The Challenge: Slow and Difficult Accounting Software

“Our old accounting system, Great Plains, was slow and difficult to work with,” said Chris Chung, Bisco Canada’s Marketing Manager. “It was not very user friendly.” In addition to less than the optimal speed and usability needed by Bisco staff, the old accounting software didn’t generate the kinds of reports needed for marketing and business development. Nor did it provide the quick look-ups they wanted to help their customers with accounting questions. “We also wanted something to integrate with our customer relationship management program, ACT!” said Chung.

The Solution: MAS 90 Accounting Software and The Answer Company

Bisco contacted The Answer Company, a Canadian consulting firm with over a decade of experience, to help find a new accounting system, customize it for their business, train Bisco staff how to use it, and provide support for it after it was installed. The options available included packages from Microsoft and Simply Accounting, but in the end The Answer Company recommended Sage Software’s Sage 100, a well respected core accounting package that is also fully expandable with user-defined fields, automated data import and export, and third-party add-ons.

“We chose Sage 100 because it is very user friendly, it’s affordable, and it was able to integrate with ACT!” said Chung. Sage 100 was a particularly appropriate choice because Sage Software also makes ACT!, and the two products are designed to work together.

The Benefits: Better Integration, More Useful Information

Once The Answer Company set up Sage 100 to fit Bisco’s business iprocesses, Chung knew they had made the right decision. “Sage 100’s Business Insights function allowed us to have a quick snapshot of all the financials, and to maintain better relationships with our customers,” he said. “Sage 100 has provided what we were looking for in a new accounting program.” Changing to a new software application in an important business operation such as accounting can be tricky, but The Answer Company’s team demonstrated their experience by making the transition a smooth one for Bisco.