''I can manage my accounts no matter where I am in the world”

Ian Emberton runs a successful business building and tuning racing motorbikes. Here, he explains how using Sage has simplified the way he does business...

Tell us a bit about your business...

I'm passionate about motorbiking and run a business building and tuning bikes. I also have a mail order business where I sell and distribute race and performance-relevant motorcycling products. It's quite a niche business and I have customers all over the world.

How did you hear about Sage?

I was using Sage through my accountant but I wasn't happy with the additional fees they were charging me to manage my stock control and statistics. When I realised that Sage Cover offered a full support package I decided to cut out the middle man and go direct to them myself. I couldn't believe how helpful and straightforward it was.

Sage offer fantastic support – to begin with I was ringing them nearly every day! Now I’m self-taught and can manage all my accounts from my laptop – no matter where I am.

What products or services do you use?

I use Sage 50 Accounts Professional and Sage Pay. It's particularly useful for me as I handle a lot of international transactions. In the past, sales had to be done by credit card over the phone or by email, and it took time to process everything. Now, if I have a customer in Australia, even with the 12-hour time difference, they can pay me online via Sage 50 and Sage Pay’s “Pay Now” system, which integrates easily.

It means I can send a PDF invoice anywhere in the world and the recipient just needs to click 'Pay Now' and pays through Sage Pay’s online portal. I can go to bed and payments can come in overnight from the customer I’ve invoiced. Sage and Sage Pay integrate, so posting to ledgers is done in one go, making life so much easier.

I’m also loving the Sage Cover community. It’s a good forum to chat with other people, like me, who are running their own businesses – and offer each other advice and support. There’s a market of “non-professionals” running businesses that can really benefit. It’s a great place to get your business story across too.

How has Sage Cover assisted your business?

The software is straightforward and the phone support is invaluable. The people genuinely listen to you and do all they can to assist.

The best thing about using Sage is that it's streamlined how I do business. I no longer have piles of paperwork to deal with. I can keep on top of my accounts and everything is reconciled in one place.

I travel a lot to Spain, which is where motorbike racing is really popular. It's great to know I can take my laptop and run my business from anywhere in the world. Sage allows me to do that. I still have an accountant to help me tidy things up and post my final ledgers but I save a lot on fees by using Sage software myself. It’s dead easy – so a no brainer really!

Would you recommend Sage to others?

Definitely. It's worth the investment. With Sage Cover I get software updates every year, the support staff are always friendly and best of all you have the reassurance that your accounts are in safe hands with their data back-up and recovery service.

To find out more about Ian E Racing visit http://www.iane.co.uk/