Sage makes final plea
Sage certainly knows how to throw a party. Last week’s Sage Equals Partners event held at Vinopolis in central London was heaving.
Paul Stobart, the company’s chief, had the audience enthralled during his
keynote speech, apologising for the ‘dismissive’ way the company had dealt with
its core channel partners, accountants, during recent times.
His timing could not have been more appropriate. Firstly, and just moments
after making his apology, Stobart announced the next wave of products from the
Sage stable. They are targeted at accountants, funnily enough.
Apparently Sage’s newly designed software should integrate with stablemates
more easily than they have in the past, an issue that the company has been
wrestling with for some time.
Sage has finally got around to hosting an online service that will be based
around Line 50, despite similar services running successfully on the internet
for the last couple of years. Interestingly enough, based on a monthly pricing
model - another cause of much consternation - rather than Sage’s traditional
yearly licenses.
And with a massive amount of interest from the software industry to work with
accountants as a channel to market, Stobart may have stepped in just in time.
But whether his Sage Equal Partners plea is viewed as a real change of heart, or
just cynical marketing, only time will tell.
Kevin Reed edits Accountancy Age’s technology page