Sage targeting KashFlow, Mamut and NetSuite
02 Oct 2009, Rachael Singh, AccountancyAge
http://www.accountancyage.com/aa/news/1776614/sage-targeting-kashflow-mamut-netsuite
Sage has taken its gloves off and is zeroing in on competitors such as KashFlow, NetSuite, Mamut, and Iris by giving customers a 25% discount to move suppliers.
Customers using software such as HMRC online, Intuit, Microsoft Dynamics, Peagus Opera II and MYOB can trade in their old package to receive a discount as long as they can prove they are using one of the competitors listed.
Graeme Edwards, head of commercial marketing for Sage's small business division, said: "We're proud of our software and services for small business and like any company, we're always keen to attract new customers."
The discount is offered on Sage 50 Accounts, Sage 50 Payroll and ACT! By Sage.
KashFlow launched a similar deal earlier this year offering Sage customers, amongst others, a year's free subscription if they moved. It has so far received over £30,000 worth of products from competitors.
Kashflow CEO, Duane Jackson, said: "I'm quite flattered that we're the only web-based accounting product they think is directly comparable to Sage 50 Accounts."
"I'm so sure they won't get a single KashFlow customer from this promotion that I'll put their offer on my blog for all KashFlow customers to see," he added.
Sage has said the offer is only available to businesses and does not include Sage 50 Business, Sage 50 Financial, Sage 50 people packages or Sage Instant/Start up.
The company previously offered a 15% discount increasing the amount in the last few months with the 25% promotion to run until the end of December.
Further reading:
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Visitor comments
MyPaye in the frame
We have just integrated our online Payroll solution MyPAYE with Kashflow and the 25% discount on Sage Payroll brings us into the picture too. It will be interesting to see how competitive this will make their product against our monthly fee of £1 per employee. I don?t think we will be losing too many users either. Delighted that Kashflow are considered a big enough threat to warrant this kind of discount offering from the old guard
Posted by: Neil Seekins , 02 Oct 2009 | 00:00
Self indulgent BS
The blind leading the blind.
Why is it that large successful companies buy ERP such as SAP, Mamut, NetSuite and Salesorder.com as opposed to an accounting system? You wouldn't buy a book that only contained the final chapters so why would any sensible business buy an online accounting system. There is more to running a business than doing accounts - Sage and Kashflow, grow up and stop all this self indulgent media BS, start providing small business ERP and serve small businesses as opposed to misleading them.......
Posted by: Hector Mercury , 02 Oct 2009 | 00:00
Choice is A Good Thing
Different companies need different products. Sage has a range of products aimed at different points in the market. If you want a general purpose financial accounting package for a small business then Sage 50 is an excellent choice (as are a number of other packages). If you want more than the product offers then Sage 50 is probably not the right product for you - and that's why Sage have Sage 200, Sage 500, Sage 1000 and other products in their portfolio. The problem for many small businesses is that to go for a more sophisticated product often means a large (and unrealistic) increase in price.
Companies that produce accounting software are product led companies. A successful product strategy will give customers the chance to adopt different products for different needs. To sell more product, particularly in a difficult economy, you have to encourage customers to buy your product and replace a competitor's. Using promotional pricing is a valid way to do that.
If Hector Mercury is frustrated at the limited features in small business accounting products then I am sure he is not alone. However, most small businesses do not have a dedicated accounts department or professionally qualified staff and are happy with the systems they have. I am CEO at Online50 - we have provided hosted accounting software since 2001 and although we carry a range of products most of our small business customers still choose to run Sage 50. If Hector (or anyone else) would like to see a much more functional small business accounting / ERP package then they are welcome to come to Softworld (October 13th and 14th) and come to one of our Ambition Accounting seminars. We have worked with an established product and packaged it so that users can easily grow the software with their needs. It is available on a per user per month license as either a browser application or a hosted Windows application.
We expect to continue to supply Sage 50 in volume because it is an excellent product for the market it is aimed at, and still the customer's favourite choice. Sage have presented Sage 50 alongside Ambition Accounting at an event for our partner accountants. They encourage us to carry other products and are happy to compete against them.
Posted by: Rob Lambden , 05 Oct 2009 | 00:00