This past weekend I attended a barbeque and, as usual, many of the attendees were my techie friends. They were programmers, developers and entrepreneurs talking about how they plan to start their own companies and, they hope, retire by the age of 40. After a couple of margaritas and some chips and salsa, some very interesting conversations got started. Someone asked, " What’s the one constant that has remained the same over the years?" Most people had to think and ponder. I certainly did! After giving it some thought, the answer flashed in my mind. Tomorrow is Monday and I have to work! Bingo! That is what’s remained constant – the need to work!
For many years, millions of people have commuted to the office or to their place of work. They performed their work at a physical location called an ‘office’ or some other central location where work related tasks were completed.
Today, the concept of an “office” has become blurred or in some cases, invisible! It certainly has become that way for me.
At Sage, I am remote-based.My company headquarters is in Newcastle, UK, I am based in San Francisco, my boss is in London and the rest of my team is located all over the world. One day I can be working from my kitchen table, or a coffee shop, or the airport while waiting for my flight or in a client’s lobby while I am waiting to speak with them.
Today, people are no longer tied to a physical office or work location. Collaboration barriers have been knocked down with the use of technology and tools like Skype, Chatter, Jabber, Webex, Go to Meeting and so many others. Access to data is readily available from anywhere, anytime. Data is the new oil to fuel insights and enable small and large businesses to turn those insights into actionable results. In the age of Digital Transformation, data is fast becoming the most sought after resource on the planet and is driven by the needs of a perpetually increasing connected society.
At Sage, through the Sage 50c Cloud Accounting Solution, integrated with the Office 365 platform, we are enabling business entrepreneurs in the SMB market to experience and realize the benefits of the ‘Invisible Office’ by providing flexibility, automation and cloud connectivity that drives new levels of collaboration and mobility for increased operational efficiency. By doing this, entrepreneurs can focus on doing what they love and spend less time on mundane activities that increase inefficiency and drive down productivity.
Sage 50c Features
- Sage Contact – Surfacing Sage 50 data in Outlook
- Sage Intelligence – Powerful financial reporting in Excel
- Sage Capture – Record transactions and send them to Sage 50c
- Sage Cloud Backup – Schedule and store Sage 50 backups in One Drive
- Sage Business Performance Dashboards – Access important business KPIs from Office 365 with any device
The Sage 50c Powered by Office 365 solution is available in the US, UK/Ireland, Canada, France, Spain and Germany with plans to onboard additional countries in 2017.
‘Work’ will continue to be the constant
People will have to continue to work to make a living. With technology and innovation, the approach by which we get our work done will continue to evolve and change over time.
Who knows? Maybe in the not too distant future people will be able to wear some fancy glasses, simply point at virtual screens and, voilà, the work will be done!