Sage North America Reveals Mobile and Cloud Business Apps Strategy to Help SMBs Fuel Growth

NASHVILLE, TN--(Marketwire - Aug 13, 2012) - At its annual Sage Summit customer and partner conference today Sage North America CEO Pascal Houillon and CTO Himanshu Palsule unveiled details of the company's strategy to help small and midsized businesses (SMBs) in North America take advantage of mobile devices and the cloud to better manage their business processes. Sage is a leading global provider of accounting, ERP and other business management applications and services for small and midsized businesses, with more than 3 million customers in North America and more than 6 million customers worldwide.

"Mobile and cloud computing have become driving forces for efficiency among small and midsized businesses," said Houillon. "A recent survey(1) of SMB owners showed that 36% of them now use tablets or cloud computing, up from just 14% a year ago. A third of them use both. These early adopters stay connected longer to their business and in more ways. They are also more successful and faster growing. Sage is delivering for the cloud and mobile computing today, and we are committed to helping SMBs be successful in this new world."

Houillon described the company's global three-pronged approach to the cloud -- each aimed at a specific segment of the SMB market, and each supporting mobile access.

First: Sage One, a multitenant SaaS solution for small businesses with up to nine employees that is built on the open-source web application framework Ruby on Rails. Sage One was launched in the U.S. this past May, and the company announced upcoming features that will be deployed to customers as they are completed, including banking integration, mobile capabilities and online invoice payment.

Second: a new generation of hybrid cloud technology in which Sage will work closely with Microsoft, using its Azure platform. Sage Construction Anywhere, built on Azure, is already in the market, having launched in North America this past May. Development on Azure is under way for the company's ERP products, notably Sage 300 ERP (formerly Sage ERP Accpac). The company also announced that Sage 300 ERP 2012 will ship this quarter and will include enhanced usability features, such as Sage Advisor and Visual Processes, as well as connected services for mobile access to the ERP system.

Third: the next generation of Sage ERP X3, a fully web-enabled ERP platform for the mid-market that promises to deliver new levels of simplicity in user interface, data processing and data storage models for midmarket ERP. The Sage ERP X3 platform, code-named Syracuse, will be delivered in North America in 2013. The company also announced the release of the newest edition of Sage ERP X3, version 6.5, which offers integration with Sage SalesLogix and various connected services, to begin shipping in October, including the availability for the first time of subscription pricing.

Following Houillon, CTO Himanshu Palsule described the company's strategy to make additional investments in cloud and mobile services that will expand the company's growing portfolio. That portfolio already includes services like Sage One for managing team collaboration, projects and billing; Sage Source for managing employee communications; and Sage Mobile Payments, which has been used by organizations like the Girl Scouts to take credit card transactions on mobile phones with direct integration to Sage back-office accounting and ERP systems.

Palsule demonstrated two new mobile apps designed to let SMBs take product orders, invoice services and accept payments on their tablets and smartphones with all the vital ERP information at their fingertips. These role-based mobile apps turn smartphones and tablets into powerful selling tools for its SMB customers.

Houillon concluded his address to the Sage business partner community, acknowledging the opportunity of changes ahead driven by a clear focus on SMB needs:

"Without a doubt, we are in a world of rapid change. But each of us should remember: Our customers are what fuel our world. By using our core strengths to tend to our customer needs, and by being willing to make bold moves in response, we are all part of the growth ahead."

About Sage
Sage is a leading global supplier of business management software and services for small and midsized businesses. The Sage Group plc, formed in 1981, was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1989 and now employs more than 12,600 people and supports more than 6 million customers worldwide. For more information about Sage in North America, please visit the company website at SageNorthAmerica.com. Follow Sage North America on Facebook, facebook.com/SageNorthAmerica, and Twitter, twitter.com/SageNAmerica.

© 2012 Sage Software, Inc. All rights reserved. Sage, Sage Software, Sage logos and the Sage product and service names mentioned herein are registered trademarks or trademarks of Sage Software, Inc. or its affiliated entities. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

(1) American City Business Journals SMB Insights 2012