Sage recently started rolling out the second update (2017.2) to Sage 50 2017. Updates are released gradually to users so that Sage’s servers (and technical support) don’t get overwhelmed. Everyone on a current subscription or Business Care plan should receive the download notification soon. You can also go to the Services menu in Sage 50 and choose Check For Updates to see if it’s available to you yet.
So here’s what’s new in this update:
Click-to-Pay Invoicing: If you use Sage Payment Solutions to process credit/debit cards or virtual checks (ACH payments), you can now include a link when you email an invoice so your customer can pay online. The link will take them to a secure web page where they can enter a credit/debit card or their bank information. You can then download their payment directly into Sage 50 as a cash receipt (Receive Money) transaction and it will be applied to the invoice just as if you had entered it yourself.
>>The rest of the new features only apply to Sage 50c users.
Enhanced Sage One Mobile Invoicing: Online invoicing through integration with Sage One was introduced in version 2017.1; you can read more about that here. Three significant improvements have been made to online/mobile invoicing. (1) Your Sage 50 sales taxes are automatically uploaded to Sage One. (2) Your Sage 50 inventory and service items are automatically uploaded to Sage One. (3) Receipts (from customers who use the click-to-pay option) are automatically downloaded into Sage 50.
Sage Contact app for Microsoft Office 365 Business Premium: The Office 365 connection wizard will sync customer and vendor contact information between your Sage 50 company and Office 365 (requires 365 Business Premium). In addition to being able to having basic contact information, the Sage Contact app will allow you to see the last 5 invoices and last 5 receipts/payments within the last 90 days. Contact information changed in the Sage Contact app will sync back to your Sage 50c data. You can schedule the sync to run every 4, 12, or 24 hours as well as initiating it manually.
Improved Office 365 Cloud Backup: This is another feature that was added in 2017.1 but has been now been improved. You no longer have to run Sage 50 as administrator for the Office 365 Cloud Backup to work, and behind the scenes improvements were made to help with backup of large companies. Lastly, the interface for email notification has been updated.
I’m not yet an Office 365 user so I couldn’t make a demo video for the new features, but here is Sage’s video covering the new features in Sage 50 2017.2.
