rlebherz wrote: Alf,
Interesting article. I think the Cloud services and cloud infrastructure lines are a bit blurred, but I agree with most of what you are saying.
Dont underestimate the SLA's role in accountability. For companies that have dynamic requirements and no down time can be afforded, make sure you have very tight SLAs. For example, OpSource provides a 100% SLA in the cloud and 100%SLA around production application environments. Now 100% is ideally perfect, it comes down to accountability, yo...
AUSTIN, TX -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 11/27/06 -- Sage Software announced today that healthcare
and health-related organizations across North America are continuing to
choose its award-winning Sage MIP Fund Accounting software for nonprofit
financial management. To date, more than 850 healthcare and health-related
organizations count on Sage MIP Fund Accounting to track and report on
multiple funds, across multiple budget periods, to help them meet reporting
requirements and demonstrate accountability to their constituents.
"Based on our needs surrounding cost and system flexibility and
functionality, Sage MIP Fund Accounting was the best financial management
system choice for us," said Beth Smith, director of finance at Crider
Center for Mental Health, a community mental heath center serving the needs
of the Missouri Counties of Lincoln, Warren, St. Charles, and Franklin, and
a Sage Software customer since 2001. "We previously used a system designed
specifically for community mental health centers, and while it was
sufficient for the demographic and billing pieces of our business, it
lacked much-needed reporting capabilities, the ability to distribute across
various cost centers, and an industry-standard database."
Shawnee Health Service, a nonprofit organization fostering the development
of health and social services in southern Illinois and southern Indiana,
has used Sage MIP Fund Accounting's General Ledger, Accounts Payable,
Encumbrance, and Bank Reconciliation modules since 2003. The organization
also uses Sage Software's Abra Payroll product, which links to Sage MIP
Accounting.
"We switched from another nonprofit software vendor to Sage Software,
because their software required everything to work under one fiscal year,
although our grants are under three different fiscal years," said Jeff
Cooper, Shawnee's deputy finance director. "With the old system, we
entered data into the accounting software, printed out the information, and
then re-entered everything into Excel spreadsheets -- all so we could run
reports on grants crossing fiscal years. Sage MIP Fund Accounting solved
all that for us, plus it is the most cost-effective product we considered."
Sage MIP Fund Accounting continues to be an easy-to-use solution helping
healthcare and health-related organizations with complex financial
management needs demonstrate transparency and accountability with powerful
reporting tools, table-driven charts of accounts, a dynamic Drill-down
Analyzer, and more. Sage MIP Fund Accounting makes it easy for auditors to
verify financial statement accuracy and organization to maintain a clear
audit trail.
"Sage MIP Fund Accounting is so user-friendly, and Sage Software really
works to make annual improvements and add quality features," said Eloise
Sites, staff accountant for Tallahassee, Fla.-based North Florida Medical
Centers, Inc., a private not-for-profit health care corporation providing
primary medical services, and a Sage MIP fund Accounting user since its DOS
version. "It is beneficial being able to view the current and previous
year's financial statements, plus applicable budgets, on one sheet. Sage
MIP Fund Accounting also makes the year-end process much smoother, because
I can quickly and easily export working trial balances to a spreadsheet and
then e-mail the trial balance to my auditor in preparation for the audit."
Using Sage MIP Fund Accounting, healthcare and health-related nonprofits
can plan and manage budgets, maximize grants, and produce accurate
customized reports in minutes. Adds Cooper, "Sage MIP Fund Accounting's
report writer gives us anything we want. We appreciate that we can extract
any data we put into the software. We can also create the Statement of
Revenue and Expenditures in multiple formats that allow us to satisfy the
reporting requirements of our various funding agencies, and create and
customize reports, such as our Statement of Activities, for use in our
annual audit. Now, the only time we have to export to Excel is to e-mail
something."
Adds Smith, "The reports we can generate using Sage MIP Fund Accounting
benefit our organization because we report to many different funders,
across multiple fiscal years. Things can get pretty complicated if you do
not have a system you can trust. That is why the reporting flexibility
provided by Sage MIP Fund Accounting is huge."
The product earned a coveted 2005 Campbell Award from Campbell Rinker for
its exceptional ratings in the Nonprofit Accounting Software Survey, a
nationwide survey of accounting software users.
For more than 25 years, Sage Software has been helping nonprofit
organizations further their missions and better serve constituents through
the use of technology. Sage MIP Fund Accounting and the range of Sage
Fundraising product choices enable nonprofit organizations, regardless of
size and budget, to select a solution that best fits their needs.
For more information about Sage MIP Fund Accounting or other Sage Software
Nonprofit Solutions, visit www.sagenonprofit.com or call 800-647-3863. For
information about other Sage Software products for the healthcare industry,
please visit www.sagehealth.com.
About Sage Software
Sage Software supports the needs, challenges and dreams of more than 2.6
million small and mid-sized business customers in North America through
easy-to-use, scalable and customizable software and services. Our products
support accounting, operations, customer relationship management, human
resources, time tracking, merchant services and the specialized needs of
the construction, distribution, healthcare, manufacturing, nonprofit and
real estate industries. Sage Software is a subsidiary of The Sage Group
plc, a leading international supplier of accounting and business management
software solutions and related products and services for small to mid-sized
businesses. Formed in 1981, Sage was floated on the London Stock Exchange
in 1989 and the Group now has 5.0 million customers and employs over 10,500
people worldwide. For more information, please visit the Web site at
www.sagesoftware.com/moreinfo or call (866) 308-2378.