Sage News and Discussion

If Sage Live is the future of Sage and it's going to be such a hit then (a) why are there so few Sage Live sessions and (b) Why is Salesforce not a more prominent sponsor/speaker? If Keith Block comes up via **video** again I'll lose my shit. If Sage is the important partner they believe they are then these executives will be live and on stage (Hint: I doubt they will be live).

Following the BPAC meeting on Thursday in Atlanta, I attended a live demo of Sage Live with a few other BPAC members. I had not seen it since the original design/feedback meetings in Irvine. It is real, and I was impressed with the features. I am scheduling a more in-depth review.

when you do, can you ask for a compare/contrast with FinancialForce?

I agree, @JerryNorman, we need to know how this compares, although it's up to Sage to sell this.

No argument. FF sweet spot is in professional services; anything with supply chain FF generally loses. What I'm really curious about is Sage's target. Is it chasing Xero? If so, Sage must think the Force1 platform is an advantage; I don't see it. If it's chasing FF, but explicitly handling inventory -- that would be a big deal.

http://www.sage.com/us/accounting-software

I haven't reviewed the FF professional services function (which was a purchased package), but Kimble, also on the SF platform, is a very good PSA. The important consideration with the SF platform is one supplier cannot specifically tout their integration features - they all do that.

Well according to that chart Sage ERP doesn't do inventory management? What else is incorrect?

Kimble integrates to other ERP's. FF is integrated PSA and accounting. Kimble won't integrate with FF because they compete.

My point was that Kimble integrated with Sage Live and SF is a powerful combination, so I am interested to see how FF with their PSA compares.

I missed it. You are spot on, @JohnHoyt. I'm very interested in what you conclude.

I will be interested to see what a company's appetite for recurring charges will be. If I have to license Salesforce for $xx/mo then Sage Live for $ xx/mo then Kimble for $ xx/mo --- pretty soon that's going to add up and people will realize that they probably can't drop licensing ""on demand"" as much as they perhaps thought they could.

I hear that you do not have to license/use sf to use Sage Live. Nor FF. However, I do know that the strongest leads for FF are companies already using sf - they already have committed to the concept, and they are comfortable with the general financial model. I suspect that Sage Live's strongest prospects will be Kimble users for similar reasons.

The unknown question is: How many pieces will people pay for before deciding it's too expensive.

The largest investment per month will be SF, especially if a company adds functions beyond sales, but we all know about companies that invest huge amounts in SF licenses and seem OK with that. Sage Live investment is the least amount: http://www.sage.com/us/sage-live/pricing

This is also a very different market - similar in some ways to apps on smartphones. We will see people/companies switching cloud apps out on this platform as they do on their phones. They can start with 1-2 users and the investment is small if they then find something they like better. This will tend to freak out traditional consultants who sell traditional applications, but we as a group need to start understanding this market, because it's here.

Perhaps but you're forgetting/ignoring switching costs. For example, it would probably be almost impossible for someone to swap out Salesforce for another CRM in the above scenario. Technically you can do it and the company will give you all your data. But practically I doubt companies are going to make switching any easier. So partly I think the market is going to become much more fluid. However in reality the position you want to be is either iOS or Android where you take a piece of everything moving through your app store and you really don't care what notepad or email client someone uses on top of your platform. Salesforce is closest to that. Sage could find themselves in a position, by virtue of building on top of someone elses platform, that they are the interchangeable notepad or email app. When you meet with Sage please do find out the number of paying Sage Live companies that Sage has now as well as their projections for the future - broken out by year if available.

I agree about the switching costs, but I am thinking the core app for many of these companies is SF and the switching will be within those apps offered on the SF platform.

I've been surprised at the synergy that has developed within the sf community. In many ways it is simply **easier** to do many sales and marketing functions because that environment. They are ""good enough"" functionality, not necessarily the best or most sophisticated. So I agree with John about the nature of switching costs considered.

We also must seriously respect the way millennials approach this, because they are quickly becoming our customers. They expect technology to simply work, so they will change to something that does, and they are most comfortable on mobile devices. I'm cool with that, so I've decided to become a millennial when I grow up.