Sage 200c is a complete business management solution that offers a wide range of features, including financial management, sales and purchase management, project accounting, and inventory management. This makes it a powerful tool for businesses that need to manage their operations efficiently.

Sage 200c continues to be a great solution because of its comprehensive functionality, scalability, Cloud compatible, data security, and customisation capabilities.

Scalability: Sage 200c is scalable and can grow with the business. As the business expands, SMEs can add more users and modules to the system to meet their evolving needs.

Cloud-based technology: Sage 200c is compatible with Cloud solutions such as Office 365 and therefore enables you to manage your business on the move. This is particularly beneficial for businesses that have remote workers or multiple locations.

Data security: Sage 200c provides robust security features to protect sensitive business data. This ensures that organisations can operate with confidence, knowing that their data is secure.  

Customisation: Sage 200c can be customised to meet specific business needs. This allows them to tailor the solution to their business processes, rather than having to change their processes to fit the software.

For example, Sage 200c allows users to customise the software by adding and removing fields, setting up new workflows, and creating custom reports. Users can also create their own dashboards and views to give them a real-time view of their business data.

In addition, Sage 200c integrates with other software solutions and applications, making it possible to extend the system’s capabilities beyond the standard feature set. This means that businesses can create bespoke solutions that are tailored to their specific business needs.

Overall, Sage 200c is a powerful and versatile ERP system that can help businesses manage their operations more effectively, allowing them to focus on their core business activities and drive growth and profitability.

Our award-winning Team delivers Sage 200c support, implementation, consulting and development. Why not talk to us about how we can help your business with Integration for Sage 200 third-party apps and e-commerce websites to achieve a fully customised solution for your business.

Checkout our latest case study: 

Utilize Sage Development Team save time and resources with a new Purchase Transaction Authorisation for our client Vegetarian Express 

 

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Career Ready Programme

Utilize is proud to help nurture the next generation of working talent. Recently, three members of staff have partnered with the Career Ready Mentorship programme to become volunteer mentors.

The Career Ready programme is designed to connect students with working people and workplaces, helping them to develop their understanding of careers and the typical professional skills needed to succeed in employment. Each student is paired with a mentor from a local business who is participating in the programme. Students and mentors are matched based on interests and goals to aid in quickly building a rapport.

Utilize Managing Director – Guy Hocking, Head of Client Services – Mike Smith and Myself (Internal Marketing & Communications Manager) have recently completed a volunteer onboarding programme including a DBS check to become mentors. Our responsibility as mentors is to help young adults achieve goals and grow their skillset over the year as they prepare to enter the working world post education. The programme is driven by seven ‘Skills for Career Success’, each element of the programme references these skills and students are required to rate their progress on these over twelve months.

The skills are:

• Adaptability
• Creativity
• Communication & Networking
• Managing my career
• Managing myself
• Problem-solving
• Teamwork

To kick off the 2023 programme, Guy, Mike, and I took part in an icebreaker session hosted at the student’s school. In the session, Lynette Brathwaite recapped on what students and mentors should expect by taking part in this programme, in terms of setting boundaries, expectations and key points on how to make the student-mentor relationship a success. Then after a team building exercise, we got to spend some time with our mentees, introducing ourselves and getting to know each other.

It was a great afternoon meeting lots of students and listening to their goals and aspirations, and to gain a greater understanding of what these young adults want to achieve in life.

Moving forward, it’s up to us to schedule monthly, face-to-face meetings with our mentees. During these meetings, we will set realistic targets to aid their transition from education to employment and help to give them the best start to their (hopefully long and successful!) careers.  In addition to meeting at their school or local coffee shop, the students will have the opportunity to visit our office in Basildon and experience the day-to-day running and interactions of the workplace.

Anyone can become a mentor, and I would highly recommend Career Ready’s programme to businesses and individuals who are invested or interested in nurturing the next generation of co-workers to successfully transition into the workplace.

I’d like to wish all volunteer mentors, and mentees, every success for the year ahead!

To find out how you and your workplace could help in a variety of ways check out their website: Career Ready Post 16 Programme – Career Ready

Learn more about our Careers

In today’s fast-paced business environment, technology plays a critical role in ensuring business continuity, and any IT downtime can lead to significant losses for organizations. 

It’s important for a business to carefully consider its IT requirements and the potential impact of downtime or delays before entering into a Service Level Agreement (SLA) with their IT provider. 

SLA response times refer to how quickly your IT provider responds to a technical issue raised via phone, email or other methods. Defining acceptable response and resolution times is one of the targets your business should judge the performance of your IT support provider on. 

As pretty much every modern business relies heavily on IT systems and infrastructure to operate, a traditional 4-hour response time SLA may not be sufficient. In this case, any downtime or delay in service restoration can have a significant impact on business operations and revenue. For example, if an e-commerce website experiences downtime of even a few minutes, it could result in lost sales and a negative impact on customer experience and satisfaction. 

Depending on your industry, downtime can also impact your compliance with legal and regulatory requirements, particularly if the downtime affects data privacy or security. 

In addition, if the business operates in a highly competitive industry where customers expect fast and reliable service, a 4-hour SLA is undoubtedly inadequate. A slower response time could lead to customers switching to competitors, who offer better and faster service. 

Increasingly, modern businesses are seeking a more reactive SLA with a shorter response time to ensure that their business can meet operational and customer service needs. 

A one-hour IT service level agreement ensures a quicker response time and resolution of issues. Additionally, a shorter SLA time demonstrates a higher level of commitment to customer service and satisfaction, which can improve the overall reputation of your organization. 

Why not talk to us today about upgrading to a one-hour SLA? 

Learn more about our IT Support

Are you starting your year with the correct technologies to ensure your business achieves its goals?

Every year Sage moves its oldest version to ‘end of support’ meaning that it is no longer supported by updates or receiving security patches. They will then move the second oldest version into ‘extended support’ to indicate that soon this will also be no longer supported. With outdated or unsupported systems in place, your business could be vulnerable. It is vital that you check to see what version of Sage 200 your business is running and to consider upgrading if you are affected by these changes.

By upgrading to the latest version of Sage 200, you will gain access to the updates that Sage implements to improve its software and services. Knowledge gained from both Sage customer feedback and new technologies are just some of the factors that drive these upgrades.

You can find out what version of Sage you are running by opening settings within Sage and select ‘About Sage 200’ where your version number will be displayed. Once you find the version you are running, use our helpful guide below which indicates how your Sage 200 status is affected:

If you’re running the green version, then no further action is required. Amber means that you need to start planning your Sage 200 upgrade and if you are operating in the red, you should call our Sage support team to discuss your options.

Upgrading your Sage 200 can sometimes be a long process, if for example, you have customised software or integrations with third-party apps. Preparing early in advance of scheduled upgrades which may affect your status is always advisable. At Utilize, our team of experts have the knowledge and experience needed to implement a smooth and seamless upgrade. We will work with your business to schedule the upgrade around a time that avoids any interference with your daily business tasks for a seamless transfer.

To discuss the support status of your current Sage 200 version, or if you have any other questions regarding upgrading your software, send us an email today by clicking here.

Learn more about Sage

Windows Server is used to host many business-critical services and applications, and whilst innovation enables newer and more improved versions of Windows Server to be released, support for older versions ends as outlined in the Microsoft product roadmap.

Windows Server 2012 and 2012 R2 Extended Support will end on October 10, 2023, and after this date these products will no longer receive critical security updates or bug fixes which may lead to potential compliance gaps and exposed vulnerabilities for workloads that still rely on these versions.

If you wish to keep your on-premises servers running and still want to receive bug fixes and security updates, Microsoft and Utilize recommend upgrading to a more recent and supported version of Windows Server.

If you need to continue running Windows 2012 due to legacy application requirements, Microsoft and Utilize recommend migrating your workloads to Azure Virtual Machines, which will provide you with extended security updates for three years after the end of support at no additional cost.

When moving to Azure, businesses benefit from a variety of compliance certifications, infrastructure optimisation and built-in multi-layered security controls.

Below we examine some of the additional business benefits that making the move to Azure can bring:

Scalability: Azure allows organisations to scale their resources up or down as needed. You only pay for what you use which is beneficial for organisations that experience fluctuating workloads.

Flexibility: Azure offers a wide range of services, including virtual machines, storage, databases, and more, allowing you to choose the best options for your specific needs.

Cost savings: By using Azure, organisations can reduce their capital expenditures on hardware and software and instead pay for resources on a pay-as-you-go basis. This can lead to cost savings over time.

Improved security: Azure has several built-in security features, such as multi-factor authentication, encryption, and compliance support, that can help to protect your data and meet regulatory requirements.

High availability: Azure offers several options for ensuring high availability of resources, such as load balancing and automatic failover. This can help ensure your business’s services are always available to your customers.

Better collaboration: Azure works with tools such as Office 365, that can help organisations collaborate more effectively, both internally and externally.

Disaster recovery: Azure provides several options for disaster recovery such as Azure Site Recovery, Azure Backup, and Azure Arc. This way you can have a secondary location to recover your data and services and be able to easily recover them in case of a disaster.

Automation: Azure provides a number of tools and services that will enable your business to automate various IT processes, such as infrastructure provisioning, software deployment, and monitoring.

Global accessibility: Azure has data centres all around the world, which means that your business can easily access and use its resources from anywhere.

Environment friendly: Azure is one of the first Cloud providers to be carbon neutral and offer clean energy options. Eco-friendly options such as Azure Arc for Kubernetes and Azure Policy ensures your infrastructure is running in the most energy-efficient and sustainable way.

As trusted Microsoft partners and Azure Specialists, Utilize can help you to review your options and migrate or upgrade your workloads to facilitate your digital transition seamlessly.

Email us today and speak to a member of our team by clicking here.

You can read more on Windows Server end of support here.

Careers

As businesses have adapted and changed over the last two years, one thing has become more apparent – flexible working is now a standard, not a luxury. For most businesses, offering a form of remote/work-from-home option is important if they want to attract new talent and retain their current workforce.

When we add into the equation looming transport strikes, recent weather problems and the rise in the cost of travel, it becomes apparent that flexible working also provide resilience to a business. Being prepared and equipped to work remotely, especially when a situation arises unexpectedly, will allow your business to operate in any circumstance.

Enabling your employees to work remotely brings with it some serious considerations, such as questioning how secure your remote workers’ devices and connections are. Are they updating their devices with the latest software and patches? How do you ensure that your corporate data remains secure when devices and users are remote?

Increasingly businesses are utilising contractors, temporary staff, consultants and other ‘non-core’ team members who require access to their data on a device that isn’t owned by their business. How do you manage that challenge? These are considerations that businesses must tackle now, often for the first time and with no real idea where to start.

Luckily, there are many fantastic features and capabilities already available to most businesses included with their Microsoft 365 subscription. Something they already pay for but perhaps haven’t unlocked the full potential of.

It never ceases to surprise me that when we engage with a new client, they have not always had these benefits explained.

Imagine, for example, being able to manage end-user devices automatically, roll out updates and new applications and ensure that packs and patches are installed. Add to that the ability to control what happens with your business data, so that those remote or non-core users can’t accidentally email your confidential pricing to a client, copy it into their private storage like Dropbox, or even forward or print your confidential information.

That is the kind of control that can be implemented with ease, possibly already available to you with the licenses you already own.

As part of our Ascend offering, these features and many others can be mapped onto a bespoke business strategy, then delivered and implemented with minimal fuss and no large capital outlay. All of which are major business benefits in our current economic choppy waters.

Why not book an exploratory call so our team can look at what is achievable with the tools your business may already have at its disposal?

Click here to email our team today.

To contact us click here

It’s been reported that 66% of organisations were hit by ransomware in 2021*, demonstrating just how relevant it is to ensure you are implementing robust security measures.

Cyber criminals use tools like Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) to access networks making early detection very difficult. Trusting solely in these tools is not advised and can lead to a host of issues including compromised networks for both your business and potentially your clients.

Here are some network security tips to enhance your protection.

Micro-segment your network
Micro-segmenting allows you to detect and block threats attempting spread across your network. Create small zones and connect them via managed switches and a firewall to apply anti-malware and IPS protection between segments.

Replace remote-access VPN with a Zero Trust Network Access solution (ZTNA)

ZTNA removes the inherent trust and broad access that VPN provides. It uses the principles of Zero Trust: trust nothing, verify everything. To learn more, read Sophos helpful article about the benefits of ZTNA here.

Implement the strongest possible protection

• Firewalls should have TLS 1.3 inspection, next-gen IPS, and streaming DPI with machine learning and sandboxing.
• Remove remote access or RDP system access through VPN, NAT, or port-forwarding, and ensure that any traffic flows are properly protected.
• Endpoints should have the latest next-gen protection capabilities

Patch and update all software and firmware

Use multi-factor authentication (MFA) – Ensure every user and device repeatedly verifies their identity before accessing your network.

Adopt a strong password policy – Consider implementing authentication solutions like Windows Hello for Business.

Quick response in the event of a cyberattacks

Implement and utilize automation technologies and human expertise to accelerate cyber incident response and remediation.

Ensure your network security infrastructure is set up to automatically respond to and active attack, a combination of automation technologies and cyber security expertise will allow you to isolate and contain an attack before it can cause any serious or further damage.

24/7 fully managed detection and response service

We advise investing in a 24/7 fully managed detection and response service. Engaging with specialist Cyber security experts enhances your protection against threats that technology solutions alone cannot prevent.

For more information about any of the security measured addressed in this article or to discuss your business specific cyber security needs, contact us today and one of our cyber security advisors will be delighted to help.

Learn about Managed Security

More young people are realising the value of apprenticeships and are choosing them over the traditional academic route of going to university. As an apprentice, you benefit from hands-on experience, a salary and the opportunity to train while you work. The cost of your education and training is covered by the government so you’re left with zero debt- a big bonus!

Here are 5 top reasons why you should consider an apprenticeship:

1. Cost-effective: IT apprenticeships typically provide on-the-job training and experience, allowing individuals to earn a salary while gaining practical skills and knowledge. This can be a more cost-effective option than paying for a university degree.

2. Relevant experience: IT apprenticeships provide real-world experience and hands-on training, which can be more valuable than theoretical knowledge gained at university. This can help individuals develop the skills and knowledge that are in demand in the industry.

3. Flexibility: IT apprenticeships often offer flexible learning options, allowing individuals to study and work at the same time. This can be a good option for individuals who want to gain experience and qualifications while still working and earning a salary.

4. Better job prospects: IT apprenticeships can provide a direct route into the industry, with many employers offering permanent positions to successful apprentices. This can be a better option than graduating from university and having to compete for entry-level jobs with other graduates.

5. Professional qualifications: Many IT apprenticeship programs offer professional qualifications, such as certifications from industry organisations or vendor-specific training. These can be valuable for individuals looking to advance their careers in the IT field.

If you think an apprenticeship could be the perfect option for you why not check out Utilize apprenticeships programme.

Click here to get in touch

Microsoft Power Platform is a suite of low-code/no-code tools that enables users to build custom business applications and automate processes. It includes PowerApps, which allows users to create custom apps, Power BI, which enables data visualisation and reporting, and Power Automate, which allows users to automate workflows and business processes. It also includes Power Virtual Agents, which allows users to create chatbots for customer service and support.

It’s included with some Microsoft licenses, such as Office 365 E3 and E5 plans. It is also available as a standalone subscription or as part of certain Microsoft Dynamics 365 plans. Power Automate specifically is the tool that allows businesses to automate repetitive and time-consuming tasks, freeing up employees to focus on more strategic tasks.

With Power Automate, businesses can create automated workflows that trigger actions based on specific events, such as receiving an email or updating a database entry.

Here are just some of the common business processes that can be automated with Power Automate:

1. Data entry and information management: Automating the process of entering data into a database or spreadsheet, and updating records as needed.

2. Document and file management: Automating the process of organising and storing files and documents, as well as sending them to relevant stakeholders.

3. Email and communication management: Automating the process of sending and receiving emails, as well as tracking responses and managing communication with clients and customers.

4. Project management: Automating the process of tracking project progress, assigning tasks, and communicating updates to stakeholders.

5. Sales and marketing: Automating the process of tracking leads, sending marketing materials, and tracking customer engagement.

By automating these processes, businesses can save time, reduce errors, and improve efficiency. Power Automate allows businesses to customise their workflows and set specific triggers and actions, ensuring that their automated processes align with their business goals and objectives.

So how do you uncover workflows that can be automated with Power Automate:

1. Identify repetitive tasks and processes within your organisation. These are typically tasks that are done on a regular basis, such as data entry, sending emails, or generating reports.

2. Identify tasks that require input from multiple people or systems. These tasks may involve gathering information from multiple sources, such as databases or web services, and then combining that information into a single output.

3. Evaluate the feasibility of automating these tasks using Power Automate. Consider factors such as the complexity of the task, the number of steps involved, and the availability of data and resources.

4. Create a detailed workflow diagram that outlines the steps involved in each task. This will help you visualise the flow of information and identify potential areas for automation.

5. Test and refine your workflow using Power Automate. Use the built-in tools and features to automate each step of the process and monitor the results to ensure that the automation is working as expected.

6. Continuously evaluate and update your workflow as needed. As your business evolves and new processes are introduced, you may need to adapt your workflow to accommodate these changes. Regularly review and update your automation to ensure that it remains effective and efficient.

Working with an expert who can help your business with Power Automate can help to ensure that you have the support and expertise you need to make the most of Power Automate and achieve your business goals.

Utilize consultants work with our clients to gain a deep understanding of their challenges and goals. We frequently help them uncover and implement automation solutions for time consuming and labour-intensive workflows and processes. We work with organisations to foster a culture of continuous IT adoption to improve productivity and profitability.

If you would like to know more about how we can help your business transform through automation click the link below.

Get in touch today

A technology strategy is important in a business because it provides a clear plan and direction for the use of technology to achieve business goals and objectives. It helps align technology investments with the overall business strategy and ensures that the technology being used is in line with the needs and goals of the organisation.

Having a technology strategy also allows for better resource allocation and management, as it provides a framework for prioritising technology projects and allocating resources accordingly. It also helps ensure that the technology being used is secure, reliable, and efficient.

Additionally, a technology strategy helps a business stay competitive and adaptable in a rapidly changing technological landscape. It enables the organisation to identify and take advantage of new technologies that can improve operations, increase efficiency, and drive growth.

Overall, having a technology strategy is essential for businesses to effectively leverage technology to achieve their goals and stay ahead of the competition.

How to develop the technology strategy in your business

Collaborate with your IT provider to create a comprehensive technology plan that includes short-term and long-term goals and objectives.

1. Identify the current and future needs of your business. This includes assessing the current technology infrastructure and determining areas for improvement or potential new technologies to implement.
2. Develop a plan for implementing new technologies. This includes researching and comparing different technology options, setting a budget and timeline for implementation, and identifying potential challenges and solutions.
3. Communicate the technology strategy to all stakeholders. This includes providing clear and concise information about the benefits of the new technology, as well as the timeline and expected impact on the business.
4. Develop a plan for ongoing support and maintenance of the technology. This includes identifying the resources and personnel needed to support the technology, as well as establishing processes for monitoring and updating the technology.
5. Monitor and assess the effectiveness of the technology strategy. This includes regularly evaluating the performance of the technology and making adjustments as needed to ensure optimal results.

Its important to work with an IT provider who will take the time to understand your businesses challenges and goals. By working in partnership with you they can help develop a comprehensive and clearly defined strategy and roadmap that aligns to your business needs, budget and timescales.

Click here to learn about Strategy & roadmapping