Sage 200 and Sage Intacct are two very different kettles of fish but they do have some overlapping qualities. What I will do in this blog is give you some top-level guidance on the key differences between Sage 200 and Sage Intacct. However, please feel free to give our team a call to get some no obligation, free advice over the phone.
Firstly, what qualifies me to offer this advice? I don’t work in marketing! Now, this doesn’t mean that our marketing team isn’t amazing, but when you are picking a product, there’s just no comparison to speaking to a consultant. I’ve been implementing Sage finance systems for well over 10 years (including both Sage 200 and Sage Intacct) and we are currently the top partner in the UK for Sage Intacct, winning Sage’s award for Sage Intacct Partner of the year – which we are exceptionally proud of!
So without further ado, let’s get started:
Industry Strengths
The first point of call is what industry are you in? Both Sage 200 and Sage Intacct are designed to work over multiple industries however, they both have their individual strengths when it comes to verticals.
Sage 200’s strengths lie in manufacturing, distribution and any industries with a heavy stock or building component. With its three-way purchase order matching and the MRP, Barcoding, Works Order & Kitting modules, Sage 200 is a real showstopper when it comes to these industries. It also has a fabulous Field Service module, so if you are looking for a solution that allows you to schedule engineers or field agents, manage cases and van stock, as well as use tablets to create onsite visit reports, Sage 200 is the one for you.
Sage Intacct’s strongest industries are Financial Services, Software and Saas, Not for Profit, Professional Services, and Healthcare. Sage Intacct’s cloud capabilities, automated project accounting, and Salesforce integration make it a strong solution
Sage 200 can also support a number of these areas but doesn’t have the depth of vertical functionality that Sage Intacct does. If you are in one of the above then your options are open so let’s look at other factors.
Cloud or On-Premise Deployment
We have a hybrid deployment method for Sage 200 which means it can be hosted in the Cloud or On-premise. There is also a fully Cloud version of Sage 200 called Sage 200 Standard, however, it doesn’t have the full range of capability as the hosted or on-premise version, so can be quite limited for some businesses. Sage Intacct is a born and bred Cloud solution and has been for over 20 years. Depending on your functionality needs, this may mean that you fit immediately into the Sage Intacct bracket if Cloud is a must-have for you.
Integrated Solution or ERP
Sage Intacct has a “best of breed” philosophy. This means that you pick the best tool for the job and then integrate data seamlessly and in real-time using APIs, it even has an out of the box integration with Salesforce. Sage 200 has a whole business approach, more of an ERP style, and incorporates CRM and the full-back office but the modules all sit within the core Sage 200 system and are fully integrated. There is no set answer to which one is right, it’s all about what suits your existing tech stack, but it’s worth considering what your preferred approach is.
Multi Legislation & Multi-Currency
Whilst Sage 200 can support different base legislations, it’s not set up to support any other tax legislation. We have the ability to create different tax rates etc, but that can become challenging with complex tax structures like the US. If you have a US/AU company then Sage Intacct may be a better fit with its prebuilt tax structures and integrations with Avalara/Avatax.
Multi-Company
Both packages offer the ability to consolidate, however, Sage Intacct takes it a step further with instant consolidated reporting with auto intercompany eliminations. Those managing large numbers of companies will definitely benefit from Sage Intacct. It has some great intercompany journal capabilities including a dynamic allocations module that automatically calculates and allocates values across accounts, entities, and even dimensions (sounds like science fiction but it’s pretty damn amazing!). Sage 200 also offers some great intercompany functionality particularly if you need to feed stock through or do a lot of intercompany invoicing.
If you have a number of companies in different base currencies that you wish to consolidate then Sage Intacct is definitely the right option, with the capabilities to pull in daily exchange rates and then do an automatic daily consolidation. As you can see this is one of the strengths of Intacct, but if you still aren’t sure, do remember we are always at the end of the phone if you need some more detailed advice.
So what do you do now?
These are just 5 of the initial indicators that might guide you towards the right solution for your business. Our team works across products but we specialise in Sage 200 and Sage Intacct so we can give you impartial advice and guidance depending on your needs as a business. It’s all about picking the right product for you and guiding you through the process. Click here to access one of our consultants’ calendars and book a 15-minute initial chat to talk about your current situation and free impartial advice on solutions.
As a note, we also have some great content for you to have a look at, across both Sage 200 and Sage Intacct. As a starting point, I would suggest you look at our on-demand Sage Intacct webinars, here, and our library of on-demand Sage 200 webinars, here.
If you would like to request a callback from one of our Sage Specialists to talk about Sage 200 and Sage Intacct, just fill out the form below:
