Sage Summit 2017: Business Builders of All Sizes Embrace Artificial Intelligence and Automation

ATLANTA, GA--(Marketwired - May 15, 2017) -  Sage, the global market leader in cloud accounting and business management software, inspired thousands of business builders to embrace a future powered by artificial intelligence and automation at Sage Summit U.S. 2017. Over the course of three days, 5,000 attendees from around the world came together with local government leaders, including the Mayor of Atlanta Kasim Reed, executives, and AI experts to discuss the biggest issues and opportunities impacting business and entrepreneurship.

"Business Builders create two-thirds of new jobs and power the U.S. economy as well as creating social cohesion," said Stephen Kelly, CEO Sage. "Sage Summit U.S. is our opportunity to champion these heroes of the economy and recognize the sacrifices they make to follow their dreams. This week provided business builders with amazing tools and fantastic insights, enabling them to take advantage of the most exciting advances in the technology industry, no matter the size of their business."

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed welcomed Summit attendees to Atlanta, highlighting Sage's contributions to the city's growing recognition as a leading tech community and FinTech Center of Excellence:

"Atlanta is a city full of innovators and disrupters... We are fertile ground for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, because we are innovating in everything we do," said Reed. "We are immensely proud of our partnership with Sage and we look forward to building on that relationship in the future.

During Sage Summit, the first to be hosted in Sage's North American home, Atlanta, Sage stressed its technology-driven vision for invisible admin powered by artificial intelligence. The company also announced a series of product releases, including the first integration between Pegg, the world's first accounting chatbot, and Amazon's Alexa, allowing business builders to manage their finances using just their voice.

"Accounting is a perfect use case for automation, because it relies on repetitive, manual tasks," said Kriti Sharma, Vice President of Bots and Artificial Intelligence for Sage. "Using bots and AI to automate these processes, we allow business builders to focus on the more human elements of their business, freeing them up to focus on activities like acquiring new customers or driving innovation."

In the closing keynote, Sharma hosted a fireside chat with two AI experts: British entrepreneur Josh Browder, founder of DoNotPay, which helps motorists appeal their parking tickets, and Hassan Sawaf, who leads artificial intelligence efforts for Amazon web services, including the Lex deep learning technology that powers Alexa.

"Today, all businesses face digital disruption," said Josh Browder, founder, DoNotPay. "But business owners should consider this an opportunity, not a threat. Embracing technology like AI, bots, and automation will help future-proof business."

Additional highlights from Sage Summit U.S. include:

• Olympic gold medalist and notable entrepreneur George Foreman inspired the audience with a personal story of grit and perseverance, discussing the lessons he learned from his journey from heavyweight champion to global entrepreneur, proving that anything is possible.
• BOTlanta, a bot training camp for entrepreneurs: during this day-long event, Sage challenged entrepreneurs to consider how they can leverage chatbots and voice-activated bots to improve their business. Following a discussion, participants were taught how to create their own bots to help them better operate their businesses. One local entrepreneur developed a bot to instantly manage catering orders for a local bakery.
• Sage Foundation's "Big Give" expanded on Sage's global efforts to give back to its local communities, awarding a total of $30,000 to the Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta and Georgia Tech to develop a program to promote STEM subjects among young girls.

Sage Summit U.S. 2017 is the 8th event in a global series that has engaged thousands of entrepreneurs and business leaders from London to Paris, Madrid, Singapore, Melbourne, Berlin and Johannesburg. The next Sage Summit will take place in Toronto, Ontario, on June 27-28, 2017. Sage Summit US 2017 is supported by Microsoft and American Express as diamond sponsors and Kimble as a platinum sponsor, amongst others.

For more information, please visit http://www.sagesummit.com/united-states.

About Sage
Sage is the market and technology leader for integrated accounting, payroll and payment systems, supporting the ambition of entrepreneurs and business builders. Today, business builders measure success in strong relationships, partnerships, and communities. It's why Sage helps drive today's business builders with the most intelligent and flexible cloud-enabled software, support and advice to manage everything from money to people. Daily, more than 13,000 Sage colleagues in 23 countries work with a thriving global community of over 3 million entrepreneurs, business owners, tradespeople, accountants, partners and developers to champion the success of business builders everywhere. And as a FTSE 100 business, we are passionate about doing business the right way and supporting our local communities through the Sage Foundation.

Sage - the market and technology leader for integrated accounting, payroll and payment systems, powered by the cloud and supporting the ambition of the world's entrepreneurs and business builders. Because when business builders do well, we all do. For more information, visit www.sage.com.