Sage hello...With your business all the way

Construction firms are more optimistic about the year ahead despite experiencing a slow down in growth last month, according to research. January saw the second largest jump in business confidence in the history of the Markit/CIPS survey, stoking hopes of a successful 2012. Decreases in house building and the engineering sector resulted in the construction sector declining overall last month to 51.4 from 53.2 in December. A figure above 50 indicates growth. However, commercial activity increased for the 23rd month in a row and inflation slowed down, despite employment levels stagnating. David Noble, CIPS chief executive, said: It's clear that many businesses have replenished their levels of optimism and have high expectations for improving economic conditions and new contracts. These figures follow CIPS announcement that the manufacturing sector had seen its most rapid pace of growth since March 2011. Copyright Press Association 2012

The first month of the year showed rapid growth in the manufacturing sector, according to figures released by Markit/CIPS. Growth during January reached 52.1, up from 49.7 during December, with figures over 50 indicating expansion. The increase is the largest in 10 months dating back to March last year. Although the UK economy contracted by around 0.2% during the last quarter of 2011, these figures may herald good news for the year to come. Factory bosses also reported costs falling at the fastest pace since mid-2009, with materials such as metals, paper and plastics all decreasing in price. David Noble, chief executive of CIPS, said: The UK manufacturing sector has sprung to life in the first month of 2012 to defy any economic gloom. However, he warned that it was still too early to predict whether the trend was sustainable. Copyright Press Association 2012

A report marking the Queen's Diamond Jubilee has revealed the huge changes in work and industry over the past 60 years. Workers today are more productive and prosperous than when the Queen came to the throne, and the number of employees has increased by six million to 29 million, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has found. However, the research also shows there are now fewer skilled manual workers, with more people in managerial, professional and technical jobs, and there is more pay inequality and more stress. Manufacturing jobs have fallen from 8.7 million to 2.5 million, and trade union membership has decreased by three million to 6.5 million. Furthermore, there has been a huge increase in part-time employment, with one in four people working part-time compared to just 4% in the 1950s. The CIPD's chief economic adviser, John Philpott, said: Whatever the future of work, the lesson of the past six decades is that increased productivity and prosperity isn't enough to enhance the common good in the workplace or society in general. Copyright Press Association 2012

Experts have welcomed moves to encourage the use of mediation rather than employment tribunals in the resolution of workplace disputes. In an effort to reduce the number of tribunal cases the Government has announced plans for trial schemes in Manchester and Cambridge. The schemes will be available to smaller firms and will offer a network of trained mediators should the need for one arise. The Civic Mediation Council praised the Government-led initiative and said the pro-active approach presents a low-cost alternative to employment tribunals. Mike Emmott, an advisor to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, said ministerial support for the pilot schemes would help organisations move away from a risk-averse, compliance-based culture towards one more concentrated on informal methods of resolving workplace conflicts. It is hoped that the Department for Business led proposal to train individuals in the required mediation skills will contribute to creation of an effective alternative method for dealing with workplace disputes. Copyright Press Association 2012

Two thirds of employers have not drawn up plans to deal with staff absences during the London Olympics, according to new research. Of the companies surveyed, employers in London are some of the least likely to have drawn up contingency plans, despite the huge interest predicted to be generated by the Games. Of the companies who have drawn up plans, some have told employees that annual leave requests during the Olympic fortnight will be allocated on a first-come first-served basis, while others have said that no leave at all will be granted for the 14-day period. The study of 1,000 office workers was carried out by recruitment consultant Badenoch and Clark. Speaking about the findings, managing director of Badenoch and Clark, Nicola Linkleter, said: Given the immense interest the London Olympics Games will create among workers, this is poor planning that could lead to employee discontent, confusion or threadbare cover. As the six months countdown begins, a majority of employers are still in denial about the impact it will have on their business. Copyright Press Association 2012

Over the last few months I’ve had the opportunity to talk to a number of Accountants about the changes to Real Time Information for payroll (RTI) and what it means to them.

So, what is Real Time Information?

Real Time Information (RTI) is a HMRC initiative to improve the accuracy of PAYE, reducing the need to send out corrections for overpayment or underpaying and the possibility of fraud.

Under RTI employers will be required to submit information electronically to HMRC on or before they pay their employees instead of just once a year.

What has been clear to me is that there is a clear divide between people who think RTI is a good thing and those that don’t but one thing for sure is that almost all see it as just another compliance aspect they need to deal with on top of  Self-Assessment, iXBRL, Financial and Payroll Year End for their clients.

Use RTI to strengthen your business

Some Accountants I’ve talked to are looking at RTI increasing the time and administration of running a payroll and considering whether they need to increase costs but could this be counterproductive in that you may trigger some clients to look elsewhere.

Other forward thinking Accountants are looking at RTI positively in turning around their viewpoint that payroll is a loss leader but a great client acquisition tool in their business today into an opportunity to drive more clients into their business.

Whatever you think and feel about RTI, there is one thing that I would recommend that you do; communicate with your clients, let them know RTI is coming, let them know what it means to them and tell them not to worry about it. With the support of both yourselves and Sage inspire confidence that we have RTI covered.

Get ready for RTI ahead of the crowd

I’m a typical male who always leaves things to the last minute, but if I had the chance to get RTI Ready before most other practices I would jump at the chance. Well, if you want to get your practice and your clients Payroll RTI Ready before April 2013 you can.

You and your clients have the fantastic opportunity to not only be RTI ready but also help shape how HMRC and Sage provide on-going help and support.

Register now

If you are interested simply click RTI Pilot Registration and we will be in contact soon.

In my next blog I will be talking more about Sage’s plans to make the transition into RTI as simple and seamless as possible, but in the meantime you can find more information about RTI and we are doing on our website at www.sage.co.uk/rti

Neilson Watts – Sage Payroll Expert

I’m not a big fan of discreetly planting marketing messages in social media so I’ll start with the main reason for this post which is our business app Sage 50 Accounts Mobile. The mobile service was originally launched the service in August 2011 and is compatible with our latest version of our accounts software,  Sage 50 Accounts 2012.

We’ve also just launched our new iPad optimised version and our mobile activity overall has been something really exciting to be part of. I therefore thought I’d use my experiences to share some thoughts around developing an app and how to go about… especially if you want to avoid it just being an expensive marketing tool.

What’s your mobile strategy?

Our increasing reliance and indeed personal attachment to mobile devices means I’m continuously met with instant interest and enthusiasm wherever I’ve been to talk about Sage 50 Accounts Mobile. I also heard a lot of interesting views and questions – one in particular that got me thinking was whether or not our new app was actually just a glorified marketing tool.

You can judge whether the answer was a yes or no from this post but it’s an interesting topic given that many businesses could be forgiven for being wooed by the perceived customer reach of certain app stores and the glamour of having a glossy app to your name.

There are a range of reasons why venturing into app space may benefit your business but in 99% of cases those reasons should be because it brings some form of benefit to your customers (or potential customers) in a way that outweighs the investment and on-going management involved.

What is your strategy and your objectives?

The web is littered with advice on having a clearly defined strategy if you’re considering mobile applications as a route to market. Indeed there are plenty of big brands who haven’t bothered developing applications because their strategies have been to instead focus on delivering other online experiences as priority.

Marks and Spencer is a great example. If you want to buy online from M&S, there isn’t an app for that. M&S have focused instead on delivering a great generic mobile commerce experience  (check out the M&S mobile site) – which of course is compatible cross platform via any mobile browser. It ensures they have the best range of tools in place to maximise sales conversion through whatever medium you decide to buy through (which is of course one of their key objectives).

Another good example is my preference to have a shortcut to the BBC News mobile site on my phone home page rather than the official Android BBC News app. The app looks nice but it’s a clear case of being able to get what I need quicker from an existing service (the mobile site) than an app.

So it’s worthwhile assessing as part of your potential solution whether or not you can actually provide something that adds value to your customers and provides something they can’t already get elsewhere.

Deloitte recently highlighted the pitfalls of big brands developing applications and how tough it is to actually make a success of your app – many of these challenges apply to anyone looking to develop an app in an already crowded market place.

Why introduce a Sage app?

From a Sage perspective we knew we could never recreate the rich experience of Sage 50 Accounts desktop software via a mobile device (particularly a smartphone). We also knew that:

• existing customers wanted remote access to something that was simple and quick to use
• they wanted access to key top line data and
• new users within the businesses we support wanted access to business data without the working knowledge of the full version of Sage 50 Accounts 2012.

Developing a mobile service that connected live with Sage 50 Accounts 2012 meant we could achieve many of these objectives.

Sage 50 Accounts mobile app

If you’ve got a clear strategy and business objectives then you should be able to relate any mobile based activity directly back to those plans – in the same way that any product, marketing or sales activity should be directly linked in whatever format it’s delivered.

Be brave

You shouldn’t be afraid to take brave decisions and either decide applications aren’t for you or even be willing to walk away from development mid-way through a project if it’s not clear where you’re going.

It’s very easy not to think clearly when there is so much clamour around mobile. This year’s tech predications continue to mention mobile http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16288247

In terms of our own strategy, we are clear that we want to make desktop data more readily available to our customers wherever they are and whenever they want. We aim to make Sage products more relevant to a wider audience within our existing customers and in turn attract new users of Sage. This strategy is of course strongly supported by growing demand from customers and greater evidence that the way businesses work is changing.  Delivering access via Mobile helps us to achieve these objectives.

Geoff Philips, Mobile Apps Team

If you’re into social media or cloud computing, you’ll have felt right at home on our blog recently. We’ve tackled both subjects on a number of occasion, and given the popularity of those blogs, I thought it was about time we addressed one of the more feared topics is this area – security.

In the first part of this two part series, I’m going to look at passwords. I know the topic has been done to death everywhere from Lifehacker to AccountancyAge but it’s important so, here we go again!

Almost everything you do online and in the Cloud, will need a password. Passwords are the lock and key that keeps us secure from a shady underworld of identity thieves and internet highway men.  We construct complex and difficult to crack passwords to secure our on-line lives.

Or maybe we don’t.

The top 25 passwords

SplashData has revealed the top 25 passwords of the year, taken from a list of millions of stolen passwords posted online by hacking groups, selected password “highlights” are below:

1. password
2. 123456
3. 12345678
4. qwerty
5. abc123

Complex and difficult to crack I’m sure you’ll agree.

Given the amount of information we’re compelled to give when we sign up to websites, it seems some people aren’t doing a great job of “securing” their personal details. Incidentally, if you are using 123456 as one of your passwords, can you change it please? For me.

Password formulas

The holy grail is surely a password that you can easily recall and that is hard to crack. More often than not, people tend to opt for the “easy to recall” part and don’t really bother with the “hard to crack” part.

With so many passwords to remember I can see the temptation to use the same password for everything (hint: This is never a good idea). A suggestion put to me to address the problem was to use a password rule. A way of generating long complicated passwords that are easy to remember regardless of how infrequently you visit a website.

Had I found the holy grail?

Maybe, maybe not.

It works like this: You devise a single rule that you will use for every password, then append part of the website address to it to make it unique. My password rule might be this:

The first 4 letters of the website name (capitalised)  + Underscore + Head office postcode + the % sign + the head office dialling code

Therefore, if I had a myspace account, my password for would be MYSP_ne139aa%0191 (it isn’t by the way). If I were to sign up to e.g. knights.co.uk I would use KNIG_ne139aa%0191. I only need to remember my rule and I can remember the password for each and every site I visit.

Easy enough to remember once you have created your “rule”. Given the length and variety of characters involved it’s going to be pretty difficult to crack. The main problem I see with this method is, if one of my passwords became compromised, my secret is out and all my accounts are at risk. It’s surely better than 123456 though.

No matter which way you look at it, the best thing to do is create passwords unique to every account you have, long complex passwords.

Password management

They’ll be difficult to remember though, so take a look at some of the password management tools that are out there. Lastpass.com and Keepass are two that spring to mind – but please, do your own research and pick the best solution for you. Heck, it’s even OK to write them down as long as you keep them somewhere secure.

Have a password audit for 2012, think about what you are securing online and if your passwords are good enough, if they aren’t consider changing them. You’ll feel better for it.

Mark Knights, Accountants Team

Our guest blog comes from mercer-elect’s Simon Griffiths. You might know Sage for our  business software, but with mercer-elect we’ve recently started helping small businesses with their pension plans. So, Simon knows a thing or two about pensions and can tell his “asset classes” from his “fiduciary”. Here Simons slays some pension gobbledygook.

January 23^rd saw the arrival of the Chinese New Year and, in best Bruce Lee tradition, we now find ourselves in the Year of the Dragon.

Whether you are from the Dungeons and Dragons generation or one of the more recent Hungarian Horntail aficionados from Harry Potter; dragons portray a magical, mysterious, mythical image of scales, spiked tails, huge teeth and claws, not to mention the fiery breath destroying most things in its path. It is also true that this image generally comes unstuck at the hands of a fairly simple dragon slayer – armed with nothing more than a short sword or a broomstick. 

Pensions – let’s keep it simple

The same logic can be applied (with a little Harry Potter based imagination) to the myth that shrouds the pension environment. Mention a pension and everyone immediately thinks complexity, confusion and runs for cover. Even the National Employment Savings Trust Corporation (NEST), set up to manage the pension scheme designed as a result of the Government’s aim for individuals to have their own personal pension account, has produced a phrasebook to help individuals understand some of the phrases in common usage. It tells us they will:

• Avoid using phrases like “asset classes” to describe different types of investment or;
• “Fiduciary responsibility” to describe the legal duty to act in a member’s interest,

only to introduce other phrases like:

• Consolidation phase – to describe one of three NEST retirement date fund phases

All perfectly clear then – and this is before you even get to actuaries, longevity swaps and annuity rates!

Think of your pension as a savings plan

Why do we have to think it is so complicated? At its basic level a pension is a savings plan for when you retire, nothing more, nothing less.

Forget the retirement aspect for a moment. If you are lucky enough in the current environment to have some spare money at the end of each month, or have some savings that you want to put away, and you were faced with the following choices, what would you do?

What are your options?

OPTION A: Use a service that charges a high fee every year to cover their set-up and running costs, thus reducing the amount of your money that is left to be invested and, even then doesn’t pay any attention to what how your savings are growing.

OR

OPTION B: Use a service which has a low fee, thus leaving more money available to be invested – and has experts checking to make sure that they are getting the best rate of returns available

Simple – go for option B. So why is a pension any different?

That is why Sage Pension, provided by mercer-elect, has been established. To act as the simple myth slayer to make sure you can get good value and simplicity when you want to start saving for later life.

Auto-enrolment

Auto-enrolment may have been delayed for organisations under 50 employees (watch this blog for more information on this week’s announcement), but all other organisations will still have to ensure something is in place. Even if you employ less than 50 people, why wouldn’t you want to start saving and benefiting from the tax advantages sooner rather than later? For more information download our pension guide or visit the website at http://www.sage.co.uk/sage-pensions

So “Gong Hei Fard Choy!” as they say in Macau and Hong Kong or “Xin Nian Kuai Le!” in other parts of China to welcome the Year of The Dragon and remember, when you are looking to slay the complex pension myth – we’re here to help.

Let’s hear your confusing pensions terms

In the meantime, what are the most confusing pension terms you have come across? Add a comment and I’ll try and translate them for you.

Simon Griffiths, mercer-elect

You know your business inside out, but do you know your customers inside out?

Acquiring new customers is five times more expensive than keeping the ones you already have, so customer turnover could be the largest financial burden for your business. By getting to know your customers and learning how to make them feel special, you build up a detailed picture of them and take steps towards retaining their business.

So, what CRM software can you use to help you know your customers better? How can you increase customer satisfaction? And what can you do to make customers feel special?

We’ve recently produced a guide to improving customer loyalty and here our some of our ideas for making your customers feel special.

What is customer satisfaction?

In short customer satisfaction is a measure of how your business meets or surpasses customers’ expectations.  It means retained customers generate long-term business for you, delivering positive feedback and great testimonials. Without it, customer churn increases and reputation risks damage through negative word of mouth marketing. In fact, in our recent customer experience survey we found that one in three consumers would ditch a company for good after just one below-par experience.

How do I increase customer satisfaction?

Understanding what your existing customers want and delivering it to them effectively is the best way to satisfy; meaning you can secure repeat orders, keep and retain your customers and benefit from positive word of mouth. Ways of doing this might include;

Customer loyalty schemes

You can immediately make a customer feel special and valued with a reward or loyalty scheme that offers them perks throughout the year…and they might even tell their colleagues and friends about it too! For example, we gave our lucky SageCover customers their very own VIP area at our recent SageWorld event.  Nice armchairs, trendy bags and tasty cakes all round!

Analysing customer data

Use the data you are gain everyday to find out a little more about your customers – like their propensity to buy at certain times of year or previous products they have bought – anything that might indicate their purchase preferences and behaviours. Then tailor your marketing to fit with the profile you have built up of them – something personalised or highly topical to them is much more likely to get through. Getting the right CRM software, or Customer Relationship Management software, can help with this.

Encouraging customer feedback

Giving your customers a chance to engage in two-way dialogue with you is vital. This could be through feedback surveys, social media, review meetings etc. It shows that you are more than just a business; it shows you have empathy and that you want to develop a relationship with customers – no bad thing! Here at Sage we try to do as much as possible.  We’d love you to hear from you through our Sage UK Twitter feed, our Facebook page or even by commenting on this blog.

Effective complaints management

Customer complaints can be telling, so it’s essential to deal with them efficiently, fairly and ensure the customer receives a satisfactory response and follow up. If a complaint is handled effectively, it can give you important root cause information that may help you to predict future issues or trends.

Improved customer service

Customer service needs to be sincere for it to be effective, so it’s vital to ensure that your staff are trained to fulfil this. If your staff can consistently treat all customers with respect and show efficiency, you will gain customer satisfaction and are sure to retain their business in the long-term.

Iain Ramsay, Small Business Team