Sage Technology Strategy Drives Choice and Opportunity for North American Small and Medium-Sized Business

LAS VEGAS, NV--(Marketwired - Jul 29, 2014) -  Sage Summit 2014 - Sage North America, a leading provider of business management software and services for small and midsized businesses(SMBs), today shared a significant progress update on the company's technology roadmap in three key areas shaping the future for SMBs: Hybrid Cloud, Mobility, and Big Data/Business Intelligence.

Pascal Houillon, president and chief executive officer, and Himanshu Palsule, chief technology officer and head of product strategy, shared further details of, and progress against, the strategy at Sage Summit 2014 in Las Vegas, the company's reimagined annual event offering a one-of-a kind immersive educational experience for small and midsize businesses.

Over the past few years, Sage has focused on strengthening its core accounting and ERP offerings, developing new cloud solutions and introducing strong connected services to extend its desktop offerings in a hybrid cloud model. In today's keynote, Houillon and Palsule talked about the future, and how Sage is evolving to address the needs of SMBs in North America.

"Sage understands SMBs better than any other vendor. We've served this market for more than 30 years, and we understand our customers need choices, not ultimatums, simplicity, not complication when it comes to the technology running their businesses," said Houillon. "The Cloud, mobility, convergence -- all of these things are a means to an end: a more efficient business. Sage offers choice in all of these so that our customers can grow and thrive now and in the future." 

The Sage strategy of purposeful innovation is not driven by products, but driven by broader trends from across the market, from the impact of Big Data on big business to convergence and mobility in consumer markets. The Sage portfolio, ecosystem and purposeful innovation approach uniquely position the company to take advantage of key market trends shaping the business landscape -- movement to the cloud, prevalence of and reliance on mobile devices and global access to data -- to continue solving the unmet needs of SMBs. Sage is bringing together the best of all of these in three key areas to create new products and experiences for SMBs that will drive business forward. 

Hybrid Cloud and Mobility:
The Cloud is the best way to make data accessible to anyone, anywhere on any device, but not all businesses are adopting the Cloud at the same pace. Enterprise embraced a hybrid cloud strategy long ago, but in many cases SMBs are forced to make an all or nothing choice -- all cloud or all desktop -- however one size does not fit all. Sage's innovative approach to the cloud provides tremendous flexibility for SMBs to choose the capabilities they need, and the choice of when they'd like to add them. Sage offers Cloud, desktop, and hybrid solutions that help businesses operate more efficiently no matter their challenges. With the Sage Data Cloud, SMBs can extend the reach of their desktop solutions to do business anytime, anywhere; so that they have the power and depth of a desktop solution with the flexibility and reach of the Cloud.

"To Sage, purposeful innovation means technology driven by business processes, not business processes dictated by technology," said Himanshu Palsule. "It's not jamming a certain enterprise technology downmarket, and it's not enforcing a specific delivery method. It's delivering a solution that meets a need, solves a problem and offers choice." 

In a diverse market for SMBs, Sage is accelerating introduction of new Cloud-based solutions, such as Sage 300 Online, launching this week at Sage Summit. Sage 300 Online is ideal for SMBs that have outgrown their basic accounting software and are seeking to increase collaboration, streamline their operations and get a complete picture of their business anytime from anywhere. Also at Sage Summit, attendees will get a sneak peek of the new Sage One mobile app for solopreneurs, expected later this year. 

Sage ERP X3 is also expanding to the Cloud, with the upcoming launch of Sage ERP X3 Online, which takes all of the core functionality of Sage ERP X3 Version 7 to the Cloud for medium-sized businesses. Sage ERP X3 Online will be demonstrated at Sage Summit with further announcements and programs coming soon.

Mobility:
Leveraging consumer trends in mobility, Sage is making the Cloud more actionable for SMBs. By combining the ability to share data in real time via the Cloud with the convenience of mobility, companies are rapidly transforming their sales and services operations resulting in increased growth and profitability with applications like Sage Mobile Sales, Sage Mobile Service, and Sage Mobile Payments. Using the Sage Data Cloud, Sage mobile applications are device-native and enable SMBs to use the Cloud in the way that makes the most sense to them. 

"Sage understands that 'SMB' is not just a size category, but a set of business characteristics, situations, circumstances, and people who require a great deal more flexibility and freedom than most business management software solutions and vendors can provide," said Bruce Guptill, SVP & Head of Research, Saugatuck Technology, Inc. "And as we've noted to our research clients, Sage has adeptly moved toward a Cloud-enabled, mobile-friendly positioning that enables choice and flexibility that SMBs -- including their owners -- require to be successful. We believe that Sage is making the right moves, and doing so adroitly so far."

Big Data for Small and Medium-sized Businesses:
Sage is also helping its customers and partners harness the power of Big Data in a meaningful way. Earlier this year, Sage introduced the Sage Advisor Dashboard for Partners, which gives them deeper insight and intelligence into their customer base, which means more revenue growth and richer customer relationships. Debuting at Sage Summit, Sage Business Intelligence online (or Sage Intelligence Go!) will bring the power of Big Data to SMBs by leveraging existing data inside of Sage ERP with Excel to quickly filter, analyze and summarize information. It also will have the capability to bring in and summarize data from external sources, so that a business owner could use Sage Intelligence Go! to look at anything from current sales leads to comparisons of the business's pricing with other local businesses. Sage Intelligence Go! is the Cloud version of Sage Business Intelligence and will be available in 2015. 

These and other new products and services from Sage will be showcased live this week at Sage Summit at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Can't make it to the conference? In an effort to include as many small and medium-sized businesses in the conversations as possible, Sage will offer live streaming of daily keynotes at the conference. Tuesday, July 29, Wednesday, July 30, and Thursday, July 31, interested parties may visit www.SageSummit.com to gain access to keynote conversations featuring Sage executives and top business leaders.

About The Sage Group plc
We provide small and medium-sized organizations with a range of easy-to-use, secure, and efficient business management software and services -- from accounting and payroll to enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management, and payments. Our customers receive continuous advice and support through our global network of local experts to help them solve their business problems, giving them the confidence to achieve their business ambitions. Formed in 1981, Sage was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1989 and entered the FTSE 100 in 1999. Sage has over 6 million customers and more than 12,700 employees in 24 countries covering the UK & Ireland, mainland Europe, North America, South Africa, Australia, Asia, and Brazil. For further information please visit: www.sage.com.

For more information about Sage in North America, please visit the company website at NA.Sage.com. Follow Sage North America on Facebook, Facebook.com/Sage, and Twitter, Twitter.com/SageNAmerica.

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