Sage 100

Does anyone here support Business Works, including Crystal Reporting?

We do @BethBowers, do you want me to have our consultant contact you?

@BrianKelly - yes, please. I used to do some BW Crystal work for a BW reseller who has now retired, and one of her clients is asking for some new reports. I don't feel like going through that struggle again...

@BethBowers email me your contact info at bkelly@asifocus.com

@BrianKelly do you know the road map of Business Works? We have a prospect that is currently using it and has heard there is a version 2017 coming. Is that true? If so, while they know there are shortcomings, they will probably stay on it for at least another year. Do they have a list of supported versions anywhere? TIA.

Sad Sage saga about the old products. They were acquired with the intent to retire and move users to a ""flagship"" product. But like a crack addict who wants to come clean, Sage I hooked on that recurring revenue. Make some tweaks to the product, white wash it so they can call it a new version number, through out a rumor that they are retiring it soon but they don't. Is DacEasy still out there???

The fatal mistake is that Sage and many other developers are over optimistic about the numbers that will migrate or upgrade. As a user once I can't seamlessly migrate my data I start to look at all my options including those outside sage. Yes there is low hanging fruit but any sustainable growth requires a truly click to migrate data.

Sage also goofed badly not expiring their Reg keys from the get go. Huge strategic mistake.

Perhaps we misinterpreted Sage's announcements and great migration deals 2-3 years ago, but they then scrapped those plans and made us look bad to many existing BW customers after we told them it was going away. No apology or even offers to call our customers after that. Now the customers don't believe us, and we continue to have quite a few BW customers on maintenance. Most BW customers are willing to put up with the limitations of the package, not wanting to spend more for Sage 100. What Sage never offered was the deal PFW and PRO customers had where they were able to select either 100 or 300 at no charge for the product.

So @JohnHoyt do you know what the road ahead is for BW?? Customer has heard two different things from Sage, one saying there will be no new versions, the other saying 2017 is in the works.

BW is not mentioned nor discussed in the BPAC, but we have heard nothing about no new releases. It is our understanding, since they made the decision to keep it, that there would be new releases each year to be compliant with new operating system versions and to provide fixes to existing programs. As for any enhancements, no word. As long as they have customers paying e enough maintenance to justify the cost of supporting the product, they will probably continue it. Also, remember Stephen Kelly's famous words about no forced migrations.

Maybe Sage will make changes after Stephen Kelly decides none of this can be fixed, becomes bored and moves on, or the Sage board and shareholders decide he isn't making enough progress and give him the boot.

Thanks John.

@JeffSchwenk re DACEasy - YES IT IS! I am currently working with a prospect for Sage 100 who is running DACEasy and likes it pretty well but there is no support.

Just like the Eveready Bunny!!!!

@ThereseLogeais - Hi Therese, I was at the Website Pipeline Partner Huddle last week, and I did not see your note until Friday morning. I did email my contacts at Sage asking for a roadmap for 2017 and beyond, and as you would expect, I am still waiting for something. I did receive a response late Friday from Michael Cornfield that Paul Ellis would be able to answer me. I just followed up with both of them. I will post again as soon as I hear back.

@ThereseLogeais - Here's the BW roadmap...if that's what you want to call it. The information is good, and at least we know what Sage is doing with BW. You may share this with BW customers.

Thank you so much @BrianKelly !!

You are welcome @ThereseLogeais and everyone else who is interested.

Thank you @BrianKelly!