A TELECOMMUNICATIONS company is offering its clients an additional service after teaming up with a North-East software group.

Cornerstone Business Solutions (CBS), based in Thornaby, near Stockton, has teamed up with Newcastle based Sage to offer clients IT accounts support.

CBS, which specialises in helping businesses make telephony and IT systems work more efficiently, carried out an audit of its own business and realised it could work more efficiently by obtaining access to key Sage accountancy software.

It realised it was a service that could be extended further to its clients.

The process of gaining accreditation from Sage, which usually takes three to four months, was simplified as both companies had previously worked together, and resulted in CBS attaining the 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.”