Archive for the ‘Sage’ Category
Sage Reports “Resilient” 6 Month March 2012 Results
Sage today is reporting 6 month unaudited earnings through March 31, 2012 (aka H1 2012) – adding 129,000 new paying customers H1 2012 vs 131,000 in H1 2011. Overall organic revenue growth is reported as 2% H1 2012 vs 5% in H1 2011.
Reuters is reporting that Sage’s earnings missed forecasts and that as a result share price is down.
Total revenue growth rates in North America appear to be flat with organic subscriptions growing 2% vs 4% in H1 2011. Notably Sage is ramping up for an North America imminent launch of SageOne, their pure SaaS entry level accounting offering.
Some interesting takeaways from the report (which you can download here). Where bolding is added that is my emphasis to what I consider the key takeaways as they relate to Sage performance in North America:
Sage ERP MAS 90 and 200 Re-Branding Kicks In Starting May 15, 2012
Sage is starting to make notifications to at least one owner of a LinkedIn group with the brand name Sage ERP MAS 90 and 200 that starting May 15, 2012 the name must be changed to reflect the new Sage 100 ERP branding.
This is the first time that we’ve noticed a timetable for the Sage ERP MAS 90 and 200 products. Previously the timetable had loosely been defined as starting with the next major product release. For Sage ERP MAS 90 and 200 that would have been late 2012 when Sage ERP MAS 90 and 200 version 5.0 is due to be released Q4 2012.
Sage’s Larry Ritter Joins Joe Bergera at Roper Industries
As we were the first to report on April 17, 2012 – Sage’s former VP and GM of Worldwide CRM Solutions has indeed left Sage and according to his LinkedIn page joins former Sage colleague Joe Bergera at Roper Industries where he will work as VP “ across software business segments and product lines to enhance and develop overall strategic direction. Create synergistic platforms, business transformation and collaboration across mulitple businesses. Actively lead expansion into adjacent and international markets”.
With the exception of Sage’s Dan Wilzoch, it would appear that most of the executive team within Sage’s CRM division has departed within the last year. In October 2011 Sage and four of their top CRM managers parted ways after Joe Bergera had left in March 2011.
Sage’s executive web site has not yet been updated and still is showing Larry Ritter as of early this morning.
Google Alerts Is Not Enough: Thinning of The Reactive Herd
There was a time back right after the invention of electricity but before the widespread use of motorized vehicles that vendors with crappy salespeople didn’t have to worry about customers talking to each other and sharing their poor service experiences.
Heads up – the world’s changed.
Sage Summit 2012: How to Make Money While Friending, Blogging, and Checking in
I just received session time and date information for our Sage Summit 2012 course – “How to Make Money While Friending, Blogging and Checking In”.
This year’s session is a panel where each person has been hand picked to discuss ways consultants (just like you and me) are using social media to make money.
No theory.
No untested concepts.
No 1,500 Powerpoint slide decks that have your eyes rolling back in your head midway through the talk
No assuming you’re a novice and have not figured out how to turn on a computer or use a keyboard.
Each person on the panel is a full time independent Sage consultant engaged in either ERP or CRM consulting. No marketing or social media experts. Just good old fashioned experience.
We will share with you what has worked for our companies – and what has not. Those tips alone could save your hours of time.
What I like best about this panel is that NONE of us have a thing to sell you.
We don’t offer SEO, web hosting, social media consulting.
We are not going to waste your time droning on about how to send a tweet, log into Facebook or create a YouTube video.
This session is for people who are sick and tired of buying leads online, shaking hands, making cold calls, replying to RFPs, waiting in conference rooms and answering free “quick questions”.
So Just What Will You Learn?
- How to brand yourself so business comes to you
- How to eliminate the competition in deals
- How to come up with ideas for social media content
- The one (and only) thing that matters in social media
- How to become more active without hiring
- The one tactic to use above all others
- What absolutely doesn’t work
- Fixed price risk reversed proposals
- Shortcuts to making fixed pricing work
- Resources (sample access agreements, menu pricing, etc)
Sage Summit Is A Busy Place – Here’s Your Opportunity To Get Together With A Room Full Of Experts
Our panel is scheduled for Tuesday 8/14 2pm – 3:15pm. We’ll stick around until all the questions are answered.
Panelists :
Sam Biardo – http://techadv.com/
Apryl Hanson – http://www.blytheco
Peter Wolf – http://www.azamba.com
Robert Wood – http://www.ddfcgi.com
I Recommend Attending This Session…
But Only If you are interested in a proven process for attracting customers where the NEW NORMAL ‘sales’ process goes like this:
“Hello I would like more information on becoming a customer”
>> Great – where did you hear about us?
“I have been reading and following your posts for some time now. As a matter of fact I’ve printed out your access agreement – and our philosophies are the same. When can we get started?”
Sage’s Larry Ritter Joins “Pursuing Opportunity Outside Sage”
Sage’s Senior Vice President and General Manager Sage CRM Solutions Larry Ritter will depart effective Monday April 23, 2012.
Larry joined Sage in 2004 and most recently was senior vice president and general manager with responsibility for Sage’s Contact Management Solutions, most notably Sage ACT!. Previously he led product strategy, product management, product marketing and user experience for the Sage CRM Solutions product family comprised of Sage ACT!, SageCRM, and Sage SalesLogix.
Hightower Inc Winding Down?
Lots of speculation over what has happened — and is happening — at ERP VAR Hightower Inc of Skokie IL.
It’s been almost a week since reports surfaced that employees were sent home with their belongings in a box and told to await further word. Everyone involved in the company – and what I presume are negotiations over what to do with customers and intellectual property – have been silent.
Unlike seasonal businesses such as landscapers and house painters – consulting is not usually one where you can lay off crews of employees for large gaps of time.
In the consulting world appearing to disband your business prior to having a deal for someone to take over servicing the customers doesn’t exactly put you in a power position for negotiating any potential sale or transfer.
I don’t expect the sounds of silence to continue much longer. Either Hightower is going to need to announce something or Sage likely will do it for them.
This report from Bob Scott last night indicates New York based Net@Work may have a deal for the customer base although nothing officially has been announced as of yet,
SWK handling HighTower client and reseller support effective today bit.ly/GPYOZi
— Brian W Dunn (@brianwdunn) March 23, 2012
UPDATE: March 23, 2012 9:00AM ET – Hightower’s Blog Site has been updated to indicate that “Effective today, Friday March 23, 2012, SWK will be handling all HighTower client support, as well as supporting resellers of HighTower enhancements“.
Are you a partner or consultant for Sage products? Join the private conversation on our partner Facebook group or LinkedIn Group.
ERP VAR Hightower Inc Reportedly Closes For Undetermined Period of Time
A consultant who claims that one of his employee’s received a phone call from Hightower Inc reached out to me to say he had been told the support case they have pending with Skokie IL ERP consultants Hightower Inc. may take a little while to be resolved.
According to one of my 90 Minds members who spoke to their Hightower representative:
We had an open support case with them and got a call from our rep that they were shutting down
I have a message into Hightower executives. Calls today (3/20/12) to their phone line listed on the web site have gone unanswered. Update: As of 2:28 pm ET 3/20/12 the phone message is indicating that Hightower is experiencing a serious data interruption to voice and email.
Sage Partners Gather To Discuss Change
A group of approximately 100 Sage partners (panelists pictured above left to right- Moira Goggin (Chismet Consulting – event co-organizer), Mary Abdian (Macabe Associates) , Doug Deane (DSD Business Systems) , John Hoyt (Hutchinson and Bloodgood), Bill Kizer (xKzero)) gathered today in Lake Forest California. The group was split about 50/50 with some consultants attending in person and others remotely (web ex) for an in-depth discussion of changes that have been rolled out to the Sage eco-system (margins, certifications, subscription pricing, partner compensation).
From Hide & Seek to LinkedIn Group Meeting
Kudos to Bill Kizer for arranging a LinkedIn group meeting for Sage Parters, Alumni and Employees which at last count showed 100 people RSVPing they would attend.
Bill persevered in creating this meeting despite the software publisher suggesting a game of channel hide and seek instead.
Don’t you love social media?
The event happens Thursday March 15, 2012 and features a panel discussion with some top VARs, prizes, sharing, vendor presentations, networking.
There’s still time to register -UPDATE: Event has occurred. Read our wrap up of this networking event – Sage Consultant LinkedIn Summit.
