Sage Blog

February is nearly over and Valentine’s Day is already a distant memory. As the romance of the day fades (and our wallets begin to recover) do you ever wonder how we can avoid fads and build successful relationships that last? Working relationships are no different, with managers striving to create effective connections in the workplace that don’t break the bank. Creating long-lasting relationships can build loyalty and inspire motivation within a business, which can lead to more productive employees. But just how do successful businesses achieve this?

Two-way communication

Recent research suggests that the key to building positive working relationships begins with managers having regular two-way communication with their employees. Management school Roffey Park’s annual survey says that open and honest bosses have much better relationships with their workers. The great news for SMEs is that it’s something that they are doing well, according to Roffey Park. Leaders of smaller companies are better placed for regular communication, being more visible about the office and are often in a position to communicate directly to their employees.

“It is likely that the closer contact with employees improves two–way communications, which assists leaders in acting in the best interests of employees and their organisation,” the management school’s report said. It added that as a result smaller companies are benefiting from higher morale and fewer sick days. This all sounds positive, plus it’s something that doesn’t have to cost much for a business, if anything at all.

But what about things that will cost you a bit of money?

Bank of England chief Sir Mervyn King reported recently that employment continues to edge up in our ‘zig-zag’ economy, and average pay fails to keep up with inflation. However, this doesn’t mean you need to keep your purse-strings tightly closed. In fact, investing in the right things can really benefit a business now and in the long-term. In addition to good communication, Roffey Park found that the happiest employees had companies that invested in training and encouraged their development.  Offering employee benefits can be another great investment to help build lasting relationships. Recent research* found that two thirds of small business owners (68%) recognised benefits packages as being vital to retaining and attracting top employees. Medical Insurance in particular as an employee benefit, also has the added advantage of helping to reduce sickness absence levels – something 42% of employers believe**.

It sounds like employers have some great options to help build relationships and make their employees feel the love long after Valentines’ Day. And, of course, February this year is actually quite special as it has two days dedicated to love. As well as Valentine’s Day, as it’s a leap year we also have the 29^th February, which may be full of romance too as ladies can propose to their beloveds on this day. So when you’re thinking of building good working relationships why not be inspired by the tradition and make sure you take matters in your own hands.

**www.employeebenefits.co.uk healthcare survey April 2011, based on 356 readers

*Research conducted among 1,000 SMEs in September 2011 for the Sage UK Omnibus survey

Jenny Graham, Sage Employee Benefits Team

Don’t you sometimes feel that we’re given mixed messages about the use of social media in business?

Some days all you hear is how it’s a great way to connect with your customers. The following day the media is full of horror stories about how business X has mishandled a customer complaint on facebook, or an employee has run amok on their twitter feed.

Even the oh-so-serious Linkedin has been blamed for an executive being forced to quit his job.

So, how can businesses make sure they’re getting all the benefits of a well-connected workforce while minimising the risks of a social media catastrophe?

Block social media for your employees?

The truth is that I probably wouldn’t be interested in working for a company that limited their employees’ access to social media. And I’m not alone. A recent survey has found that half of workers aged 24 or under wouldn’t even consider working for a business where social media is banned.

Introduce a social media policy

The team behind our employment law service, Sage People Advice, recommend introducing a social media policy. It’s something we’ve had in place at Sage for a few years and I’m actually in the process of reviewing and revising it.

We have a policy for two reasons:

• to protect our reputation
• to make our people feel secure

With a policy in place we all know where we stand and we’re all doing things the right way. At Sage, we want our people to enjoy all the benefits of social media but we don’t want them to be concerned that they may do or say something that ends up in the press.

Covered by your IT policy?

Some organisations have included social media in their IT policy but it’s important to remember that it needs to go further than what sites you look at and when. It’s about how you represent your company online. There is a blurring between the professional you and the private you online and I believe that once you’ve identified yourself as working for a company on your social media profiles you’ve effectively made yourself a spokesperson.

Our policy is based on common sense principles but I always say to people when I’m talking them through it to think before you press enter on your keyboard. Stop and ask yourself “am I happy for this content to be spread far and wide and stay online forever”. If there’s even a tiny risk of regret then it’s time to walk away from the keyboard.

Cath Sheldon, Social Media Team

It’s now less than two months until the end of this tax year and so it’s really time to get your businesses finances into shape! As the 5 April fast approaches, it’s important that you are fully aware of the new Business Record Checks from the HMRC and also how to minimise your tax liabilities.

The Business Record Checks by HMRC aim to uncover poor tax record keeping and unpaid tax. Any inconsistencies or failure to produce the correct documentation could lead to fines. Aside from avoiding HMRC scrutiny, there are also a wealth of business benefits for effective payroll year end management.

Here are our top tips and key considerations for effective tax planning, and if you’re looking for even more information then download our  guide to year end tax planning

1. Income Extradition – dividends versus salary

Taking dividends can often be more tax efficient than drawing a salary but be wary of the traps!

• Remember all shareholders are entitled to take dividends
• If using dividend waivers, make sure you have the right paperwork in place
• If only taking dividends as your salary, you may not qualify for full pensions relief
• If claiming R&D relief, consider the impact that extracting dividends will have on your R&D claim

2. Capital Allowances

There are some key changes to the way capital allowances work – weighing up the pros and cons of when and how much to invest will help you to make your money go further.

• The capital allowance system that allows businesses to write off plant and machinery costs will now have a reduced rate of 18% or 8% from April of this year.
• The annual investment allowance allows businesses to claim 100% of the cost of new equipment against taxable profits in the year of purchase. From April however, the £100,000 a year allowance reduces to £25,000.
• The enhanced capital allowances regime gives relief at 100% when buying plant and equipment.  As tax relief for capital expenditure is being reduced from April onwards you might be wise to get your skates on and bring your investment forward!
• But be aware; calculations for how the annual investment allowance is applied are complicated and it depends on the year end of your business. Timing will affect tax relief and it’s not always necessarily more tax effective to buy equipment early.

3. Short Life Assets

The Short Life Asset (SLA) rule enables businesses to claim better allowances on assets they sell or scrap within a defined period. When planning for tax year-end this April, remember that:

• Changes in April 11 meant that the terms were redefined from 4 years to 8 years for tax purposes
• Business owners should now consider putting items into the pool which might previously not have qualified
• For those items in the SLA pool which are coming to the end of their life, consider whether they would be better off being scrapped?

4. Staff remuneration

Disguised remuneration rules were introduced back in April 2011. They’re incredibly complex and if you have an employee benefit trust, you should now consider whether it’s actually going to be worthwhile continuing with it.

5. Vouchers for staff

Don’t forget: From 1 January 2012, if you are offering salary sacrifice to employees then the VAT must be recorded!

6. Company cars

It’s beneficial to reassess the tax efficiency of offering either a company car or a cash allowance but if it’s a family business then there could also be an advantage in providing a family member with a small fuel efficient car.

7. Staff entertaining

Spending more than £150 per head on annual parties or similar functions could result in employees facing an unwelcome tax bill. PAYE Settlement Agreements mean that you can give employees small, irregular benefits such as gifts; meaning you pay the tax instead of them, something your employees might be very grateful for!

8. New PAYE penalty regime

Small businesses need to be aware that there is a new PAYE penalty regime which was introduced in April 2010. If a company pays late once in the tax year then there is no penalty, but more than once and the penalty will apply. This can be significantly more than the interest lost to HMRC and can be up to 4% of PAYE NIC liabilities. So it’s time to get those PAYE payment deadlines ingrained in your head – the 19 of the month if paying by cheque and 22 of the month if paying electronically. 

Hopefully you’re now pretty up-to-date with all the latest legislation regarding your businesses tax liabilities and can look forward to a smooth running year end this April. However, if you’d like to find out about minimising tax liabilities in a little more detail, then why not download our guide to year end tax planning

Iain Ramsay, Small Business Team

In the last couple of weeks we’ve been working closely with HMRC around Payroll Real Time Information and in particular how important payroll providers are in helping communicate what employers should be doing to prepare for this legislative reform.

Now normally I have the concentration of a three year old, getting distracted very easily but it was with great interest that I listened intently about how important it is to ensure the data you store about your employees is accurate.

Why it’s important to make sure your data is accurate

Under PAYE Real Time Information, the information you submit to HMRC every time you pay your employees is matched against records HMRC store on their National Insurance and PAYE Service (NPS).  If the records you submit do not match, you may trigger the creation of duplicate or inaccurate records. This could result in incorrect tax calculations or HMRC compliance checks.

Got a spare couple of minutes listen? Then watch the HMRCs advice on data quality

Did you know that……..

Over 80% of data quality problems are caused by holding incorrect information about an employee’s name, date of birth or National Insurance number? Here are some of the errors from the 2009/2010 tax year:

• 824 employees with the surname ‘Unknown’, 7 ‘Known’ and 15 ‘Not Known’
• 572 people who surnames only included X, ranging from ‘Mr X’ to ‘Mrs XXXXXXXXX’
• 507 employees called A.N. Other
• 160 surnames of ‘Test’ and 100 with ‘do not use’
• 128 staff entered Mr, Ms or Mrs ‘Dummy’
• 75 staff with the surname ‘Casual’, 11 ‘Cleaners’, 9 ‘Workers’ and 6 ‘ Students’
• Over 2,000 with an NI number of AB123456 and 1000 with a NI number of AA111111
• Forty employees were apparently over 200 hundred years old

Is data quality really any issue?

Does that look like a lot of errors considering there are 29 million or so employees in the UK?

Probably not at first, but on reflection under RTI you will be submitting more often, with tighter deadlines. The temptation to create more shortcuts when you take on new employees or client’s payroll could increase.  So, this problem can quite easily be exacerbated in a really short period of time with employees potentially having multiple records at HMRC resulting in incorrect tax deductions and problems when applying for benefits.

Some simple Do’s and Don’ts of recording employee names

• DO – enter the employee’s full forename and surname.
• DO – enter a double barrelled forename or surname in full.
• DON’T – use known as, for example, if HMRC know the employee as ‘Robert’ don’t use ‘Bob’.
• DON’T – enter an initial in either the Forename or Surname boxes.

Some simple Do’s and Don’ts of recording employee dates of birth

• DO – enter the correct date of birth and ensure it’s in the format DD/MM/YYYY, for example 05/05/1985.
• DON’T – enter a default date of birth, such as 01/01/1901, or make one up.

Some simple DO’s and Don’ts of recording employee NI numbers

• DO – only enter an employee’s correct National Insurance number.
• DON’T – make up an employee’s National Insurance number.

What about Accountants and Payroll Bureaux?

You’re integral in ensuring your clients’ employee information is accurate and failure to ensure this may impact on getting their payroll paid on time.

Tip 1 - Familiarise yourself with RTI (check out my post on Payroll Real Time Information – An Accountants’ View) and take a look at the processes you use with your client, for example taking on new employees or updating existing employee information. Ensure that your clients provide you with accurate data.

Tip 2 - Communicate and educate your clients about RTI and how it’s important their data is accurate and delivered on time.

Neilson Watts, Sage Payroll Expert

We’re just sending out the latest edition of our exclusive magazine for SageCover members, Solutions. It’s full of loads of business advice as well as technical tips for Sage software. SageCover customers can log in to see your Solutions magazine now. Why not find out more about the benefits of our SageCover membership, and in the meantime here is a sneak peak from the latest copy.

The government’s £1 billion plan to get young people back into the work place

The Government has recently announced its £1 billion plan to get young people into the workplace. But are job subsidies and cash bonuses enough of an incentive for small businesses to take on unskilled labour? We investigate this in the latest Solutions magazine for our SageCover members – here’s a taster of what we found out…

One in five 16 to 24 year olds are not in full-time work, education or training. That’s a record 1.02 million who are currently unemployed.

Under pressure to tackle such numbers, at the end of last year deputy prime minister Nick Clegg revealed plans for the Government’s Youth Contract. Beginning in April, the scheme marks a £1 billion investment to create up to 410,000 subsidised work and training placements around the UK. The aim is to improve future prospects, raise levels of social mobility and stimulate economic growth.

It’s a grand plan but what will this mean for business? Will it really encourage employers to back 16 to 24 year olds, many with little or no experience in the workplace?

How it will work

Firstly, what’s on offer? Businesses with a maximum of 50 employees will be offered cash bonuses up to £1,500 for taking on an apprentice aged between the age of 16 and 24. The plans also include 160,000 job subsidies, worth up to £2, 275 each, for businesses who employ an 18 to 24 year old from the Work Programme.

In addition, companies will be offered cash incentives to create work experience places for 18 to 24 year olds, including graduates.

It’s also just been announced that charities and businesses will be able to bid for contracts worth up to £2,200 to take young people on. They will receive an initial payment and more money when the youngsters show progress. It’s hoped that at least 55,000 16 and 17-year-olds not in education, employment or training, also known as Neets, with no GCSEs at grades C or above, are expected to benefit.

The benefits of the young

Taking on a young person may not be the hassle it first appears – in fact, it can make real business sense.

A young person could fill any skill gaps in a company and also be trained in any specific skills required; it can often prove more cost effective to train a person from scratch than to hire skilled staff.

Also, many have a better grasp of technology and social networking sites than older employees. They can improve productivity and, because they are often keen and loyal to the company that has invested in them, their talent can inspire motivation and invigorate others.

Sage@School

Meanwhile Sage is leading the way in helping GCSE and A-level students gain valuable business skills and improve employment opportunities with Sage@School, its new initiative. This training programme uses Sage accounts software as a learning tool, teaching young people key aspects about cash flow, finance processes and budget management.

It’s clear that giving a helping hand to a young person to enter the job market can be financially advantageous to business. More importantly, it’s an investment in the economy and in our collective future.

Melissa Beckett, SageCover Team

Recently I attended a talk on Service Design at a local networking event called Rise and Design http://www.designnetworknorth.org

I knew about product design but what was Service Design?  What I did understand was that I had experienced good and bad service. In fact, sometimes, the service delivery seemed to have been set up to deliberately annoy me.

One of the things that struck home from the speakers was that if you did not make a conscious effort to design the delivery of the service it will just form itself – for better or worse.

The importance of the service element can’t be understated; according to Gartner in the case of a PC the service revenue is 5 times the cost of the physical machine.

Service Design is not just another trend – the Guardian newspaper noted “In the competitive world of business, what separates an industry’s players is often the service that comes with the product offering – the customer experience. Quality of service determines whether a customer will be loyal, or leave.”

So good service design helps keep customers happy, and attracts new customers and bad service does the opposite. Good service is also harder for competitors to replicate since it is often more difficult to execute than simply copying a physical product which is there for all to see.

Achieving excellent service is difficult.  How many times have you heard “we’ve always done it this way!” and felt the pressure of vested interests resisting unwanted change.  Even in the smallest organisations there can be a disconnection between those with power, influence and control over the service delivery and the needs of the customers and users.

Often it is assumed that technology can take the place of person-to-person interactions but this can alienate both customers and employees – “the computer says no.”

So how can you design a service that gives you competitive advantage?

Richard Telford of LiveWork describes it as a 4 stage process:

1. Insight – Inform the Service Design with insights from users/customers
2. Ideas – collaborate to create clear service propositions
3. Prototype – design how the service works and the service touch points i.e. “service usability”
4. Define – Define great service experience and specify how it should be delivered.

For me, the main lesson is to keep very close to the customer experience and don’t let your top people get disconnected. For example, when we were creating our online accounting service Sage One it was the customer insight that drove the service design.  We talked to 100’s of businesses and investigated their current experiences and future needs through in depth discussions. We discovered our customers basically wanted to get on with running their businesses and did not aspire to be accountants. They wanted the service to be smart to save them time but also simple to use with support available to suit the hours they worked. So we gave them 24/7 telephone support and a straightforward service written in their language.

To summarise – providing a great customer experience is challenging but it is worth it because it does give you a strong competitive advantage. So consider how you currently treat your customers and if you have not spoken to them recently or to the support staff providing the service talk to them today – “tomorrow might be too late.”

For further information on Service Design go to: http://vimeo.com/33403934

Marc Seery, Sage One Team

Effective Payroll Year End (PYE) management can be stressful when balancing deadlines with normal business tasks. Whether it’s your first payroll year end or it’s something you’ve done many times before, you’ll want to ensure you have the right payroll year end processes and resources in place to ensure you remain fully compliant.

The following checklist will help you avoid the common pitfalls that most businesses face when tackling their payroll year end management:

1. Use your SageCover

For Sage Payroll customers with a SageCover membership there is lots of additional support to help you throughout your payroll year end. As well as having access to your usual award-winning support, you’ll also receive a Payroll Year End Pack as part of your SageCover membership. This pack contains a useful Year End Guide, plus a Sage Payroll software update to make sure you’re up to date with the latest legislation. For SageCover Extra customers you’ll receive your new features for Sage 50 Payroll v18 with the pack too.

SageCover customers can access PYE support:

• From the dedicated Payroll Year End website for downloads and support information, including Ask Sage
• By calling our award-winning experts on 0845 111 5555 for advice
• By dropping us an email via https://my.sage.co.uk/contact-us

Our SageCover Extra members have priority access to our experts, meaning your query is resolved even quicker.

Distribution of the Payroll Year End Packs will begin soon, so if you’re a SageCover member then watch out for yours in the post.

2. Make sure you understand your obligations as an employer

Most employers will need to submit P35 and P14 forms online to HMRC, these will need to be submitted before 19 May to avoid penalties. Employees still working for you as of 5 April 2012 should get their P60 summaries by 31 May. You can register as an employer with HMRC by email or by telephone, to familiarize yourself with PAYE rules and requirements, visit www.hmrc.gov.uk/paye/index.htm

3. Get ready for PYE before 6 April

Put aside enough time to prepare for your PYE procedures and look at resources for Payroll Year End.

Make sure you’ve ordered enough P60 stationery and that it is compatible with the tax year you’re processing – you cannot use previous tax year stationery

Check that your software is compatible with the tax year you’re processing to ensure you’re legally compliant (SageCover customers watch our for your update coming through the post).

Check that you have a full tax year payment history for your employees i.e. 52 weeks or 12 months

Check that you are registered with HMRC for online submissions

4. Automate wherever possible – file returns online

Every figure you submit for individual employees will need to be reconciled with your annual totals for tax, NICs and so on. Payroll software can carry out these checks for you throughout the year. Software can save extra work at year end by completing all the forms and filing them electronically to HMRC online.

5. Don’t forget to pay the taxman!

Having compiled the amounts of tax and NICs that have already been paid during the year, you or your payroll preparer should then calculate the total amount due to HMRC for the year. Any amount outstanding must reach HMRC by 19 April (or 22 April if paying electronically). Make sure to allow enough time for postal and electronic repayments to reach the taxman in time or you may be liable for interest payments.

6. If in doubt, get expert help

The rules surrounding payroll, benefits and expenses are very complex and your circumstances are unique. If you discover a problem that you can’t solve during the payroll year end, seek expert help from your payroll software provider or professional advisor

To find out more about effective payroll year end management, download our white paper on Top Tips for Payroll Year End

Our team will be attending the marketing event, TFM&A on the 28th and 29th February at Earls Court, London. Our blogger Jeff Richards will be presenting on Social CRM (Social Media Theatre, 29^th Feb, 12.30-13.00). If you can’t make it along to his talk pop over to stand F24 and say hello to Jeff, Katie and the rest of our team.

A bit about me…..

In my day job I am responsible for providing technical education to members of the Sage CRM Community which includes the Developer Programme. Sage CRM is our CRM system for small and medium sized businesses, and if you haven’t come across our community before it’s an online resource for partners and customers wanting to ask questions or share expertise.  It includes blogs, forums and file galleries allowing our members to make sure they are up to date with the latest information and techniques for using, administering and customing Sage CRM.  The Developer Programme is a training and marketing service, with secure forums and blogs run principally for technical partners who create the addons and extensions that are available from the Sage CRM Marketplace.  I am not officially part the social media team but my role with the Community and Developer Programme involves me using social media, like blogs, forums and Twitter to share and educate our partners and customers. I do this because the Sage CRM development team in Dublin has placed the usage of social media and CRM at the heart of our approach to customer interaction.

What is Social CRM?

This combination of Social Media and CRM is often referred to as Social CRM.  A definition has been provided by Paul Greenberg

“a philosophy & a business strategy, supported by a technology platform, business rules, workflow, processes & social characteristics, designed to engage the customer in a collaborative conversation in order to provide mutually beneficial value in a trusted & transparent business environment.”

My lightbulb moment

In June 2006 I wrote a paper entitled “Marketing Workflow” which discussed how full graphical control of processes could be added into Sage CRM.  This was the first Sage CRM online article I wrote and the same day someone added a comment to the bottom of the article.

Looking back to that time, the individual topic was not the important thing.  Instead it was the ability of a customer to directly comment against the article that I had published. This changed my way of seeing the world.

Previously I had only published static documents.  Since then everything that I have written can be commented on, contradicted or expanded.  All the documents I publish are living entities subject to debate where the readers have the chance to share their knowledge, experience and opinions.  I no longer have total ownership or control of my technical advice instead it is moderated by constant peer review.

Conversation belongs to the customer

I have come to understand that the rise of social media means that the conversation now belongs to the customer and it maybe open to 3rd parties including competitors.  I have got used to the fact that it is for the customer to decide where the conversations start, whether that is on Facebook or Twitter, and that I am only allowed to take part in those conversations with their permission. Participation and engagement for any contact with me as a representative of Sage in social media is entirely voluntary and it is a sobering thought that because of my actions Sage could be ‘unfollowed’ or ‘defriended’ in a blink.

In the Sage CRM development team we have a clear set of reasons for embracing social media and networks like Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin and during my TFM&A presentation I will look at what those goals might be for a company.  And they will differ between companies.  For some companies the main reason will be improving customer support, carrying out market research, or supporting a product launch, and brand reputation management is another consideration.

My activities are only a tiny part of Sage’s engagement with social media. Sage regards social media and social networking as not just the responsibility of communication specialists or a marketing team but as an activity open to all of its people.  I was very interested by some data that was shared with me by the Dublin marketing team; in just one day, on 8th February 2012, Sage Ireland staff were responsible for generating over 150 Sage related tweets which reached an audience of nearly thirty thousand followers.

Real conversations

Those Sage staffers who tweeted were engaged in real conversations with real contacts, and my presentation will look at how we can shape those conversations.  I intend to consider how we can use social media to steer customer action in the direction we want.  I want to try and answer the age old problem that if the conversation starts at the bar, then how do we get the contact onto the dance floor?  I know that much of my activity is aimed at guiding contacts towards the Sage CRM website or encouraging the conversations to take place within forums that our company hosts.   I will look at how we can measure whether or not we have been successful in shaping those conversations.

All the time I’ll be looking at the business benefit that accrues from engaging in social media and how in particular the Sage CRM team uses its own community site with its blogs and forums along with social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn for customer engagement.  In particular I will explore how we integrate those with our CRM system.

Please do come along and join me.  If you have any questions and comments you want to share then please find me on Twitter @sagecrmsolution and if you are tweeting then do make sure to use the hashtags #sagecrm and #tfm2012.  I look forward to hearing from you.

Jeff Richards, Sage CRM Team

As the number of unemployed continues to rise, the economic downturn has created a surge in self employment and business start ups across Britain. Well, if you can’t get hired – why not simply hire yourself?

It would seem that the doom and gloom that dominates the UK business press is not enough to put people off starting new ventures, and with a government pledge to help small businesses from start-up to growth now could be just as good as time as any.

So, you need to get your business figures fit for applications which, of course, our business and accounting software can help you with. You can also create a professional business plan with Sage Planning for Business which comes free with our new Sage Instant Accounts. And, because Sage Planning for Business seamlessly integrates with Sage Instant Accounts 2012, you’ll be able to compare your progress against your plan as you grow. Sorted!

But what about funding?

So what sources of funds are available for UK businesses?

There is now a wide range of funding initiatives for UK small businesses to take advantage of and there are even more funding schemes due to be launched throughout 2012. These will include the Business Finance Partnership (BFP), the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) and the National Loan Guarantee Scheme (NLGS), so remember to look out for them!

But if you are already in the process of sourcing funding for your business, then check out some of these schemes from the government, designed to help small and medium sized businesses just like yours:

Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG)

Available until 2014-15, EFG funding is a government loan guarantee scheme to facilitate additional bank lending to UK-based small businesses that are viable, but lack sufficient security to secure a normal commercial loan. You can find out if you are eligible for EFG funding by visiting the Department for business skills and innovation website.

Regional Growth Fund (RGF)

A government fund, the RGF is available to support projects and programmes in areas and communities currently dependent on the public sector, with the aim of creating private sector growth and employment. Both Round 1 and Round 2 of bidding have closed, however you can keep checking in with the Regional Growth Fund to see when Round 3 of bidding will be open again.

European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)

In England, the ERDF is managed by the Department for Communities and Local Government with funding available until 2013. While the ERDF is aimed primarily at public sector projects, in some circumstances the fund can be used for investing in small businesses, particularly if they are in partnership with a public sector body.

Export Enterprise Finance Guarantee (ExEFG)

Designed to provide short-term export finance facilities, the ExEFG is available to small businesses with a yearly turnover of up to £25m looking for between £25,001 and £1m.

Businesses looking to apply for finance under this scheme would need to apply to one of the accredited lenders.

Regional Development Programme for England (RDPE)

The RDPE aims to develop rural businesses and build thriving rural communities, you can find out if your eligible on the DEFRA website.

Enterprise Capital Funds (ECFs)

Equity finance is one of the most useful forms of funding in helping a business grow but it can be difficult to obtain. The ECF initiative is designed to provide equity finance to viable SMEs that are unable to attract investment from venture capitalists or private investors. Businesses wishing to bid for funding will need to do so by contacting Capital for Enterprise Ltd

Business Angel Co-Investment Fund (Angel CoFund)

The £50m Business Angel Co-Investment Fund aims to provide investment into SMEs in an early, high-growth stage. It makes equity investments between £100,000 and £1m to SMEs in England, particularly in those areas hardest hit by public spending cuts.

Funding available in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland:

Most of the funding initiatives listed above are available in England only, but there are other initiatives for small businesses based in Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland.

• In Northern Ireland, the first port of call is to contact Invest Northern Ireland
• For SMEs in Wales, the business section of the Welsh Government website has a lot of useful information about local government and EU initiatives.
• In Scotland, the Business Gateway website is a good place to start, although Scottish Enterprise provides some grants and funding. SMEs located in the Scottish Highlands and outer islands can consult Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

To find out more about government funding for small UK businesses download our guide  How to Raise Funds for Small Businesses.

It will help your application if you have your business plan and finances in good order when starting to approach government led funding initiatives for your grant or loan. There will be a lot of competition, so you’ll want to ensure you can quickly and easily meet the funding criteria.

Andy Atkinson, Small Business Team

Have you ever seen a square like this and wondered what it is?

This is a QR code (short for Quick Response code), a type of two-dimensional barcode that can be read by a smartphone or tablet with a camera. QR codes can contain things like web addresses, email addresses, phone numbers or plain text, which can be used on a smartphone to go directly to a website, send an email, save a phone number or just to read in text.

QR codes are a way of ‘hardlinking’ or ‘object linking’ – they let you move your customers from the physical world to the online world, simply by scanning a QR code with a smartphone.

Some examples:

• A QR code in a newspaper takes the user to the newspaper’s website.
• A QR code on a business card links to a Google map of your office location, or your company’s website
• A QR code on an invoice takes the user to a web page where they can pay the invoice using a smartphone

Virtual shops in Korean train stations allow you to shop while waiting for a train – the walls are painted to look like supermarket shelves, with each item’s QR code being scanned to add it to your basket, which is later delivered to your home; check out this video from Tesco showing their virtual shelves.

QR reading software

QR reading software is available for all popular smartphones. Some come with it preinstalled whereas others require you to download the software (there are many free applications available).

Producing QR codes using Sage software

If you have Sage software which includes Sage Report Designer, then you already have a tool which can produce QR codes on the reports, invoices, letters and labels that you generate from your Sage software using Sage Report Designer. Currently this includes:

• Sage Instant Accounts
• Sage 50 Accounts
• Sage 50 Payroll
• Sage 50 HR
• Sage 50 Manufacturing
• Sage 200 Accounts
• Sage 200 Manufacturing
• Sage 200 Construct
• Timberline
• Sage Practice Solution
• Sage ERP 1000
• Sage Group Consolidation

To add a QR code to a report (or invoice, letter, label etc), open the report for editing in Sage Report Designer. Then, from the Toolbox menu, select Barcode, then draw a box on your report where you want the QR code to appear.

You are then prompted (in the Expression Editor) to select the data to show in the QR code. You can enter either a fixed string (enclosed in double quotes) or a database field containing the value to display.

Here, we have entered a fixed web address www.sage.com. You can put various types of data into a QR code, including the following:

• Web addresses, like in the example. When someone scans the QR code they can browse directly to the web address without have to manually type it in.
• Email addresses, specified like “mailto:example.name@sage.com”. When someone scans the QR code their phone will usually allow them to save the email address as a contact, or send an email directly.Note: you can use variables in these expressions to specify data from the application database e.g.
  “mailto:” + SALES_LEDGER.EMAIL

• Contact details such as a name and phone number can be embedded in a ‘vCard’ which can then be saved as a contact on a smartphone.  vCards can contain multiple phone numbers and email addresses; however, with the limitations of QR codes and readers, to ensure successful reading, we recommend that you limit them to a name and single phone number. For information on how to create vCards, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VCard.

• Plain text. A smartphone will not do anything special with plain text, but may allow you to copy or save it into an email or message.

After adding the barcode to your report, you will see a two-dimensional barcode. This must be changed to a QR code. To do this, right-click the barcode and select ‘Change Barcode Format’. You will then see the Edit Barcode Format window.

Deselect ‘Only show common symbologies’ so that QR is available, then select ‘QR’ in the Symbology dropdown list. From the ‘Text location’ dropdown, select ‘None’. You will now see a screen like this:

Click OK and then run your report. You should see the QR code containing the data you specified in the Expression Editor:

Limitations of QR codes and smartphone readers

Because of the limited resolution of smartphone cameras, you can only include so much data in a QR code before smartphones will fail to recognize it. In theory, QR codes can include up to 4,296 alphanumeric characters, but a practical limit which will work on all smartphones is around 100 characters.

If you are linking to a long web address, you can use a ‘url shortening service’ such as https://bitly.com/ to reduce the size of the url you are encoding. Using a url shortening service allows the address to be read more easily.

In conclusion…

In addition to QR codes, a variety of other barcode symbologies are supported, which is just one of a wide range of features offered by Sage Report Designer.

Peter Reay, Senior Developer, R&D and Stephen Wilmshurst, Sage 200 Team