Former Sage boss to compete against them

Michael Jackson the former chairman of Sage is to compete against the software vendor to provide SMEs with accounting software.

Written by Rachael Singh

Accountancy Age, 27 May 2008

Michael Jackson the former Sage chairman is to compete against the software giant for a place in the accountancy technology market.

Jackson is preparing to take a 25%-30% stake in an AIM listed software company to use as a means of buying other businesses - including a small accountancy software company, the Daily Telegraph reported.

Analysts have criticised Sage, saying the company has been slow to embrace 'software as a service' – software held on remote servers and paid for using methods similar to utility bills.

Jackson said 'A lot of people have been trying to write Sage off for a very long time and they will not be able to do that, but I think the reality is things are changing'.

Coda recently launch Coda2go, software aimed at the SME market which allows users to pay a monthly fee for the technology.

Jackson also added that he was looking into companies that offer debt collection, auction and e-commerce software.