Tag: Sage

Sage sees AI, automation, security and software-as-a-service (SaaS) growing

Posted on May 23, 2023 by - News

AI, automation, security and software-as-a-service (SaaS) is attracting a lot of interest according to the latest report from Sage

Sage’s Partnering for success: State of the IT channel ecosystem report said that AI is taking centre stage thanks to rising customer interest.

The supplier found that along with AI and automation, security and software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications are also in strong demand, and areas yielding revenue for the channel both now and increasingly in the future.

The expectation from many partners (47 per cent globally) is that the interest in AI will only accelerate. That has left many in the position of bolstering their skills to be able to support that growth.

Sage found the channel was using more AI and automation tools to improve their own businesses, and that was also driving increased interest and a demand for skilled staff, with almost half of UK respondents recruiting staff with skill sets in AI and machine learning.

Security is already a well-known revenue-generating area, and there are also signs there will be no slacking of the pace on that front, with 39 per cent of UK partners indicating it remains a vital source of growth for their organisation and customer pipeline. There were also high rates of demand for data privacy tools and services.

Sage completes Spherics takeover

Posted on October 18, 2022 by - News

ERP outfit Sage has completed its acquisition of Spherics, which will give it the power to help businesses slash their environmental impact.

The ERP software vendor claims the deal “reinforces” its commitment to sustainability, having pledged to fight climate change and help protect the planet by halving its own emissions by 2030 and becoming net zero by 2040.

Sage EVP of cloud operations Amaya Souarez said the acquisition of Spherics was an important milestone in the company’s sustainability strategy.

Sage makes a proposition to Lockstep

Posted on August 18, 2022 by - News

Sage has acquired Lockstep as it looks to “broaden its value proposition” for SMBs and expand its digital network.

Lockstep makes cloud native technology we presume for cloud natives. The software automates accounting workflows between companies.

As part of the transaction, Lockstep’s management team will join Sage to help drive the development of its digital network.

Sage said the acquisition is aligned with its ambition to be the trusted network for SMBs.

Sage finds cloud and cyber security most demanded skills

Posted on June 10, 2022 by - News

Sage has discoveredthat cloud computing and cyber security skills are the most demanded from new talent, with a sizeable portion also looking for evidence of coding skills.

There were clear signs that partners have been investing in skills, with many upskilling the workforce with a focus on technical and ecommerce areas.

K3 bottom line improves thanks to burning Sage

Posted on April 6, 2022 by - News

K3’s losses have improved after the outfit off-loaded two non-core units, including its Sage business for £1.68 million.

The software cloud solutions provider for the fashion industry has posted its final financial results for the 12 months to 30 November 2021.

It shows revenue was up three percent to £45.3 million while losses before tax from continuing operations decreased to -£7.8 million, compared with -£20.8 million in 2020.

This comes after Pinnacle Computing acquired K3s former Sage business for £1.68 million in September last year. K3 sold off its Starcom MSP arm to Node4 last February for £13.3 million.

Sage takes the rest of SaaS vendor Brightpearl

Posted on December 21, 2021 by - News

Sage has spent £225 million acquiring the remaining stake in SaaS vendor Brightpearl.
The UK-based ERP software vendor initially acquired a 17 percent stake in Brightpearl at the end of last year and the latest move will see Sage acquire the remaining 83 percent stake in the business. The acquisition will be funded via Sage’s existing cash and available liquidity.

Brightpearl is an SaaS vendor which offers a retail management system to retailers and wholesalers to give real-time business insights and help customers automate workflows.

The business will combine with Sage Intact to combine financial management, inventory planning, sales order management, purchasing and supplier management, CRM, fulfilment, warehousing and logistics management.

Brightpearl expects to generate £20 million in revenues for the 12 months ending December 2021, which would represent a 50 percent increase on the previous year. Its operating profit will break even during the same time frame, Sage claims.

The deal is expected to close in January 2022.

Sage CEO Steve Hare said that together, Sage and Brightpearl will remove the barriers that hold back retailers and wholesalers, streamlining their systems and enabling them to focus on growth.

“I’m delighted to welcome Brightpearl, its management team and colleagues to Sage, and look forward to executing on our strategic priorities together and delivering accelerated growth”, he said.

 

 

K3 considers closure of ‘under-performing’ third-party solutions arm

Posted on March 25, 2020 by - News

Microsoft and Sage partner   K3 is “actively reviewing” the possibility of shuttering one of its under performing third-party solutions units.

It issued the warning as it announced it would be revealing its full-year results for its year ending 30 November 2019 at a later date, following advice from the FCA and AIM.

K3 is declining to forecast business operations for the current financial year, due to the impact of COVID-19. It intends to provide a further trading update in May.

Yooz partners with Sage

Posted on February 19, 2020 by - News

P2P automation software provider Yooz is expanding its global strategic partnership with Sage Intacct, the leading accounting software, in the UK.

The partnership will increase the business value of companies’ Finance and Accounts departments by providing better visibility into payables at any time and make more informed decisions with real-time data.

For those who came in late, Yooz is a cloudy AP automation provider integrating over 200 accounting and ERP software programs worldwide, based on AI, machine learning and deep learning technologies. The solution streamlines the AP workflow into a few automated steps: capture, enter, approve, pay and export invoices, cutting the processing time from weeks to days and decreasing administrative costs by 70 percent.

V1 backs Sage’s cloud vision with RPA software upgrade

Posted on July 31, 2019 by - News, Products

V1 has released a new version of its Robotic Process Automation (RPA) software to support technology giant and partner Sage in its plans to become a cloud-centric company.

The Invoice Automation solution, which Sage’s reseller community is already offering to its customers, includes enhanced cloud capabilities to ensure close integration with Sage X3. Key functional aspects to V1’s upgrade include a more straightforward and more responsive and modern interface to enhance the customer experience further, supporting Sage and its resellers’ intentions to help organisations make the most of the cloud.

V1 goes gold with Sage

Posted on March 7, 2019 by - News

Finance automation company V1 has announced it will be a Gold Partner at the Sage Summit in Dubai on 2-4 April

The event’s overarching theme is ‘drive to thrive’, and V1 will demonstrate how the benefits of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) has boosted sales for the thriving business, especially around its partnership with Sage. The company achieved ‘Rockstar’ status within the Sage partner community in 2017 and has seen 28 per cent  growth in channel bookings, year on year.

Silver Peak appoints three new executives

Posted on December 5, 2018 by - Moving People, News

Global SD-WAN contender Silver Peak announced three new senior executive appointments as part of its future plans.

The new appointments include Ken Laversin, Chief Revenue Officer, Kathleen Swift, Senior Vice President, Human Resources and Rick Valentine, Chief Customer Officer.

A company spokesperson said the executive appointments, which follow a series of regional and channel leadership appointments, will enable Silver Peak to

Sage CEO exits

Posted on September 4, 2018 by - Moving People, News

banner_220x220Sage CEO Stephen Kelly has stepped down from his role at the accountancy software vendor, Sage despite apparently turning the outfit around.

Sage’s numbers had been pretty dire this year, but showed signs of recovery during an update to the London Stock Exchange at the start of August.

On his resignation Kelly said: “I joined Sage four years ago and am immensely proud of the extraordinary change that I have had the privilege to lead. I joined a fragmented organisation with minimal presence in the cloud. The major cultural transformation has created Sage Business Cloud which has now grown to £386 million of annualised recurring revenue from a standing start and has driven total shareholder return for Sage of over twice that of the FTSE100 during my tenure.”

Chairman Donald Brydon said: “Stephen has much to be proud of in the very heavy lifting he has led as the group is transformed.

“He energised the group, drove change with relentless focus on customers, and under his leadership the strategy to become a leading SaaS business has been defined. The board remains fully supportive of the overall strategy. We wish Stephen well in the next phase of his life.”

 

 

 

Sage misses its numbers

Posted on April 16, 2018 by - News

sageNumber crunching software outfit Sage fell short of revenue growth expectations.

In a trading update, the accountancy software vendor said its organic revenue growth for the six months ending 31 March 2018 was 6.3 percent, down from 7.4 percent in the same period last year. Sage has reduced its revenue growth estimate for the full year to seven percent, from eight percent.

Sage CEO Stephen Kelly said that growth in H1 2018 was lower than his expectations as the pace of execution has been slower than we planned.

“The revised revenue guidance targets for FY18 reflect both the performance in H1 2018, but also our diligence in ensuring that we focus on recurring revenue to drive sustainable acceleration throughout the rest of FY18 as a platform into FY19.”

Recurring revenue growth has been hit hardest; the trading update said, down from 11.1 percent in H1 2017 to 6.4 percent this year, which it attributed to “inconsistent operational execution”.

Software and services growth declined 0.2 percentage points, which Sage blamed on “slippages” in enterprise licensing contracts in the US, Africa, and the Middle East. However, the vendor expects some of this to be rectbe fixed in the second half of the year.

The North America market performed well, at double-digit growth, but the EMEA region disappointed.

 

Sage spruces up its channel training

Posted on January 24, 2018 by - News

sageSoftware outfit Sage is making improvements to its channel support to help partners looking to change their business model obtain new customers.

The firm is facing demand from users for support for mid market and cloud-based solutions and needs more partners to get into adapt to those new customer targets.

The business intelligence and accounting software player has a large global channel base, with 1,600 partners in the UK, and has increased the account managers that can help guide resellers to new business opportunities.

Jennifer Warawa, EVP partners and alliances at Sage, said Sage had increased the training to make sure people could offer resellers a different level of service.

She said that the partner account model was more transactional. “We need to advise, to be strategic, and to help them through the transformation of their own business.”

Helping the channel change its business model could not be done with a webcast or a booklet because Sage needed to talk to people face to face and take a more personal approach.

As well as going for fresh opportunities, Sage is also encouraging partners to focus on vertical markets or to develop a specialisation, for instance in business intelligence.

 

Simple Systems integrates with Sage One

Posted on November 8, 2017 by - News

SONY DSCThe UK based CRM vendor, Really Simple Systems, has launched an integration with Sage One accounting and invoicing on their new CRM Version 5. The integration that went live on 1 November 2017 lets small businesses integrate their CRMs directly with the accounting software using just a few click.

The Sage One integration with Really Simple Systems is an update to the CRM Version 5, released earlier this year. This modification integrates the latest version of the Sage One API, the API v3, with the new version CRM, giving improved functionality and security.

The Sage One integration with Really Simple Systems is available to customers in the UK, creating a workflow between the two business software solutions. The pairing looks to provide everything a small business needs to manage their sales and accounting with no specialized technical knowledge.

Simple Systems marketing manager, Helen Armour, said: “You can easily synchronise customer records between your CRM and Sage One, create invoices directly from your sales opportunities, and manage your product stock levels. The integration works in real-time so your sales team can view their customers’ balances at a glance.”

“Importantly for small business owners is that setting up the integration is easy” continued Armour. “This means they can get on with managing their business, knowing their finances are in safe hands, with minimal effort.”

Integration with Sage One is now available on all Simple Systems CRM plans, including the freemium service.