Previous articles have already outlined the lack of Sage Manufacturing’s development by Sage UK. Sage no longer offer telephone and remote support to end users and a major feature of Manufacturing Controller, graphical planner is being withdrawn. Another issue is lurking around the corner for users with bespoke applications that write data to Sage 50 accounts.
What is the issue for bespoke applications with Sage 50?
For the time being the service pack is available to link Sage 50 Accounts to Sage 50 Manufacturing and there is no specific date announced for its withdrawal.
There is however another concern for Sage 50 users who deploy a bespoke solution to enhance the performance of Sage 50 Accounts and Sage Manufacturing. To write information to Sage 50 Accounts, developers need to use SDO (Service Data Objects).
At the present time – only 32-bit software is made available by Sage UK for SDO
https://ask.sage.co.uk/scripts/ask.cfg/php.exe/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=32017
This has not historically been a problem.
But in the light of Microsoft’s intention to retire 32-bit software(definitely by the time code named Polaris likely to be Windows 20 is launched if not before) and the lack of announcement from Sage UK that they are going enable 64-bit software for their SDO what do Sage 50 and bespoke solutions users take as a course of action? There must be a course of action clearly unless Sage UK change their SDO provisions as relying on anything 32-bit for the long term is going to leave business solutions not only vulnerable but ultimately totally redundant and unusable.
The Writing is on the Wall for Sage 50 Accounts users who manufacture
Already the default installation for Office 365 is 64-bit. You can currently de-install, change registration values and re-install for 32-bit but the messaging is clear.
Nvidia one of the biggest names in GPU’s announced its move away from 32-bit last year.
32-bit is the poor relation soon to be asked to leave the building and never to return.
A note of caution – please consider carefully any automatic Windows updates and the impact it might have on your wider IT infrastructure. If you rely on bespoke programmes that required 32-bit and use Access or Excel as part of Office 365 to support your bespoke – then automatically upgrading Office will cause you issues. Please get in in touch with Qi for some advice before pressing the button!
So, is it time to upgrade from Sage 50 to an alternative solution ?
What process to consider when upgrading from Sage 50 Accounts and Bespoke
Sage UK will increasingly encourage users who use Sage Accounts 50 in conjunction with bespoke applications or Sage 50 Manufacturing to ‘upgrade’ to Sage 200. This is not an upgrade project – it is a migration. When businesses need to upgrade from Sage 50 Accounts and Sage 50 Manufacturing they should look further than the option that has the same name but a bigger number. Sage 200 looks and feels very different from Sage 50 it is not the obvious path.
Key Questions to consider when migrating from Sage 50 Accounts and Bespoke
- Does this solution meet current business expectations and requirements?
- Does this solution have the scalability and flexibility to mirror future changes to my business?
- Does this solution meet the criteria of my wider IT Strategy?
- Does this solution have a guaranteed road map because this solution migration should be the last one for my business?
- Does this solution return on my investment?
Key questions to choose your business partner
Ask yourself the following questions. Will they:
- Plan the project in detail with me
- Define a fixed cost and timeline for the project
- Support my staff every step of the way
- Ensure a painless and highly successful outcome?
- Support my business in its use of this solution to best advantage?
Thought for the Day
It is better to be informed and make proactive choices at the right time regarding your business systems – than to be forced into making reactive decisions which deny you the time to consider outcomes to their best advantage.