Sage Blog

It’s the most wonderful time of the year

It’s the busiest time of year for the world’s leading gift distributor (no…we don’t mean Amazon). With lists to check (twice), worldwide flights to arrange and a busy team of helpers working flat out right up until Christmas Eve there’s some pretty smart software keeping everything running like clockwork.

Santa's SalesLogix CRM

Our customer gets requests via letter and, these days, email and has to manage a vast database of information including names, addresses, ages, delivery schedules and the all important naughty or nice lists. So it’s important that he has a hard-working customer relationship management system, Sage SalesLogix, to help his festive workers fulfil all their orders in time.

Purchase lists, product information and gift history are all centrally recorded in one constantly updated system. And there’s a mobile link, so it’s available wherever and whenever it’s needed to make sure there are no hiccups with deliveries.

Now this particular customer is well known for carrying out his business without attracting too much attention to himself, but we did manage to get a few words from him: “Ho, ho…every year, more children and more gifts, it’s a big old responsibility, but things have never run so smoothly. Now I know exactly who has asked for what and when I can deliver it. So everything’s ready for December 24.”

The Krypton Factor: train your business brain

The second series of the Krypton Factor in association with Sage is ready and waiting to hit our TV screens on 5 January 2010. So to get us all in the mood to use our brains (what… this close to Xmas?) our bosses have ordered a box of Krypton Factor games and goodies.

But, rather than pass them off as Christmas gifts to our friends and family we’d thought we’d give our beloved blog audience a chance to win them, then maybe you can pass them off as Christmas gifts instead

We’ve got a Krypton Factor IQ test, a set of Krypton Factor Quiz cards or a Krypton Factor meltdown electronic game up for grabs.

And what do you need to do to win such riches?

Just add a comment to this post telling us your most laugh out loud Christmas party stories. We’ll enjoy a good giggle and announce the winners right here on the blog on Monday 21 December (so remember to check back). Remember, we’ll be publishing your comments, so don’t tell us anything you’d prefer Santa didn’t know.

A word from our legal team:

Our legal team tells us that all good things have conditions attached (or something like that) and this competition is no different. By sharing your story with us, you are telling us that you are happy with these rules and want to be entered into the competition to win one of the following great prizes: a Krypton Factor IQ test, a set of Krypton Factor Quiz cards or a Krypton Factor meltdown electronic game. If you win we are sure you will want to shout the good news from the rooftops so you won’t mind that we will publish your anecdote as well as your name and the fact that you have won the competition. 

We want to remind you that your entry might be published so please don’t include anything that you would not want sharing with the world (and your boss) and anyway, we’ll exclude any entry which we feel oversteps the mark. The closing date for entries is Friday 18 December 2009 and you may only be entered into the draw once (no matter how many funny stories you tell us). 

The competition is only open to those aged 18 or over who are based in the UK (sorry to the rest of the world – your time will come). No Sage employees (or their families) may enter. This competition is intended as good free harmless fun, but if you have an issue with it, just let us know and we’ll see if we can help. This kind of help is as far as we go though – no financial liability applies. Finally, good luck!

In this era of 24 hour media it’s interesting to see stories develop online, but I still enjoy glancing over the newsstands the morning after a big story to see how the traditional press have summed it all up.

The morning after the Pre-Budget Report The Sun claimed ‘Darling raised a storm of protest yesterday as he hammered millions of hard-working Brits’ referring to the new tax increases and public spending cuts, The Financial Times declared ‘Chancellor accused of sleight of hand’ and The Times’ broke with ‘Pre-Budget Report: Darling unveils stealth tax and public sector pay cap.’

But aside from the headlines in the media what does the Pre Budget Report mean to businesses in the UK?

The key for all businesses, regardless of size, was that the Chancellor set out plans that would do as little as possible to hinder firms trying to recover from the recession. It is business growth that will ultimately pull the country out of recession.

Encouragingly there were a number of measures unveiled to specifically help small businesses. The Chancellor proposed to extend the availability of loans to small firms and defer the increase in corporate tax, which is welcome news to many small businesses in the UK. Many businesses will be happy to see that Mr Darling will be indefinitely extending the “time to pay scheme”, which helps businesses to improve cash flow by helping small companies spread tax payments over a longer period. This comes just in time as improving cash flow has been identified by our customers as the key challenge in 2010. 

But with the positives there were also a few announcements which could harm a number of businesses, one being the increase in National Insurance contributions – which are set to rise by 0.5 per cent by 2011.

Update: 14.12 - Our payroll expert Gary Ging has just pointed out that this 0.5% increase comes on top of the 0.5% increase announced in the Budget earlier this year. All of which means NICs will increase in April 2011 by 1%

The full effect of the Pre Budget Report will not be felt in businesses for a number of months. But  rest assured, here at Sage we are busy at work incorporating these changes into our software and services and will be on hand as always for customer support.

Cath Sheldon

Last Friday saw our Christmas Party here at Sage.  We had it at a local bar in Newcastle.  All the girls were looking very glamorous and all the boys were making the most of the Christmas drinks vouchers (myself included)!

Iain Ramsay in his best Christmas party outfit

As always it was a great night, and as with all Christmas Parties I’m sure there were a few embarrassing stories come Monday morning!  Unfortunately I haven’t been able to unearth any gems from ours yet which is a bit disappointing!

Office Christmas Parties are always a rich source of interesting and cringe-worthy stories.  Saying the wrong thing to the wrong person, having too much to drink, doing something you might regret and waking up the next day thinking “Oh no…”! 

To help you make it through your Christmas Party unscathed here are a few Golden Rules of the Christmas Party you might want to follow:

Don’t drink too much

Know your limits and don’t mix your drinks!  Where I come from alcohol is affectionately known as ‘Loud Mouth Soup’, and it does exactly what is says on the tin.  Be careful what you drink otherwise you might end up saying and doing things you’ll regret!

Don’t complain about the food

The turkey might be dry and the spuds over-done, but it’s likely that one of your colleagues has either organised or made the food themselves.  So unless you want to be wearing your Christmas Dinner, try and be polite.

Line your stomach

Some people say ‘eating is cheating’, but if you’re going to have a drink make sure you eat well beforehand to avoid an early exit.

Don’t be a buffet hog

We’ve all seen it; first in the queue with their plate piled high.  Please, try and leave some grub for the rest of us!

Some things are better left unsaid

No matter how much you want to tell someone exactly what you think of them (good or bad!), the Christmas Party is not the time or the place.

Beware of cameras

Doing something daft at a Christmas party is bad enough, but getting snapped doing it means there’s no escape.  Funny faces, ridiculous dances, embarrassing clinches – they’ll all be on Facebook by lunchtime the next day so be careful!

Photocopiers are not toys

If your Christmas Party is taking place in your office, photocopying body parts is not big, or clever, or safe.  The last thing you want is an identity parade on Monday morning to find out who the culprit is.

Watch out for rogue mistletoe

Careful where you point that mistletoe, there’s nothing worse than an unwanted advance from a co-worker.

Leave work at work

Try not to talk shop, everyone is there to let their hair down so leave discussions about ‘over-arching strategic engagement frameworks’ and suchlike at the door.

Perfect your dances moves

If you fancy yourself as a bit of a bopper at least try and practice your dance moves beforehand.  ‘Big fish, small fish, cardboard box’ just doesn’t cut it these days, so if you’re struggling try this video guide to emergency moves for men.

Dress to impress

Make sure you know the dress code. Turning up at a black tie dinner dressed as a Christmas Elf is never good.

Get home safely

Pre-book yourself a taxi for the end of the evening, it and of course never drink and drive.

Enjoy yourself

The most important bit is to have fun, celebrate the end of 2009 and look forward to a great 2010!  The video below also gives you a few pointers.

Merry Christmas everyone

Iain Ramsay, The man in charge of the Sage Store

Christmas:
How To Behave At The Office Christmas Party

How to store card data

Online trading has never been more important, but if you’re new to e-commerce getting started can be a bit daunting. Here are some of our top tips to help you get set-up as an e-tailer.

Get a domain name

You’ll need one to run your website. It should be relevant to your business, memorable, and easy to spell. Try to register the .com and .co.uk versions in particular. Keep it snappy and check whether your ideas are original. Companies like Daily.co.uk. can help with this.

 Building your website

If you’re not an html pro, you’ll need a web developer and a web hosting account to store your site. Most hosting companies offer e-shop software packages and there are plenty of easy to use shopping carts and e-commerce platforms.

 Think payments– online: credit card, debit card, paypal, via telephone or mail order?

You’ll need a merchant bank account to deposit your online income and a good payment services provider (PSP), such as Sage Pay. Your PSP should take care of fraud screening, card compliance (PCI DSS), payment authorisation, settlement of funds into your merchant account and in some cases can take care of your merchant account too.

Design your shop

While your merchant account is being set up, it’s a good idea to work on your shop/web design.  Easy navigation around the site and usability are essential. Research how others are doing and test it out on friends if you can’t afford ‘usability testing’ and get them to give you some constructive feedback!

Prevent online fraud

Make sure you’re PCI DSS compliant [check out the article on p38-39 of Sage Pay’s Moving Money mag) and that you take online fraud seriously. As an online merchant you have a responsibility to your customers to make sure that their card details are not compromised in any way.

Optimise your website for search engines (SEO) – think clear, accessible design and incorporate the search terms your customers will use into your website copy. Keep text short and succinct.

Free book giveaway: Starting your own online business

Sage Pay have teamed up with Startups.co.uk and Crimson Publishing to produce Starting Your Own Online Business, an all you need to know guide to getting your business online.  And we have 5 copies to give away in our prize draw!  You can register by emailing your details to marketing@sagepay.com.  Entries close Monday 14th December 2009.

Written by Amy Monro, Sage Pay and Catherine Widdowson from www.daily.co.uk

I had the pleasure of presenting at the StartUp show at Olympia yesterday talking about how to use social media to jump start relationships with your customers.

The blog you are reading is one of the ways that Sage is using this evolving area and combined with our twitter, facebook and youtube activity we were invited to share our thoughts to the people thinking of setting up a business in 2010.

Despite being the Digital Strategy Manager at Sage and having worked in digital for over 10 years now I still try to start my presentation planning using pen and paper. I find it slows down my brain and as a result makes me think a lot harder about what I am saying. The moment my fingers hit the keyboard I know that without that pre-planning I’ll waffle – and I think anyone who has given up time to listen to me deserves better than waffle.

Many years ago an old sales director of mine taught me a lesson. He took a sales presentation I was due to make and ripped it to pieces – each slide was trying to make multiple points, was full of text and required a lot of effort from the receiver to understand. He re-wrote it and killed 70% of the words and made sure every slide made one point and one point only. If someone who picked up the presentation could not tell what the slide meant without my explanation I had not been clear enough. Like all good lessons it hurt a little at the time but I am a better presenter for it.

Anyway the talk was very well attended, seem to be pitched at the right level and generated some great questions. The best question for me was “how do you deal with complaints and competitors moaning at you online?” At Sage we have a secret weapon (she’s called Cath) who listens out for issues and problems and then either talks directly to the person involved or directs it to the relevant part of the business. I explained that every business will have these issues – these conversations will take place – but it’s how you seek to address them that defines your commitment to your customers. We also discussed how labour intensive this area is and that its not something you can just dip in and out of – that point seemed generate a lot of head nodding.

What was most interesting for me was to see how start up businesses already have social media at the heart of their marketing planning. It’s something that a lot of very well established businesses have not even thought about. it makes me feel very positive about the future for social media.

Pete Wilson, Digital Strategy Manager