• Simplifying invoice process for end-customers with ‘one-click’ payment
• Helping to reduce the burden of late payments for Sage customers

Sage (FTSE: SGE), the market leader in cloud business management solutions today announced its extended integration with Microsoft to deliver a swift, seamless payment experience from within the Outlook email application. With Microsoft Outlook accounting for over half of business email boxes, this new feature will enable Sage Business Cloud customers to get paid faster with no extra cost to their business.

Utilising invoice payments powered by Stripe, Sage’s integration with Microsoft Outlook enables Sage customers to click ‘send via email’, through their Sage software to the end-customer. End-customers then pay invoices from inside their inbox, in just a few short clicks. Once payment is received it is automatically reconciled within their Sage Business Cloud solution, enabling Sage customers to reduce the burden of administration and focus on growing their business.

Through providing the end user with the easiest and most flexible way to pay, Sage customers are enabled to avoid late payments and maintain cashflow. With recent studies showing that small businesses spend up to 120 days a year on administrative tasks, and up to 15 days spent chasing late payments, this couldn’t be more important to help improve the productivity of UK businesses.

Seamus Smith, EVP Worldwide Payments & Banking at Sage said “Today’s launch is another great technology innovation which will make getting paid even easier for our customers. We’re delighted to see the collaboration between our partners Microsoft and Stripe bringing new functionality that will reduce the burden of late payments for our customers. We know that when making a payment is made easy, you don’t have to ask twice. Automatic and digital methods that make payments as simple as ‘one-click’ help eliminate the top obstacles of getting paid on time.”

Mike Ammerlaan, Director, Product Marketing Ecosystem, Microsoft Corp said, “We know business owners don’t want to spend time chasing late payments – jeopardizing important customer relationships. Integrations from Sage, which make use of Stripe functionality, make the payment process easier and simpler to navigate – increasing the chance of immediate payment and reducing the administration involved around late payments. We are pleased that Sage is offering this capability to deliver a frictionless payment experience.”

Available from June 2018 for Sage Business Cloud Accounting customers in the UK and US using Stripe, with further roll-out across 2018.