Sage 50 2009 updated with new credit control features

The annual upgrade to Sage 50 started arriving on users' desks last week, featuring new features to help small companies cope with the tightening economy. John Stokdyk reports.

Sage is hardly a retiring violet when it comes to publicity, but with the economy looking bleak the company appears to have taken a very low key approach for the latest release, which it has enhanced with features designed to help companies with cash collection.

On opening up the new version, there is a new display option on the Customers and Suppliers screens to show a Dashboard view of the main numbers relating to orders and payments.

There is also a new Cash flow module that shows a summary of outstanding and recurring payments and to provide an instant cashflow forecast. Users can select the accounts they want to include in any forecast and export the results as an Excel file, or email a view to colleagues via email.

Sage 50 2009 includes a new Diary module to help automate credit control activities. The Diary looks like a cut down version of the Outlook Calendar and can link into Microsoft's program.