Companies urged to make adjustments now

VICE PRESIDENT, Field Sales of Sage North America, Mike Wingrove, has advised Caribbean companies to use what may be a downturn in business to make the necessary adjustments that would position them to take the lead when the economy rebounded.

Wingrove, the leading spokesperson for the global business applications supplier, was at the time speaking to reporters during a session pause at the Sage Partners Barbados Conference 2013, recently held at the Crane Resort.

“Companies that make the investment in new technology and in enhancing their productivity when business is slow, are the ones that really accelerate when the economy starts to turn around,” Wingrove noted, adding that such an investment was maximised when the company was able to ensure a synergy between the right people, the right technology and the right business processes.

“Now is the time to really make these investments,” he said.

The Sage VP said that specific benefits of using the products and services which the company offered were improvements in productivity, time management, access to data which allowed for better decision making and business intelligence solutions.

He stated that during that particular conference, the intent of the fifteen-member North American contingent was to show regional customers what was trending around the world in terms of business best practices.

The sessions, which ran for one day, looked specifically at Sage’s accounting system, called Sage 300 ERP, formerly known locally as Accpac, as well as Sage’s Human Resources and Customer Relations Management Systems.

Wingrove posited that the challenge facing all types of companies today was the demand for increased interaction – in-house, domestically and externally (overseas).

With this in mind, he submitted that companies needed to be able to compete across the region, but also further afield.

He pointed out: “If you are going to grow and make [your country] successful ... then you need
to be successful in expanding.”

Subscription model

One added boost which was disclosed by the Sales VP was that whereas in the past an upfront cost was needed to access Sage’s applications, now both existing and new customers would soon be able to take advantage of the products, paying on a monthly subscription basis.

“We are moving more and more to a subscription model, where customers can pay monthly, so they sign up for one month... or two, three, four ... and that way is much more cost effective to get [on board] with the applications. All the mobile sales and service applications, CRM, sales reviews ...
are all available on a subscription basis,” Wingrove explained.

The Sage Conference was hosted by their on-the-ground partners KPMG and Orchid Systems. (RA)