In August 2020 Sage UK announced the official withdrawal of Sage 50 Manufacturing which since 2002 has been the recommended integrated MRP for Sage 50 Accounts users.
What will replace Sage 50 Manufacturing?
There is now an endorsed replacement – Cim50 which directly replaces Sage 50 Manufacturing and offers some exciting new features and improvements. It is also full compatible with the latest version of accounts. The minimum version required is V27.2.
What impact does moving to Cim50 have on Sage 50c Accounts?
Customers who have remained on the last perpetual Sage 50 Accounts version they were able to purchase outright – 2018 (Version 24) will therefore need to move on to the subscription model of accounts to be able to make use of Cim50.
Keeping your version of Sage 50 Accounts up to date has always been recommended by Qi – our suggestion has always been to upgrade every 3 years to ensure that your version remains compatible with new operating systems and versions of Office 365 as they are released. Getting left behind on legacy versions usually results in a costly upgrade process in the end.
Important messaging regarding Sage 50c Accounts
In September 2021 – all support with Sage UK for Sage 50 Manufacturing, will have come to an end and additional users will no longer be available to purchase from the end of 2020. The last compatible version of Sage 50 accounts tested with service pack 3, which is essential to integrate Sage Manufacturing with Sage 50 Accounts – is version 27.
For customers already on the subscription model of accounts therefore it is imperative that no upgrade past V27.2 to their accounts solution are accepted until they have made the migration to Cim50.
Timing is Key when replacing Sage 50 Manufacturing
As with all software projects it is not just a matter of identifying the right solution to support your business it is also about the timing of when to implement it.
This year has been a very difficult year for businesses to negotiate their way through.
Reviewing the software that runs their business is in many cases not a priority.
The discontinuation of Sage 50 Manufacturing bu Sage UK therefore has been perceived as very poorly timed for many existing Sage 50 Manufacturing and Accounts users.
Businesses appreciate that a migration is inevitable. We know this from speaking to our customers not only recently but over the last couple of years when further developments to Sage 50 Manufacturing were not forthcoming. The withdrawal of Preactor from Sage Manufacturing only served to confirm that Sage 50 Manufacturing had already become a legacy solution.
Since the withdrawal of Sage 50 Manufacturing, many business partners are not allowing their customers, who do not want to migrate to Cim50 immediately, to renew their support contracts. Whilst most customers are time served on the application, technical errors are common and professional support is still required.
Qi Ltd continues to offer flexible support contracts for Sage 50 Manufacturing
Qi, no longer offers event based support. That it is to say – adhoc support is no longer available. We must resource our support teams against the applications we provide cover for appropriately. If there is a support contract in place – we resource against it.
Unlike many Sage business partners who whilst accredited in this solution did not actually specialise in it, Qi have been working with manufacturers with this solution and its predecessor, Promis for over 20 years. We have the skills and resources to not only support our current customer base as they review the ‘what and the when’ regarding their next steps, we also have capacity to provide flexible and reasonably priced technical support contracts to those Sage 50 Manufacturing users who either need to move support partner or who currently don’t have a support contract in place with any business partner but now wish to have the assurance of contractual technical support.
Building a relationship with a business partner at this time will not only provide businesses with the day to day support they need but ensure they have access to advice and guidance regarding the planning of their migration project.
Where to next after Sage 50 Manufacturing?
For some Sage 50 Manufacturing users the obvious choice is to move to Cim50. It represents the path of least change whilst providing the benefit of an improved system that has a roadmap.
Some Sage 50 Manufacturing users, however, will use this opportunity to review their businesses in a wider sense.
Questions to ask yourself:
- Do you want an integrated CRM?
- Are you multi sited?
- Do you require seamless access for remote workers?
- Do you need flexibility to increase and decrease user numbers based on business performance?
- Are your high user numbers causing regular system crashes?
- Does your business require a solution that provides enterprise resource planning rather than merely accounts + MRP?
- Is your business strategy to move to only Cloud based services?
Qi will give you advice and guidance
As a Sage, Cim50 and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central partner, Qi Ltd can walk you through the ‘like for like’ migration and also what is likely to be your ‘forever move’ taking your data and your team over to a scaleable, flexible, Cloud ERP solution.
Thought for the Day
Qi will support you in using the Sage applications you have for as long as is technically possible and work with you to review what the next best move for your business – is. Just get in touch for an initial conversation?