A TEESSIDE business has done a deal with Sage which has led to the acquisition of a new IT product and has enabled the company to create an additional revenue stream.
Cornerstone Business Solutions (CBS), based in Thornaby, wanted to build on its successful product portfolio by offering clients IT accounts support.
The company, which specialises in helping businesses work smarter, carried out an audit of its own business and realised it could work more efficiently by obtaining access to key Sage accountancy software. This would save the business money and is a service that could be extended further to its clients.
The process of gaining accreditation from Sage, which usually takes three-four months, was simplified as both companies had previously worked together, and resulted in CBS attaining the prestigious Sage Business Partner certification quicker than anticipated.
Chris Petty, managing director at CBS, said: “We pride ourselves on the fact that regardless of the size of businesses that approach us, we have the services and expertise to suit their needs. Nonetheless, after an internal audit we realised there was scope not only for us to work more effectively and save money in the mean time, but also to offer our customers an additional service.
“Following this we carried out research with potential clients and they agreed that Sage accountancy support would benefit them and influence the decision they made in terms of what business support company they wanted to work with. This led us to take steps to become a Sage Business Partner.”
The accreditation is a key milestone for CBS in what has been a hugely successful first 12 months for the business.
Deborah Hails, Business Partner Manager from Sage, said: “As soon as we met Chris and his team we knew they could really add value to their own business, and that of their customers, with our IT software.
“As a newly launched business CBS has achieved an incredible amount of success in such a short space of time. They want to remain leaders in their field and were astute in identifying areas that would create a competitive differentiation for them. We didn’t think twice about supporting them as we knew it would immediately benefit them and us.”
The business, which was launched eight months ago, smashed its 12-month turnover target within the first 12 weeks and is continuing to go from strength-to-strength. Mr Petty said: “We knew we had to create a solid foundation to the business if we were going to make the impact we were keen to achieve.
“We carried out several months of research into the needs of business in this region, spent a lot of resources training staff up to our exacting standards and assessing well-targeted opportunities for developing the business.
“It is these three aspects of our business that we believe set us apart and enable us to continue to grow; that and the fact we are nice people.”