Continuing its campaign to serve the broad Sage Software user community, the ACOM Solutions Channel Division today announced the availability of its EZContentManager document management solution for Sage MIP Fund Accounting nonprofit ERP software. This MIP extended solution brings much needed efficiencies, economies and reporting capabilities to an important but largely-ignored business sector, according to Joseph Torano, ACOM channel division vice president.

EZContentManager is a richly featured, fully web-enabled solution for automating and streamlining all aspects of MIP document management storage, search/retrieval, distribution and retention processes, enabling the elimination of all or most paper documentation in office workflow.

“ACOM is committed to delivering world-class document management solutions across the entire family of Sage’s ERP products,” Torano said. “Our solution for MIP is an excellent example of this commitment. It is an extremely valuable system for managing all the paperwork associated with nonprofit agencies.

“Nonprofits are broadly accountable to their contributors and to various governmental agencies, so accurate and timely document control is essential. Paperwork thus represents a serious cost factor but until now, few if any document management solution providers showed any interest in addressing it–concentrating instead on the higher end markets. But Sage asked, and ACOM delivered.”

According to Angela Doolittle, ACOM channel division product manager, the nonprofit community is less concerned with corporate objectives, such as workflow management, than with the need for effective and economical file storage and retrieval.

“Paper files are cost-intensive,” she said. “They consume personnel time, office space and cabinetry. Conversely, electronic files offer optimum efficiency in all of these areas, permitting fast, precise electronic document storage, search, and retrieval right from the desktop.

“And with funds accountability an ever-present requirement of nonprofit organizations, EZContentManager provides an extremely cost-effective solution for archiving, audits, and expenditure-tracking, and document retention management.”

• Unique one-click access to documents, right from the user’s MIP screens
• Fast and easy electronic document storage, search and retrieval
• Elimination of file cabinets, paper storage and associated costs
• Elimination of lost/misplaced documents
• Streamlined electronic routing of documents for approval
• Web-enabled technology, making documents accessible to authorized users from any PC with a web browser
• Easily generated audit trails
• Convenient archiving and document retention management
• Green-compliant.

“ACOM’s Quick-Start Document Management Bundles are being developed for each of the Sage ERP solutions, to deliver the optimum functionality at the most favorable price,” added Torano Noting that ACOM’s Channel Division is a Silver Partner for the MIP and MAS ERP solutions, “Our relationship with Sage is very strong and our goal is to continue bringing optimized document management capabilities to their customer base, with the right solutions at the right price.”

TAPN Video Training Webinar

ACOM also announced that it has been named exclusive sponsor of The Accounts Payable Network’s (TAPN) 2010-2011 Electronic Payments video training webinar.

The online webinar under ACOM’s sponsorship will run through December 2011. People who are accredited with the IOMA/TAPN Accounts Payable Program will receive one CEU for watching the webinar. It is available for general viewing by TAPN members at no cost exclusively at www.TAPN.com

Individuals belonging to www.TheAPChannel.com or others interested in this ePayments webinar will be able to view the webinar free until Dec. 6, 2010, after which The AP Channel (TAPC) will charge $199 to enroll. Interested persons can sign up for the webinar at http://www.theapchannel.com/accounts-payable/node/11378

“We encourage accounts payable professionals to sign up for the training webinar early to learn how they can save their companies money by modernizing the payment process,” said Susan M. Bova, vice president Business Process Services, Training and Development, Financial Operations Networks. “It is not unusual for an electronic payments solution to pay for itself in only months through savings, depending on payment volume.”

Noting that as high as 81 percent of all companies still operate in a paper payment environment, and that others have attempted to automate payments but failed to generate the expected returns, the webinar asks and answers the question: How to turn this situation around? It further explores the details and cost trade-offs between expensive and personnel-intensive manual payment processes, the roles of payers, payees and banks in an automated electronic payment environment, and the types of solutions that are currently available.

“In a very thorough analysis, the TAPN presentation not only drills deeply into the problem but also provides concrete explanations and guidance in solving it,” said James R. Scott , ACOM senior vice president. “Much of this information coincides directly with the message that we have been communicating consistently with respect to the use of our payment solutions, which enables users to automate vendor enrollment for the receipt of ACH payments and electronic remittance delivery.”

“Where TAPN figures show paper-based invoice/check payment costs ranging from a low of $3 to a high of $63, ACOM customers using EZPayManager are able to generate electronic payments for 25 cents or less while also maintaining a largely untended, secure process. The contrast is dramatic and we encourage any company still using paper checks to seriously consider the alternative."

ACOM is the developer and marketer of the EZPayManager payment management solution for Microsoft Windows and IBM System i/iSeries environments. The solution integrates ACH and MICR laser payment processing as well as a suite of supplementary modules and is currently in use by some 3,000 companies. A single payment run accomplishes both the paper and electronic disbursements.

About The Accounts Payable Network

The Accounts Payable Network (TAPN) is the world's largest AP-focused organization, with a network of nearly 50,000 AP process owners in the U.S. and around the world. TAPN's deep, comprehensive resources for executives and managers who oversee accounts payable give members point-and-click access to an exclusive accounts payable knowledge-base to help manage costs, increase productivity, keep current with AP methods and technologies, maintain vital internal controls, avoid compliance-related penalties, assure current policies, and get answers to urgent questions. TAPN’s highly regarded training and certification programs provide AP education and credentialing for accounts payable managers and their staffs. Visit www.TAPN.com