General Consultant Discussion

My opinion on the whole core v non-core issue raised by Sage's Investor Day - and comparison to how Apple just handled this on their latest earning's call.

Hard to argue with your critique. Artless execution of a strategy change. You point out Apple. Among the many differences between Apple's execs and Sage's: Apple doesn't have a bunch of CPA's calling the shots. And they're mostly American. And the American HQ rolls out the changes to the other countries, not the reverse. NA is 40% of Sage - larger than any other. While Europe together is large at Sage, I don't think France, Spain & UK are any more similar to each other in their markets than the US is to UK-Europe. And yet, they keep making decisions that might make sense in Europe-only, but translate well in American practice. If Sage had some product and marketing guys in the UK Looney Bin, you'd probably get more realistic product strategy. If they had a useful diversity of nationalities, you'd get more realistic messaging and timing. The problems at Sage run deeper than the strategy du jour.