Sage 100 Contractor Cloud: Host It or Switch to Intacct?

When a contractor on Sage 100 Contractor asks about "the cloud," there are usually two different questions underneath. The first is how estimators, project managers, and owners get into the system from the field or from home. The second is whether it is time for a different system. The answers are not the same, and neither is the cost.

As we explain on our construction page, Sage 100 Contractor as a fit for small to medium companies that are content with a local installation, and it can be cloud-hosted for remote access if you want that. Sage Intacct Construction is cloud software from the start. Here is how to tell which one your company needs.

What "Cloud" Means for Sage 100 Contractor

For Sage 100 Contractor, "cloud" almost always means hosting. The same software runs on servers at a hosting provider instead of in your office, and your people connect to it over the internet.

Sage Intacct Construction is a different kind of product. It is a cloud system, so there is nothing to host. You log in and work.

Start With What Your People Need to Reach

List who needs the system and from where. A project manager checking costs at a jobsite, an estimator working from home, an owner reviewing numbers on a weekend, and a second office are all remote access needs. Many contractors cover them with a VPN or a remote desktop connection to the office server, and that works until someone cannot connect, the connection is slow, or the person who set it up leaves.

The useful question is whether the problem is getting into the system or what you find once you are in. Hosting addresses the first. It does nothing for the second.

What Hosting Changes and What It Doesn't

Hosting changes where the software runs and how people reach it:

• Staff can work from anywhere they have a connection.
• The server is the host's to maintain, not yours.
• Remote access no longer depends on one person's setup in your office.

It does not change the system itself. You are still running the same software, with the same screens and the same reports:

• Separate company files stay separate.
• Information entered twice, once in estimating or the field and again in accounting, is still entered twice.
• Reports that someone builds by hand each month are still built by hand.

What Moving to Sage Intacct Construction Changes

Moving changes the system, not only where it lives. Sage Intacct Construction is fully cloud-based and accessible from anywhere with an internet connection, so there are no software updates or hardware upgrades for you to manage. It supports multiple entities, locations, and currencies, handles intercompany transactions, and has an open API for connecting other systems.

It is also a project. You are converting data, setting up the new system, and training your team. That is worth doing when the system is the problem, and a lot of effort when only access is.

Signs Hosting is Enough

Hosting is a sound, smaller step when:

• You run one company file, in one office or a few.
• The reports you have today show you job profit while jobs are still running.
• Your team is not re-keying information between systems.
• The main frustration is getting in from outside the office.

Signs It is Time to Move

These are limits of the system, so hosting will not fix them:

• You have more than one company or location and consolidate them by spreadsheet.
• Month-end reporting is built by hand, and you learn what a job made only after it closes. Our post on how to job cost a construction project covers what good looks like.
• The same information is entered in more than one place.
• You need intercompany transactions or more than one currency.
• The company has grown past what the current setup was built to handle.

Several of these are the same signs we describe for contractors outgrowing Sage 50 or QuickBooks. The difference here is that the software is already construction software, so the question is whether it still fits.

Questions to Ask a Hosting Provider

If hosting is the right step, get answers in writing before you sign:

• Who supports the hosted system when something goes wrong: the provider, your Sage partner, or both?
• What are the uptime and backup terms, and what happens if the host has an outage?
• Does your Sage licence and support cover the hosted setup?
• How are updates and version upgrades handled, and when?
• If you leave later, how do you get your data back, and in what format?

Is It the Access or the System?

I often say "Software is only 50% of the solution." The other half is knowing what is not working and what fixing it would change before you commit to anything. Hosting a system that no longer fits moves the problem somewhere else. Replacing a system that only needed a way in costs more than it should.

Moving over is planned around your active jobs, with training before a clean cutover date. Our post on financial software implementation challenges covers what to expect.

What This Looks Like in Practice

Ward Bros. Construction is a general contractor in southern Alberta that runs on Sage 100 Contractor, along with Sage Service Operations and estimating. Manual entry could not keep up with demand, and the company needed to hold key people accountable for their projects. Owner and CFO Darren Boras says the company is "finally able to hold the superintendents and project managers accountable for their projects." The full success story has the details.

Not every contractor needs to leave Sage 100 Contractor. What mattered for Ward Bros. was matching the software and its setup to the problem.

Find Out Which Route Fits Your Company

If you are weighing hosting against a move, the next step is not picking a product. It is getting a clear answer on whether access or the system is the real limit.

Asyma's Financial System Audit starts with a needs analysis and a cost/benefit analysis, then gives you a project proposal. Sometimes it confirms a move makes sense, and sometimes it shows the system you have still fits. It is backed by the same 100% satisfaction guarantee behind everything we do. Get started with a Financial System Audit.