Trying to manage your company’s daily operations using multiple pieces of software, all downloaded onto individual computers in the office, is now an antiquated way to handle the needs of a midsized business. Not only is it more efficient to combine all functions like Finance and Accounting, Human Resources, Supply Chain Management, and Customer Relations into one place, but doing so via the cloud can take an entire business further.

For mid-sized businesses that are growing, global, or small businesses that have plans to expand, software like Sage 300cloud (formerly known as Sage 300 ERP) is a cloud-based system that can make it all happen. Many businesses are now enjoying the efficiency, flexibility, access, cost-saving, and security benefits of cloud computing. There are several reasons to use an all-in-one program that runs on and can be accessed through cloud servers.

Managing multiple operations within a centralized program saves time and money. There is no new hardware or software to purchase, uninstall, and reinstall for upgrades. ERP programs are adaptable and flexible to suit a company’s specific and changing needs. There’s no need to switch between programs while multitasking. The system is also fully customizable, with a dashboard and analytics that can be configured and tailored to meet unique needs and show valuable insights.

ERP software allows for full flexibility and access control. Employees can access information and complete tasks from remote locations and in-transit. Laptops, phones, tablets, or computers can be used to access the system. People are no longer tied to being present in the office to change or access data when something suddenly springs up. Access can also be restricted if necessary. These features dramatically increase efficiency and control.

Updates to a program happen automatically on the Salesforce App Cloud, and there is no need to bring in IT personnel to troubleshoot and attempt to fix software or hardware issues related to the system. Every user has access to the newest version and the latest changes cross-company, instantly.

Programs feature real-time visibility of the whole organization, what-if modelling, recruitment tools, hiring support, and automated workflows. This increases the ability to locate, hire, and on-board the best new candidates. ERP systems like Sage Business Cloud Enterprise Management (formerly known as Sage X3) can help grow your business by reducing waste and improving productivity by integrating seamless operations throughout the company.

Payroll is no longer a headache with streamlined control and processes that comply to current laws and regulations, with comprehensive reports and financial solutions. Employees can access information they need from any location they desire.

Enterprise Management Company IWI Consulting Group helps Canadian businesses and non-profits implement their new software quickly and cost-effectively. We serve businesses across Canada providing optimized operations and finance systems with performance and growth at the forefront. Our professional consulting team is dedicated to finding the specific solutions you’re looking for – plus ones you didn’t even know were possible. Our ERP consultants connect your business with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Human Resources Management (HRMS), and IT networking services easily and seamlessly.

Implementing and using a new system is intuitive, with continued support and services from our highly-trained and experienced team who have an optimal blend of industry experience and technical expertise. Transitioning to new software like Sage 300cloud (formerly known as Sage 300) or Sage Business Cloud Enterprise Management on the cloud has never been easier.

Sage Intacct Helps Measure Against Outcomes, Improve Transparency

Sage software can help you measure what matters in the world of nonprofit organizations. Specific Sage software, such as Sage Intacct, provides you with a strong measure of transparency and accountability, both of which are vital to a healthy nonprofit that engenders trust among donors and members.

Nonprofits: Good Stewards of Their Resources

With more organizations competing for donors’ dollars, it’s vital to demonstrate that your organization is a good steward of financial resources. To do this, you must show your constituents that you are tracking expenses against outcomes.

For-profit organizations have business goals, typically improving profits for business growth and shareholder wealth. Nonprofits also have goals, but these goals are measured in different ways. Nonprofit goals, or outcomes, may be measured by the difference the nonprofit makes in the world (number of panda bears saved, carbon credits offset, children who receive nutritious meals). While these outcomes may seem difficult to quantify, nonprofits can create their own scorecards to measure their own progress toward goals. This is outcome metrics in a nutshell.

Blended Scorecards Are a More Realistic Tracking Method

One way to measure outcome metrics is to measure across programs and vital metrics to create what’s called a blended scorecard. Such blended scorecards include hard financial metrics, such as debt to expenses, but also soft metrics, such as impact made across programs. Data collected across a range of points and shared in a public, transparent way can help you provide to donors and members that you are fulfilling your mission with an eye towards the future.

No matter what your goals are for your nonprofit organization, measuring against goals and reporting the outcomes to your constituents is important. With growing public skepticism about the use of funds by companies as well as nonprofits, it is important to show good faith and offer transparency into your financial through whatever means you may have. Tracking metrics against outcomes is a great way to start.

Sage Intacct: Making Measurement Easy

Among the many Sage software products available for businesses, Sage Intacct can be used by both for-profits and not for profit organizations to track outcome metrics. As a Sage software product, it features the same intuitive setup and ease of use that Sage is famous for building.

Can you use Sage Intacct for outcomes measurement? Yes, and you can also make it visible to your Board of Directors with Sage Intacct’s Digital Board Book. These elements provide critical metrics that your Board wants to see. Sage Intacct also offers reporting and dashboards for financial management and accountability.

Why wait for the annual report to offer your Board a glimpse into how well your organization is doing against metrics? Adding Sage Intacct provides a streamlined way to manage operations and financial data as well as the transparency that nonprofit boards seek. Contact IWI Consulting Group today to learn more about Sage Intacct.

IWI Consulting Group

IWI Consulting Group helps Canadian businesses and non-profits choose and adapt the best enterprise resource planning (ERP) software for their needs. Small to mid-sized companies will find the help and resources they need to choose the right software at the right value. For more information, visit IWI Consulting Group or call 1-866-916-3851.

With the rising uncertainty created by American President Trump’s protectionist tariffs, Canadian manufacturers need all the facts they can gather to manage around marketplace uncertainties. Sage software offers transparency, real-time data from cloud-based products, and solid reporting capabilities to help you manage costs in an uncertain environment.

American Tariffs and Their Potential Impact on Canadian Businesses

The proposed 25% tariff on steel and 10% on aluminum are expected to significantly cut into American manufacturing profits. Fully one-third of the 100 million tons of steel used by American businesses is imported into the United States each year and 90% of the total 5.5 million tons of aluminum used by U.S.-based companies is also imported. Approximately 17% of that steel is imported from Canada.

Although the thought behind protective tariffs is often popular, the results may be anything but popular once companies raise their prices to accommodate the additional tariffs. Canadian companies may find steel orders falling if their American customers cannot order as many products, which in turn could potentially impact Canadian businesses.

… and Canada Retaliates

Canada isn’t taking these moves towards protectionist tariffs lightly. Canada announced its plans to retaliate with $16.6 billion worth of restrictions on United States imports. The affected goods include steel, aluminum, and other products.

There are many other items that could possibly be impacted by the retaliatory tariffs. Many of the raw goods and materials used by Canadian manufacturers to fill their orders could be affected. While the actual amount per item may vary, the overall impact is one of potential rising costs and uncertainties. And, as most business people know, the stock market and the business world hates uncertainty. It nearly always has a negative impact on business.

These uncertainties are unintentional consequences of a change in tariffs. While your business cannot change the laws surrounding exports of products into other countries, it can use the data available to manage around such uncertainties.

Using Sage Software Data to Manage in an Uncertain Environment

When tariffs tack on fees to imported raw materials, what should you do? You can increase your prices to cover the increased costs, but that can result in lost business. Or, you could keep prices the same, but recognize that the new tariffs have cut into your profit margin.

There’s another way that helps you manage the uncertainties around trade wars, tariffs, and everything in between—managing from your data.

With Sage software in place, you’re collecting a lot of useful, valuable data. You’ve probably read in countless business journals that you should be using data to drive decision-making. Now is the time to use that data from your Sage software to make your decisions!

For example, you can:

• Review your supply chain vendors and favor those without restrictive tariffs to keep costs down
• Find new, local or at least in-country sources of raw materials needed
• Consider offsetting the additional costs from tariff-based items by finding lower-cost alternatives to other elements used to make your products
• Find other methods to lower the final cost of goods sold without sacrificing quality

We can’t answer these questions for you, but the data you can run from Sage software may go a long way to helping you make wise choices for your business. Let the politicians in Washington and Ottawa fight it out—you’ve got a business to run. With Sage software, you’re armed with the facts to make smart moves that can help you maintain profitability.

IWI Consulting Group

IWI Consulting Group helps Canadian businesses and non-profits choose and adapt the best enterprise resource planning (ERP) software for their needs. Small to mid-sized companies will find the help and resources they need to choose the right software at the right value. For more information, visit IWI Consulting Group or call 1-866-916-3851.

If you work in discrete manufacturing, you know the multitude of challenges specific to your specialized products. Integrating and managing complex systems and components like designs, materials, parts, importing, locations, staffing, daily operations, and more, takes extraordinary organization skills. Whether you produce a low volume of complex and niche units or a higher volume of products with a more simplistic design, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software can be tailored to suit the unique needs and challenges of your manufacturing system. With constant, ongoing changes in technology and markets, IWI Consulting Group can help you improve lead times, cut costs, reduce waste, and increase managing capabilities with a fully integrated ERP system.

Discrete manufacturing can range from a luxury convertible to a basic mobile phone, but both businesses face similar challenges in their respective competitive markets. Consumer tastes, trends, disposable income, and economic climate are constantly shifting. Global supply chains can become disrupted by new tariffs or laws. The rules and regulations placed on industries and products can tighten (sometimes loosen) and this can alter designs and materials. For businesses to stay current and competitive, innovative, and producing at peak efficiencies, resource management needs to be both dynamic and accurate. ERP software can help establish a lean manufacturing process that streamlines systems, responds to client and customer demands, reduces waste, increases output, and provides the necessary data and analytical tools to improve decision-making.

IWI Consulting Group offers multiple Sage ERPs to choose from to suit your organization. We can set your business up with Sage 300cloud (formerly known as Sage 300) which was previously known as Sage Accpac solutions in Toronto and the GTA, Sage EM (formerly known as Sage X3), plus an entire suite of enterprise management software solutions for financial, human resources, and cloud computing goals.

How?

Enterprise Resource Planning software allows you to plan, schedule, and control manufacturing operations and individual activities. It accommodates a range of environments like make-to-order, configure-to-order, assemble-to-order, make-to-stock, and mixed-mode, as well as switching amongst them. Data and records update in real-time as transactions happen for accurate and timely decision-making and planning.

Productivity is improved with real-time control and visibility of production schedules, capacities, shop floor activities, and cost controls.

Cost Management is made more efficient through the reduction of inventory losses with superior tracking and accounting. Shrinkage and labour hours can be reduced with smoother processes. Time spent reporting and analysing is reduced through integrated databases for manufacturing, distribution, and finance.

With so many parties needing to operate in-sync – employees, executives, suppliers, and vendors – tight collaboration with effective communication is essential to remain cost effective. An ERP system allows for speedy information flow that is adaptable to every project, with defined tasks that are traceable, plus, time and costs can be monitored and managed.

Customer service can be improved with the ability to promise deliveries based on real-time information and capacities. Our cloud-based systems allow salespeople to access information on their devices, on-the-go or remotely, for quick access. It’s simple to track order status, inventory, and availability, maintain progress reports and balance sheets.

As an ERP Software Service Provider and Sage Business Partner, IWI Consulting Group can help match the perfect Sage ERP software with your discrete manufacturing business. Our industry and technical knowledge provides customized assessments for sustainable ERP systems to improve management, operations, and revenue. We’re happy to answer any questions, so contact us to learn more about how our management systems can help secure and grow your business.

A fully automated warehouse can help you reduce errors. Have you ever considered just how the tiniest mistakes impact your business?

Consider these statistics. The average picking error rate is between 1% and 3%. That doesn’t sound too bad until you consider just how many orders that impacts.

If your warehouse processes 100 orders an hour, that means that 1 order will be wrong every hour. Multiply that by the average 8-hour workday and that’s 8 incorrect orders a day. In one month, that’s 240 mistakes!

Your numbers may be lower than that, of course, or your reported error rate may be lower. You may not even know that a customer’s order is wrong unless they report it; many people don’t, especially if the mistake provides them with higher cost materials than they originally ordered.

Think of all the lost productivity and profits those numbers represent. Returns may be higher than usual because of mistakes in picking and packing; inventory may be inaccurate if the wrong items are included in outbound orders.

Barcode scanners connected to your ERP system no longer require heavy investments into new hardware. Instead, you can transform your mobile device into a barcode scanner with Sage-compatible software. Learn more about barcode scanners and watch our video for more information on how scanners can improve efficiency in the fully automated warehouse.

The Cost of NOT Having a Fully Automated Warehouse

There are additional costs of picking errors that can make the cost of not having a full automated warehouse clear:

1. Lost sales. Picking errors usually mean shipping errors and shipping errors result in lower customer satisfaction and customer retention. One picking error can affect the customer’s perception of an entire order. That is why it is important to improve the picking and fulfillment process before it has an impact on the customer.
2. High return rates. Returns are expensive. You have the cost of documenting the problem, return shipping, and retagging to name a few.
3. Extra shipping. There are even more shipping costs than the expense of the return; you also need to consider the cost of expediting the correct order.
4. Added service costs. Errors that impact the customer mean more time spent in customer service to field the complaint and solve the problem.
5. Increased packaging costs. Don’t forget that if you can reuse the returned item, it has the added expense of being repackaged.
6. Additional labor costs. In addition to restocking costs, you have the wasted labor hours spent on that unit. A picking error could be a stocking error, meaning you may have the cost of doing a cycle count at that location.
7. High COGS. Costs rise as more people need to get involved in the process. Persistent fulfillment problems can damage the sales process—now your sales force is spending time placating customers rather than making new sales.

A Fully Automated Warehouse Improves Profits

When you add up these costs, the benefits and return on investment (ROI) for a fully automated warehouse just got easier to prove. In fact, most warehouse managers believe increasing automation and adopting mobile technology in the warehouse can have the greatest impact on improving profitability. Choosing warehouse automation makes a lot more sense than the cost of doing nothing.

Warehouse inventory software, specifically barcode scanners, improves profitability by reducing costly errors. When you can swipe and scan a barcode using mobile technology that’s as simple as tapping your smartphone, you’ll see an improvement in order accuracy and inventory management.

Mobile scanners are also easier to train people to use because the technology is so familiar. People are used to scanning items with their smartphones, and scanning barcodes is no different. Barcode scanners make inventory management faster and easier.

A fully automated warehouse is also connected to an ERP System, so if you are running both, you’ll enhance productivity and accuracy even further.

The task of moving to a fully automated warehouse is much less daunting when you can get everything you need from a single source. Sage 300 offers a direct connection to your warehouse automation software which verifies every item as it is shipped or received, improving accuracy in your warehouse. You can do all this without the cost of purchasing expensive equipment. Transform your cellphone into a powerful barcode scanner, integrate it with your ERP, and reduce costly mistakes.

IWI Consulting Group offers more information on our website. Watch the barcode scanner video, learn more about Sage 300 products, and talk to us first about improving warehouse efficiency. For more information, visit IWI Consulting Group or call 1-866-916-3851.

Sage business solutions can help you improve accounting efficiency.

What is efficiency? How does your business define efficiency? Every business defines efficiency differently, and every department as well.

However, when it comes to accounting efficiency, most accountants focus on three areas to improve efficiency:

1. Time management
2. Technology
3. Work-life balance

Accounting Efficiency: Surprise Findings

If you looked at these three areas, which one do you think presents the biggest challenge for accountants? The answer will surprise you—it’s work-life balance.

The white paper previously referenced indicates that over 30% of respondents view work-life balance as their biggest challenge. Following closely on this response, keeping up with technology ranked second and time management, third. After that, other factors involving workflow management, staffing, and keeping up with changing standards, as well as other items, all add to the complicated tangle of issues facing accountants today.

Let’s focus exclusively on the top three challenges. Technology, especially Sage software such as Sage EM (formerly known as Sage X3), Sage Intacct, and Sage 300cloud (formerly known as Sage 300), can assist with these concerns.

Keep Your Eye on the Big Picture

When it comes to finding the right technology, the trick is to focus on the big picture rather than the immediate needs. We know that’s easier said than done: after all, you’ve got to solve today’s challenges before you can turn your attention to tomorrow’s opportunities.

The big picture includes internal items, such as what’s going on within your company, as well as the broader horizon. That includes industry-wide trends, competitive forces, and changes, updates, and advances in the accounting profession.

All this information assists you in gaining insight into both the needs of the present and the future. These needs can then guide your technology choices so that you consider both when choosing software. If you consider both current and future needs, you’ll choose software that can grow alongside your business. It will be suited to both present needs and to future challenges that arise.

Improve Time Management Skills

There are many books, classes, and helpful articles to help accountants improve their time management skills. One such method includes blocking time out on the calendar for administrative tasks and for quiet-time tasks, so that you aren’t interrupted.

It’s important to set boundaries and limits around ad hoc meetings. Although some people prefer to have an open-door management policy in which subordinates can seek and obtain meetings on the fly, this can disrupt productivity.

Using software for time management may also be helpful. Shared electronic calendars, for example, enable you to share meeting time blocks in advance so that others can schedule around your preferences.

Leverage Technology to Improve Work-Life Balance

Now we come to the big one: work-life balance. Everyone struggles to achieve work-life balance, accountants included. Technology can help or hurt your efforts to ensure better work-life balance.

For example, smartphones and tablets help everyone stay in close contact. We can manage email, access certain cloud-based software, and check social media accounts using these devices. They can also keep us in too close contact with the office during holidays and family vacations, times when it’s best to unplug and unwind.

As with all technology, devices can be our servants or our masters. It’s really up to you how much connection you want with work while you are out of the office. Cloud systems can certainly make it easier to keep track of information, connect with suppliers, and answer questions from your team while you are away.

Sage Software: Cloud or Site Based, Improve Productivity and Efficiency

Sage software offers great accounting and financial management tools that assist with operations and other functions. Transparency, easy access, and a user-friendly dashboard enables you to do more with Sage technology than you thought possible.

Sage offers both a cloud-based software as well as a site-based versions, so you can choose the tool that’s right for your business. Enhance productivity, improve efficiency, and make data easily accessible by everyone with Sage technology.

If you would like to explore Sage software for your business, contact IWI Consulting today. We can walk you through this and other fine Sage software products to explore the best fit for your business needs. Please visit IWI Consulting Group or call 1-866-916-3851.

There’s an old acronym in sales: ABC, or “always be closing.” We have a new acronym for you: ABR. It stands for “always be recruiting” and is the new, best way to find top talent for your company. Experts say that it costs up to 50% of an employee’s annual salary to recruit and fill a vacancy. It probably costs more if you factor in the time of screening potential new hires, training time, and more. Costs can also rise if you are recruiting for senior-level positions versus entry-level ones.

The old method of finding employees doesn’t work well anymore. You can’t rely on help wanted ads, resumes, reference letters, and a slew of interviews to find your next superstar. Sure, you may use all of these techniques and more, but you need to do more to reach into your networks to find the right people to fill talent vacancies.

Companies need the best and brightest employees to innovate in their industries. People are the engine that runs your business. To find the right people, constant recruiting and enacting techniques to keep in front of people who may be interested in working for your company are great ways to always be recruiting.

Build Brand Awareness Among Potential Workers

Corporate brand awareness isn’t just about ensuring your logo is on all your trucks or letterhead. It’s about consistent messaging across all platforms and sharing the values and vision of your company. It extends beyond ads, marketing materials, and logos to the world of social media, where you can build brand awareness and make your company appealing to possible employees.

Why do some employees stay at your firm for many years? Ask them. This can provide a glimpse into some of the brand attributes or the implicit promise our company makes to employees when they come on board. You may have a brand as a great place to work, thanks to flexible hours, friendly teammates, or constant creative challenges. Each of these brand attributes appeals to different people but, over time, maintaining a company culture that fulfills these brand attributes builds a reputation in the marketplace.

Build a Great Reputation

Like attracts like. You’ll attract superstars when your company is known as a superstar employer. Focus on improving and enhancing your company’s “brand” as a great place to work. When you do this, talent will flock to you. Who doesn’t want to work for a winner?

HR Software Helps Boost Retention

Human resources management software (HRMS or HRIS) can help you boost retention, too. This software adds a complementary self-service portal to your existing human resources department so that employees can update their information, select benefit options, and more on their own. Your human resources department then has the time to network and court the A-list players to your company.

Another area in which human resources software can help with retention is through the data it gathers. Data collected in the HRMS can help you identify patterns that lead either to higher turnover or retention. For example, when studying turnover reports, you may notice that one department has exceptionally low turnover while another has high turnover. Further investigation may reveal the cause: perhaps one area has a great manager and another area has high stress. Comparing turnover rates to industry averages can also help you decide whether an area of your company is experiencing higher than normal turnover or if it is at an average level.

Finding great employees takes more than luck and a help wanted ad. It takes a strategy, supported by great HRMS software, to build your team.

Sage People can help you with this and more. It packs HR benefits, training, recruiting and compliance management into one system. Sage People is built on the Salesforce App Cloud and can be scaled as your company grows. It can help you with recruiting and more.

For more information about HRMS software such as Sage People, contact IWI Consulting Group or call 1-866-916-3851.

Toronto Firm Partners with Sage Intacct to Tap into Growing Market for Cloud-based Financial Applications

Toronto, CA– May 24, 2018– IWI Consulting Group, a leading technology consulting firm focused on Sage software products, today announced a new partnership with Sage Intacct, the customer satisfaction leader in cloud financial management software. As a Sage Intacct Partner, IWI will sell, implement, support, and develop enhancements for Sage Intacct’s award-winning cloud financial applications. IWI, a Sage Preferred Partner, is aligning with Sage Intacct in response to increased demand for Software as a Service (SaaS) business solutions from its prospects and clients.

According to Krish Thurairajah, President of IWI Consulting Group, “We are committed to delivering the best products and services available to our clients. With the addition of Sage Intacct to our existing Sage product line, we can offer a full spectrum of best-in-class financial systems to mid-sized companies in the Greater Toronto Area.” Sage Intacct is the only company the AICPA (American Institute of Certified Public Accountants) acknowledges as the preferred provider of financial applications because it offers deep functionality to streamline and automate complex financial processes and delivers unmatched visibility/insight into what’s driving company performance.

Layered on top of Sage Intacct’s strong functionality is IWI Consulting Group’s excellent customer service. Thurairajah said, “IWI Consulting Group’s philosophy is built on the premise that superior customer service is vital. If you need help with a business solution, we will help you find the answer, or we will build the solution for you. We are committed to strong and lasting relationships with our clients. This commitment dictates that we deliver the best service available and be completely responsive to the needs of our clients. Our success is based on having a solid understanding of our clients’ needs and expectations. IWI’s unique mix of industry knowledge combined with technology expertise delivers a measurable competitive edge.”

Taylor Macdonald, SVP of Channel Sales at Sage Intacct, commented, “We are pleased to have IWI Consulting Group as a part of the Sage Intacct Partner Program. Their extensive background in Sage software implementation, customization, and training will be a huge asset to our mutual clients.”

About IWI Consulting Group 

IWI Consulting Group assists Canadian businesses to adapt the best operations and financial systems software for efficiency and growth. Their dedicated consulting team specializes in helping small to medium size companies select and adapt business management software systems such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Human Resource Management (HRM) and IT services. IWI is a Sage business partner servicing the Greater Toronto Area. For more information on IWI Consulting Group, please visit www.iwigroup.ca or call 866-916-3851. Connect with IWI on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

About Sage Intacct

Sage Intacct is the innovation and customer satisfaction leader in cloud financial management software. With the powerful combination of Sage and Intacct, the Sage Business Cloud offers the best capabilities of both companies. Bringing cloud computing to finance and accounting, Sage Intacct’s innovative and award-winning applications are the preferred financial applications for AICPA business solutions. In use by organizations from startups to public companies, Sage Intacct is designed to improve company performance and make finance more productive. Hundreds of leading CPA firms and value-added resellers also offer Sage Intacct to their clients. The Sage Intacct system includes accounting, cash management, purchasing, vendor management, financial consolidation, revenue recognition, subscription billing, contract management, project accounting, fund accounting, inventory management, and financial reporting applications, all delivered through the cloud.

Sage Intacct is based in San Jose, California, and is an entity of Sage, the market and technology leader for integrated accounting, payroll, and payment systems, supporting the ambition of entrepreneurs and business builders and a FTSE 100 business. For more information on Sage Intacct, please visit www.sageintacct.com or call 877-437-7765. Connect with Sage Intacct on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

About Sage

Sage (FTSE: SGE) is the global market leader for technology that helps businesses of all sizes manage everything from money to people – whether they’re a start-up, scale-up or enterprise. We do this through Sage Business Cloud – the one and only business management solution that customers will ever need, comprising Accounting, Financials, Enterprise Management, People & Payroll and Payments & Banking.

Our mission is to free business builders from the burden of admin, so they can spend more time doing what they love – and we do that every day for three million customers across 23 countries, through our 13,000 colleagues and a network of accountants and partners. We are committed to doing business the right way and giving back to our communities through Sage Foundation.

Find out more at www.sage.com/en-us.

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Sage Intacct and the Sage Intacct logo are trademarks of Sage Intacct, Inc. All other company and product names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Now is the time to ensure your company complies fully with GDPR

If you haven’t heard about GDPR, now is the time to read up on it and ensure that your company complies fully with the new regulations. GDPR provides a comprehensive update of European Union data collection, storage, and usage laws and is the biggest change to these laws since 1995.

In the past two decades, data collection, usage, and storage has undergone a revolution akin to moving from spinning wheels to the mass manufacturing of cloth; in other words, it is a Data Revolution, similar to the Industrial Revolution. Back in 1995, cell phones were just that—phones—and the only way to connect to the internet was through a cumbersome, squealing thing called dial-up that ran through (gasp) an actual telephone line. People didn’t think too much about their data. The worst thing that could happen was an onslaught of junk mail from your data shared to other companies.

Today, the world is quite a different place. We leave data footprints every time we log into our cellphones, laptops, tablets, or other devices. Our likes, dislikes, preferences, ideas, family and friends is all tracked through keystrokes and breadcrumbs.

The new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) provides EU citizens with greater control over their personal data and how that data is used and protected, both in Europe and abroad. In this case, “personal data” can refer to everything from name, email, address, date of birth, personal interests, photos, digital footprints, social posts, and more.

“So what?” you may be thinking. “What does that have to do with me? My company is based in Canada.”

That may be true, but if your company conducts business with anyone in the E.U., GDPR applies. The penalties for noncompliance are stiff and range from warnings to millions of dollars in fines. It is vitally important that companies worldwide understand and comply with GDPR.

Fortunately, most businesses already have a tool in place to comply with GDPR: their CRM systems.

Considerations for Compliance

GDPR is a complex law. For most companies who do not actively seek or conduct business in the EU, there are three areas that cover the gist of the law.

1. Regulations: The GDPR is mainly intended to protect the privacy of EU citizens. The new regulations provide assurance for individuals that their data is not collected and/or used without their express consent. This means that any time an individual submits personal information, the company collecting it has to ensure that consent is given. Consent must be obtained freely—no auto-checked boxes that opt someone in—using plain and clear language. This will impact everything from “contact us” forms on your website to future email marketing campaigns.
2. Systems: Not only will you need to audit your systems to ensure that information stored within is secured and consent has been given, you’ll also need to ensure that within your company, system users only have the permissions and access privileges they need for their specific role. Certain individual records and data fields, such as tax information or bank account numbers, may need to be restricted from your standard user access.
3. Legal Impact: Non-compliance is not cheap. Your organization could be fined up to 4 percent of annual global turnover or €20 Million if you are not GDPR compliant. Other fines may also be imposed, such as a 2 percent fine for not having records in order, not notifying when a breach occurs, or not conducting impact assessment.

Updating CRM for GDPR Compliance

You can use your CRM system to validate security and protection for EU customers. A permission pass campaign, a one-time email sent to any contact with an unverified opt-in status asking them to confirm whether or not they still want to receive your emails, is a great first step to help you comply with GDPR. Running this campaign on all your email contacts—not just the ones in the EU—not only keeps you compliant with GDPR, but also cleans your database of those who are no longer finding value in your content, leaving you with those who are much more likely to interact.

Set up your CRM system with the appropriate message and response mechanism and send to all customers, not just those in the EU. Ask everyone to confirm their permission on your list now and save the records to prove that you ran this important compliance step.

Although it may feel risky to run a permission pass or opt-in validation campaign, it is a simple move that could go a long way to help your company comply with GDPR.

For more information about using your CRM system to comply with GDPR or to learn more about Sage CRM, please visit IWI Consulting Group or call 1-866-916-3851.