On 22^nd June, George Osborne presented the first Budget of the new coalition government. So, how does this new budget affect the small business?

New changes include:

- Standard rate of VAT to rise to 20% on 4^th January 2011
- Personal allowance for employees under 65 will increase by £1000 to £7475 for basic tax rate payers
- Enterprise Finance Guarentee to be increased by £200 million to support £700 million of additional lending until 31^st March 2011 to support SMB that find it difficult to access normal commercial loans

View full budget summary.

Bag yourself a Sage 50 Bargain- until the end of July SoftwareOnline Direct are offering:

- Sage 50 Accounts 2010 with 100 free official Sage Invoices
OR
- Sage 50 Payroll 2010 with 100 free official Sage Payslips

By combining Sage 50 Software with official Sage Stationery you can ensure that your business’s paperwork presents a professional image to the recipient.

For more information on this special offer, visit our offers page.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is an essential tool for all businesses. CRM is growing increasingly popular becuase when incorporated into business processes it improves business efficiency and, more importantly, promotes customer loyalty.

CRM can benefit your business in the following ways:

- Improve lead conversion
- Enhance customer retention
- Increase revenue
- Decrease sales cycles

More and more businesses are adopting CRM, which is why it is important for the small business to make a CRM investment to remain competitive.

ACT! by Sage 2010 is a great small business CRM solution that offers great functionality. With 4 million users worldwide it must be doing something right.

Find out more about ACT! by Sage.

Sage Instant Accounts is designed for small businesses and start companies. If you are a Sage Instant Accounts user that is experiencing growth it may be time for you to upgrade to a different solution.

Sage 50 Accounts is a comprehensive Accounts package and, what’s more there is an upgrade path for Instant Accounts users which makes purchasing Sage 50 Accounts less expensive.
Sage 50 Accounts you can:

- Improved financial control and business management information
- Greater flexibility in reporting and document management
- Multi user and multi compnay ready
- Convert currencies for foreign trading

Find out more about Sage 50.