SSCI doesn't require a bucket load of integration. But it does meet a huge need for larger Sage 100 customers. Interesting note - this is not yet integrated into X3, which is aimed at larger mfg and distrib firms. Regardless of its non-applicability to a large swath of Sage 100 customers, this sends a positive message. BTW, this can only work if the vendors join; Sage is NOT charging vendors to participate.
Sage Connect. Mike was clear that the payments part was a drawback, and they haven't decided exactly how to handle it. Customer portals come in a variety of functionality. We should be helping customers figure out what's best for them. Customer portals are becoming a big deal, and I don't think any of the portals offered directly by ERP include payments without being forced into a captive credit card/ACH source. Mike did NOT oversell it in this presentation.
Sage AP Automation is not released yet. It will soon. Sage clearly is trying to push out the Quadients. A key part of this is the process of reading correctly the details of the vendor's invoice. Enter Sage Copilot, their AI effort.
Sage Copilot will likely be released later this year to Sage 100 focused on answering Help questions better than the current Help facility. Ease of use is a big complaint among new Sage 100 users (after all, it's nothing like Quickbooks ...). This could help that a lot.
AP Automation is about to go through a huge market change. The key IP in this process is invoice-PO matching, followed by approval workflow. When all of the major ERPs have their own AI driving this, it leaves little room for third-parties. Also Payments Management (corp credit cards and expense mgt) is AP Automation's cousin. There is a lot of $$$ flowing through both processses, and Sage clearly intends to get a piece of this by building systems that use APIs appropriate for its various ERPs -- which will also reduce the change barriers for a user of one Sage ERP to migrate to another.
Mike did mention that they are not using REST APIs for this. Without elaboration he said theirs uses the BOI interface.
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Jerry Norman
Smartbridge Partners
(512) 653-7498
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Original Message:
Sent: 07-23-2025 09:19
From: Wayne Schulz
Subject: Beyond Sage Future - Virtual Summit
Thanks for the feedback. I only saw the SSCI demo at the Sage 100 Pre-Sales event and they exclusively demonstrated SSCI and not the integration to Sage 100.
A couple really brief observations - some you mentioned which I'm not sure everyone is aware of
a. SSCI = Anvyl ( a product purchased by Sage in October 2024 ). It's a link and sync type connection meaning there does not appear to be any substantive installation routine to Sage 100. So far as I'm aware this is in some type of Alpha testing. It's supply chain and appears to work primarily via email links to vendors who are expected to open the link and provide estimated shipping/delivery times as well as status updates. Probably a cool tool provided you are doing enough business with this vendor that they take the time to do this type of work. For vendors who are fully automated and who email out this information via notifications I guess YMMV on whether those vendors take the time to also update via emails ( or maybe SSCI has some type of way to automatically ingest those notifications ).
b. AR Integration = Sage Connect = at least partly another product purchased by Sage from Lockstep in 2022 - Sage at MOTM 2025 was confused by why more Sage 100 users hadn't adopted this despite the product, as orginally demoed, not having any credit card integration and being billed as a self-service portal for customers.
c. AP Automation - this is the newest name to appear on the "Road Ahead" not to be confused with Sage AP Automation aka Beanworks which became Quadient. At least based on Q&A during the Sage 100 Pre-sales it appears that Sage is doing a "silent swap" on their AP Automation offering and now leading with their homegrown (?Lockstep ) AP Automation. Sage PM Nate Bellhy did not appear to know there was already an AP Automation from a third-party when he was asked directly on the Sage 100 Pre-sales call if this was Quadient ( His answer was no). I'm still confused on this one and if a customer is looking at AP Automation then I think the first question I would ask is who is behind this. A quick AI search uncovers at least 7 different AP Automation solutions.
The takeaway for me is that Sage appears to be making a push into offering more of their own-owned integrations ( I would say homegrown except that Sage hasn't created any of them ) as opposed to third-party solutions which may already be in use ( and endorsed ).
For clients I am just making sure that they hear about the new offerings that Sage is talking about FIRST from ME and not from a mailer and then I get an invite to a web meeting after the client is 3 meetings into making a decision on an integration.
Questions to ask about all integrations:
1. How many Sage 100 integrations are there right now that are up and running?
2. Is this a Sage owned integration or a third party and if so who is the third party?
3. What are the three year estimated costs ( ie - once any promos come off the account what is the expected annual cost?)
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Wayne Schulz
wayne@s-consult.com
Schulz Consulting
(860) 516-8990
CT
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Original Message:
Sent: 07-23-2025 08:56
From: Jerry Norman
Subject: Beyond Sage Future - Virtual Summit
I did. The first two were on Supply Chain disruption and Sage's new SSCI. This is an impressive product for Sage 100 customers with deep inventory operations. This SSCI is a worldwide product, and Mike Ritchie's team made Sage 100 the first to be integrated with it. Like the SDMO, AR Integration (Anvil) Customer Portal, and new AP Automation product, SSCI is a global extension to Sage's products. Integrating first with Sage 100 is interesting to think about.
The third one yesterday was Sage 100 Road Ahead and aimed at Sage 100 customers. This was the best one I've ever seen. It's goal was clearly to show why Sage 100 is a product Sage is investing significantly in. There was NOT ONE mention ever of migrations to Intacct. There were clear trends Mike pointed out.
All 90 Minders should watch at least the first 30 minutes of the recording, the second half is quite good, too.
https://www.sage.com/en-us/cp/beyondfuturebms
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Jerry Norman
Smartbridge Partners
(512) 653-7498
Original Message:
Sent: 07-22-2025 19:59
From: Wayne Schulz
Subject: Beyond Sage Future - Virtual Summit
Did anyone attend the 7/22 sessions and, if so, how were they?
------------------------------
Wayne Schulz
wayne@s-consult.com
Schulz Consulting
(860) 516-8990
CT