50 lacks business intelligence functionality aside from accounting and inventory, 100cloud gives you visibility across the entire business. With all data integrated into a single source, you can effortlessly create real-time, automated, and preformatted reports with up-to-date, accurate, and meaningful information.

Sales & Customer Management

Sage 100cloud’s CRM add-on module allows your company to profile, track, and target customers by providing access to all customer-specific data all the time. This means your sales professionals understand the context of each customer relationship, helping them make appropriate offers at ideal points in each customer’s lifecycle.

Purchasing & Supplier Management

As your company grows and your supply chain increases in complexity, you need 100cloud’s detailed record-keeping surrounding the entire purchasing process. Beyond basic price and quantity data, a single click reveals who placed the order, which discounts were applied, and the associated shipping instructions. The system can even send automated purchase requests when automatically-shared inventory data reveals that minimum inventory levels for specific parts, components, or raw materials have been reached.

Inventory Management & Warehousing

Sage 100cloud's paperless office tool generates email- and fax-based orders simultaneously to multiple recipients in any location. Moreover, 100cloud’s ability to provide access via the internet and mobile devices means that everyone from remote employees to foreign suppliers can react to your company’s needs, even if your offices are closed.

Alerting

In addition to the major modules described above, 100cloud also offers business alerts, a module that uses your email system to notify specific personnel when a significant development requires immediate attention. The alerts are customizable to each department’s needs.

The Bottom Line

When it comes to comparing Sage 50 and Sage 100cloud, the real question to ask yourself is, “Do I simply need basic accounting and inventory management in a single location or do I need an intelligent informational and operational flow across my entire company and supply chain partners?”

At Southeast Computer Solutions, we help growing businesses clarify their strategic needs every day. If you're trying to decide which solution suits your current and future needs, contact us today for a free consultation.