Sage 100

I just got this email from my order person regarding a reinstatement we're working on. Not sure what to think? I just spoke with Sage, they say they are making major changes as of next week. They said that the last day to order either of the quotes would be this Friday 3/27 (not 3/31). Sage is moving to subscription-only for new customers, it would no longer be possible to repurchase the software with a perpetual license. Additionally, they will be adding activation fees to the subscription plan, so they estimate it would cost thousands of dollars more if purchased next month. They do not have details on pricing yet

Yes, I was told that it is all changing next month, but did not have details. There is a new subscription form on MySageSell that has a 15% discount for 24 months for off-plan customers. Did not see an activation fee. A fee such as that would be I assume only be for reinstatements, since for a new customer it may discourage doing subscription.

I guess since they provided little or no warning regarding the tier restructuring late last year, why would they bother giving us any heads up on customer pricing.....

So they want to make any resellers who are in the sales cycle look like assholes? Nice job.

I believe there is little difference in their minds......

I'm confused. Is this for reinstatements only or does it cover new customers also?

Reinstatements that I've seen have all been for per user pricing (perpetual) for quite some time. Hopefully Sage standardizes this pricing but as of now I have heard changes coming 3/27 but no other details. I am not sure how Sage could make a ""reinstate at subscription only"" stick -- since a customer could just create a new fictitious company name to sidestep if perpetual purchase were being allowed for other types of customers. But this is Sage. And their policies are often not well thought out nor are they typically understood internally until they've been in place for quite some time. Remember in 2013 and 2014 Sage implemented a pricing review (aka increase) of 3% each year. It seems likely that at least a 3% increase is coming for 2015. I believe the increases were effective May in 2013 and 2014. And as we know what the increase really means is that without raising the percent charged for maintenance Sage makes more money because the maintenance renewal is all based on current SLP.

Now that I'm thinking about it, a couple of days ago, I asked Sage for a quote for an existing customer wanting to add a couple of modules. I thought the expiration date of March 27 was strange, but figured it was because of the maintenance. Now I wonder.

I've now confirmed that the Winback percentage will be decreased next quarter from 20% to 15%. Other than that, there is no general knowledge in the sales group about the changes to subscription only or perpetual going away. Not that Sage wouldn't implement these, but my trusted sources are not aware of them (and will probably be as upset as we are if they happen).

If Sage does move to subscription only for reinstatements does that mean they've figured out a way to 'cut-off' customers to inquiry only for non-payment on a Sage 100 subscription system?

Sage EULA has had this provision (see paragraph 9(c) ) for quite some time -- I'd guess at least three years. The paragraph gives Sage the right to turn the data read only if certain breaches occur - http://na.sage.com/sage-na/~/media/site/sagena/documents/SageEULAAgreement

From our RSM: Hi All Head's up --- they are probably going to change the Winback program next quarter I think we have a grace period through April, but what I am hearing is the discount will go down to 15% from 20% and of course they will lead with subscription. They have been playing with the pricing and originally I heard on premise option was going away. It is not--- but they have not agreed on what the pricing will be so this gives us a 30 day window. This is a fair compromise so if you have any winbacks you have been playing with. I would suggest you get them in by April as who knows what will be announced in May.

@WayneSchulz that was added with whatever version was released after the subscription kickoff three years ago.

I see the ""you shall be responsible for retrieving Your data from the Software within 30 days after the Termination Date"" I was referring to enforcement from Sage. Has anyone had a customer stop their on-premise subscription and if so what, if anything happened?

My understanding was they hadn't gotten the technology worked out yet.

Maybe some VIP's can test it for them.

So Sage gave this company thinking of coming back to Sage 4 days to decide when we're just at the beginning of the evaluation process. Client decided they'd rather pay the 20% extra and buy new with a different name than decide when they're not ready.

Sage fails to understand that any amount greater than zero represents profit and potential profit for new modules for them. They would be ahead just by asking for a year going forward of maintenance.

Funny that a company so focused on sales doesn't know how to sell.

They don't sell - they assume that if you have ever done business with them they are entitled to fleece you and you have no choice.

^^ Pretty much Sage's attitude toward the consultants that represent their products as well.

@JohnHoyt you forgot the dividend tax in your equation. They have to keep dividends going in order to keep the stock price up. And that's what matters to the CEO.

Ditto @Wayne. So should I go buy Sage stock to offset my negative attitude?

I guess that is why many investors are going with a ""Sell"" rating - probably for many factors - All the money going to other publishers than to Sage - SAP, SalesForce, ADP, who is their processor by the way? Gaby - VP of marketing out promoting Domo - a competitor to Sage Intelligence. And the list goes on.

@RobertWood I don't remember learning about the ""dividend tax"" in business school, but I did have a class in ethics.

Which has been replaced in the current curriculum by Spin Doctor 101.

@JohnHoyt I don't remember an Ethics class even being offered when I was in college.

Ethics was probably no longer a GE by the time a young'un like you went to college. Some of us took Ethics and a separate class Logic. I/We find Sage has no ethics and defies logic.

@RobertWood That's what happens when the corporations make large grants to the universities.

@MoiraGoggin I am positive Logic wasn't a course requirement. I had to make that one up on my own.

One of my favorite college books: ""How to Lie using Statistics"" - essential for reading propaganda.

You should be a politician then...

Let's see, we raise prices every year regardless of whether the customer gets value, if they want to come back using perpetual the answer is no, and we have increased the cost for coming back even if they do want to. Sounds like a field day for the competition.