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Last updated Oct 11, 2023

Careful project planning is the key for a successful migration to Sage Intacct.

Written by Team Airbase
4 minute read
Sage Intacct

Are you ready to take your financial operations to the next level? You’ve considered the advantages of migrating your accounting software to Sage Intacct in order to experience the more engineered functionality of an enterprise-level ERP. But perhaps you’re hesitating because you’re concerned about the time and resource requirements necessary to ensure a smooth and successful migration. There is no doubt that shifting your accounting software is a daunting and demanding project, but there are smart things that you can do now to avoid the risks of lost data and wasted time.

Experience tells us that investing some time in creating a migration plan will be worth the effort. If your company is growing, Sage Intacct’s customizable workflows, flexible dashboard, and powerful analytic capabilities, enable the more complex FP&A functions necessary to support your company’s growth. Although less complex platforms, like QuickBooks Online and Xero, certainly do an excellent job of supporting simple company structures, migrating from these to Sage Intacct is often a natural progression for evolving companies.

While it’s true that a migration will require careful planning and project management, in the long run, your team’s effort will pay off. Sage Intacct reports that customers typically experience an ROI of about 250 percent in less than six months after implementation.​

Sage Intacct migration overview and project plan

Advantages of Sage Intacct over less robust ERPs.

Some of the compelling reasons to move from a smaller system to Sage Intacct include:

  • More powerful automation to reduce manual work and shorten the monthly close.
  • More flexible reporting parameters give users the ability to “slice and dice” data.
  • Customizable dashboards, including the ability to create user-specific dashboards.
  • More granular permissions controls.
  • As a multi-tenant solution, updates are applied automatically.
  • No limits on the number of users.
  • The ability to integrate with other systems (particularly Salesforce) saves time and reduces the risk of errors, since all information is stored in the same system.

Some finance teams find that the most telling moment for them came when they realized they were relying on too many Excel spreadsheets to get their work done. The transition to Sage Intacct can save hours of tedious work creating reports and closing the books.

Tips for a successful migration.

Although every migration is different, we’ve noticed some trends and have collected six tips for a successful migration to Sage Intacct.

1. Start with a plan. A successful Sage Intacct migration requires solid project management, based on your unique needs, and should center around preparation and communication. Make sure to build any third-party service providers into the plan and keep the lines of communication open.

2. Timing is everything. In a perfect world, you could just flick a switch and have your data move to the Sage Intacct platform. However, the reality is that information continues to flow through the system during the transition phase. You don’t want to lose any data, and you certainly don’t want any unplanned interruptions in the customer experience.

The timing of every step in your project plan must be clearly communicated to all stakeholders, including third-party vendors. You want the actions of everyone involved to align exactly.

3. Assemble the players. One of the strengths of Sage Intacct is its ability to seamlessly integrate with third-party systems, thanks to a flexible API. As a result, about 75 percent of Intacct customers use at least two integrations. It’s important to ensure that communication is clear with any third parties.

Your own migration team could include subject matter experts from finance, a detail-oriented and proven project manager, and representatives from the tech department.

If you hire a consultant to manage the integration, it’s important to work with one who understands both accounting processes and the software involved. If you already work with an accounting firm, they may have consultants on staff. Before you commit to a consultant, make sure they are familiar with your specific processes and organizational structure. You want to make sure you’re a good fit. Talk to some of their customers who have followed your path. If you are migrating from QuickBooks to Sage Intacct you want to talk to customers who have been through the same process

4. Review categories, tags, and vendors in your current General Ledger. If you’re migrating to Sage Intacct, you want to make sure you make the most of its innovative and flexible GL.

Your old data structure and classifications might have to be re-evaluated to ensure they reflect your growing company and take advantage of the value of your new, more powerful ERP.

Reviewing the structure of your datasets is also important to ensure data integrity as you move from one system to another. For example, tags should be exactly the same in both systems.

5. Back it up. As a best practice, most service providers back up all data. But you’ll probably worry less if you do this yourself as well.

6. Relax! Once you’ve made these initial project management decisions, the rest will flow smoothly behind the scenes if you work closely with your service providers.

You want your accounting software to adapt to your needs as you grow. You shouldn’t feel limited by the constraints of a system built for a smaller organization. A smooth transition to a powerful ERP like Sage Intacct is the next step in your company’s growth.

You can find a comprehensive guide to the Sage Intacct migration process here.

 

To learn more about Airbase, contact us for a product demo.
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