Sage Unveils New Small Business Accounting Lineup

Business management software specialist Sage raised the curtain on its Sage Peachtree 2012 line of small business accounting software today, promising small businesses instant, customizable access to the critical information that drives them.

“Small businesses contend with a host of issues, from increased compliance requirements and rising costs to staying competitive, in many cases with reduced staff,” said Connie Certusi, executive vice president and general manager, small business accounting solutions, Sage North America.

“They need a business management system that is easy to use but brings them the rich insight they need to manage effectively,” she said. “Sage Peachtree 2012 easily delivers that insight they need so they can focus on what they do best: running their businesses.”

Shari Willman, product marketing manager with Sage Peachtree, explained that the new additions to the small business accounting software are based on the company’s intensive interaction with its customers.

“When we get ready to decide what the next features to build into Peachtree are, we talk to our customers,” she said. “We have a very active usability lab. We go out to their places of business, because there’s nothing like watching how customers use the product in their place of business.”

New Small Business Accounting Features in Peachtree 2012

One of the big new things in this iteration of the small business software is the Sage Advisor, Willman noted. The Sage Advisor is intended to help small businesses get the most out of their investment in the accounting software. It follows customers’ usage patterns and intuitively offers short, personalized demos, guided tips and tricks.

“We really want customers to use everything the software has to offer,” Willman explained. “The Sage Advisor is like a personalized trainer. We want to get help for you when you need it, right at the point of your need. We want to help you do something in the most efficient way.”

She noted that Sage did a lot of usability testing on the feature to make it useful without being intrusive. The Sage Advisor can even lead the customer to a video about the subject or to live customer support. Additionally, customers can choose to save a tip for later or dismiss them altogether.

The Sage Peachtree 2012 accounting software also includes System Check, a new feature intended to make it easier for small business technology managers and owners to better manage data backup and other system processes. Sage said System Check monitors system health and resolves potential issues before they affect productivity or compromise data. Sage said System Check gives helpful advice around last backup, system memory, database size and other key indicators.