Sage 100

I have to give credit to Steve for going on the record

Can you print screen the article. I don't get the Bob Scott newsletter.

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Well, he certainly is consistent. Got up in front of everyone at Summit and said the saime thing.

What was most surprising to me is the fact that Sage supposedly vetted the re-branding with a couple of BPAC's. Why didn't anyone speak up then if it's such a sore spot. Anyone who thinks Sage has anything to lose with this is dead wrong though. Go to any keyword analyzer / SEO tool and search for Sage products and compare results against the competition. The Sage brand and even the highly loved product names don't even register on most head to head comparisons. Instead of bitching about something we have no control over, it's better for us to spend our time coming up with strategies to get the brand and our own brands in front of customers. For most of us, that's what will mean survival in the coming years - irrespective of any moves by Sage.

Peter - I bet the BPAC members did protest and Sage did what they want anyway. Survival in the coming years will come down to product functionality and technology that users think are heading down the right track for their business. Not because the brand is Sage. If you have great products that work ""together well"" in front and back office at fair prices then everyone will know your name.

Much of what Stephen takes issue with boils down to one simple concern. Re-branding does nothing to change the underlying technology which at present makes integrating one Sage product with another too difficult. Heck there's not even a good migration utility to make an upgrade from one product to another be effortless. Yes there's the issue of product confusion via the ungraceful numbering schemes. But branding is just a smokescreen to hide larger problems. Underlying the branding smokescreen is the sad fact that from what I understand the lowest net promoter scores are when a customer is using two or more Sage products integrated together. I for one couldn't care less what they call products. So lets take that concern away. Now what changes? Same underlying technology. Same problems bringing Accpac to SaaS (2 years late?), same issue with integrating MAS90 (EES reduced to throwing in a CRM license and hoping people will buy more). Sage's issue is a technology one masked by the branding which buys them probably 2 years (don't re-organizations typically give everyone a two year grace period to rebuild?).

I missed this - did Blythe hold court in a session and state that he thought branding was a bad idea?

@JohnnyPabian That's exactly my impression of how the BPAC works. And it's why I see quite a few past members not eager to re-join it. It appears to me that Sage essentially uses the BPAC as some type of way whitewash the decisions and point out that they were blessed by a group of consulting peers. I think Sage is having a harder and harder time attracting people onto those committees.

He said it in the opening session during the video where partners asked questions to the execs.

Seems like a case of crying over spilled milk. Sage and the world are changing and I have to invest in my business to keep up. Waaaa. Sage is going to continue to do what they believe is in their best interest. No one can blame them for that We can either adapt or move on. And he simply complains without offering any ideas that he thinks will solve the issues that he's upset about. He also publicly stated at Summit that he had not paid much attention to his business model in quite some time (I'm paraphrasing a bit). No sympathy here.

Blythe re-posted their blog - http://blog.blytheco.com/blytheco/why-the-sage-rebranding-idea-is-just-plain-stupid/

I don't get the impression that he is complaining about someone moving his cheese. He certainly understands that. I think Wayne sums it up quite nicely. Giving a pig a new name does not change the fact that you still have a pig! Let's halve the marketing budget and double the R & D budget. Now THAT will move some licenses.............

My impression was that the shift to the Sage brand focus would eliminate / curtail the individual product branding and free up their budgets. Time will tell if they reinvest that into R&D or give it back to the shareholders.

Reinvest? You mean like converting legacy modules to the Framework?

Dawn, I didn't know you were taking up comedy.

I'm with Peter. That's what Pascal says the plan is. Makes sense to me. Jeff, actually I don't think that Steve gets your point. He looks and sounds like a whupped puppy.

Time will tell. Just watch out for any cheese that seems out of place................

It does sound like a thinly veiled plea to Sage to make improvements in their products as opposed to asking them to change on the rebranding. At this point, it's a done deal and we have to figure out how to make it work for us.

An interesting tidbit about this article...I understand that it was Steve's team that wanted the article taken down and not Sage. Steve is apparently angry enough about Sage's decisions to override his own staff. I'm guessing that his employees don't really want Steve to possibly put the whole company in the ditch with this kind of stuff. He may be all set for retirement but that's probably not the case for his employees. Mutiny coming up for Captain Bly?

Does anyone here think Stephen gives two shits about what any of us or Sage says or do? Am I the only one that does the ... ""how much money does a Stephen Blythe make per year?"" game? It's a fun game - try this at home. Avg consulting firm makes $150K - $250K per employee Avg consulting firm pays $90K - $100K per employee Avg salaries to other expenses is about 70 - 85%. Plug in numbers and you too can play ... ""how much money does a Stephen Blythe make per year? game! (Maybe his other expenses are a bit higher because of M&A activity but I doubt it stretches much lower than 70% for salaries :: total expenses)

Well he does have partners -- Ruth, Nicholas - and a few others. Those folks are making good money. Overhead for offices isn't cheap and neither is employee wages when you fully load the insurance. I'd guess $400 to $600

Any other people want to play ... ""How much money does a Stephen Blythe make per year? C'mon ... it's fun to play.

$400K to $600K seems like too much money to make in a year.

I don't know about that Dawn... it seems like a good start to me.

BTW... Steve's post is back. They retitled the post but the blog link is still the old title. :)

Don't be fooled by Sage's spin. During the conference they very clearly said that they'd come back during year end with their plans. I missed any discussion of querying vars about ideas. At least one var told me that when they went to town hall they were essentially told live with it - it's a done deal.

When have vars EVERY gotten any thing over than lip service on future plans????????

If Stephen's compensation is under $750k per year, the business isn't performing as it should, even in this economy. Rebranding costs Sage less than investing in the product and it might produce just as much incremental revenue. It's a good short-term strategy. Look, Pascal has been sent over to put the North America house in order. The rebanding is just a first step of ""this is how we do it in Europe."" Watch for more to come. The larger risk to resellers in NA is Europe. If Europe continues to weaken, watch for Sage to exit markets that are a dragg on earnings. The rebanding dresses up the current NA portfolio of products, which fits into an exit strategy. It portends to show that the company is worth more than the sum of the parts. From a corporate perspective, the rebranding makes a lot of sense. The opinions of the partners/channel are irrelevant.

Myron, back from the fishing camp?

@MyronStevenson I agree fully with your assessment of Sage's strategy.

Actually leaving tomorrow morning for seven days. Taking my wife this time. She has never caught a fish!

More importantly, has she CLEANED a fish??????? Have fun. We'll hold the fort down for you!

I just learned today that Stephen Blythe owns a $1.2 million dollar airplane.

Just remember that owning does may not mean paid in full out right. My understanding is that he is very active in the Cessna (?) owners club in CA (or western US or all of US). Everyone needs to have a hobby!!! Just imagine what your hobby could be if those were your shoes........