IMO, Phuong was merely growing her career since college. Sage was her longest stint, at just under 5 years. She finished her MBA a few months ago; she probably planned to leave after completing it; I wouldn't be surprised if that project was a significant reason she stayed at Sage more than a couple years. (Nothing wrong with that in my book.) Her resume seems entirely in the area of financial-related software. Her new company is aimed at providing all the infrastructure a mortgage company might want so that its owners can concentrate on funding and customers. This is AP-AR-HR Automation on steriods, which is what the future decades look like for
all businesses. This is an excellent career move.
Does everybody remember Timothy's presentations at ThriveOn in January 2020? To me, it was the capstone of a year's effort by him to make it believable to partners that Sage 100 would be an active part of Sage's portfolio. I came away from that thinking, "Maybe Lucy is
not in the building..." Timothy is a very smart guy and more honest than many; but every product marketing manager has to be a liar -- only the degree matters from company to company. I don't yet know whether he
knew that Sage 100 was a dead man walking when gave those January presentations; I think he did not know. (Someday, I'll be able to ask in a way he can answer honestly.)
My interpretation of the events in the first half of 2020 is that somebody very senior at Sage concluded that Sage 100 could not realistically generate enough new logo sales to keep the product viable. That viability claim was the underpinning of Timothy's entire presentation premise, so he quit. His decision would have produced significant waves in Atlanta - nobody in the Sage 100 line would believe anymore that this was a growth product.
So employees behaved rationally. If they were there to grow their experiences and skill, they stayed. If they'd already been there a while and their career was still in growth mode (as opposed to those gliding into retirement -- nothing wrong with that) then they looked for greener pastures, as Phuong did. Her replacement will likely be a less experienced person looking for the experience of using social media and related tools to grow the stickiness of a large existing product line; if they're good, Sage will promote them into Intacct-X3, and if they tire of Sage BS they'll move on after ~3 years.
It's our reality, and we can't change that. What will each of us do to make the most of that Reality? What can 90 Minds do to help you with that?
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Jerry Norman
At-Large BOD Member, 90 Minds
Smartbridge Partners
512.419.1444 x112
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Original Message:
Sent: 07-07-2021 22:51
From: Jeff Schwenk
Subject: ICYMI: Linh Phuong Nguyen ( Sage 100 Product Marketing Manager ) Departed Sage July 2021
Is it me or is the revolving door at Sage spinning a bit faster these day? Did she hear about Sage's annual musical chairs dance coming up in September? And i wish her the best at the new gig and that she will accomplish more than she did at Sage. After all, something is more than the NOTHING she did for Sage 100 and the channel! Just amazing what $140,000,000 in annual revenue doesn't buy.
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Jeff Schwenk
FORMER 90M Board Member
Bottomline Software, Inc.
Waynesboro VA
540-221-4444
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Original Message:
Sent: 07-07-2021 12:56
From: Moira Goggin
Subject: ICYMI: Linh Phuong Nguyen ( Sage 100 Product Marketing Manager ) Departed Sage July 2021
Wish her the best, and confirm, she was with the 300 line before moving over to 100.
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Moira Goggin
Chismet Consulting Corp.
Long Beach CA