Sage 100

Ok, so I am on the Sage Sell site on a Sage 100 documents page. I am trying to find a PDF that explains what 100c is all about and why a client should switch to this subscription based program. There is nothing on the site dealing with 100c, in fact there is nothing on the page dealing with v2016. Where can I get a simple PDF that explains the benefits of the ""c"" program. I need something besides ""it is prettier with a modern interface"" to convince the client to renew under the c program. I am not a good liar, so my sales skills are weak. Help!!! @JohnHoyt ?? How do I pitch this?

This may help a little :)

@JeffSchwenk - check the Sage 100 Playbook

Thanks. Upon review, it still seems a little week. Brian, do you have a favorite document on this top? I see several but not one that is an overwhelming wow.

Right now, Sage seems to be giving it to everyone at the same cost as their annual maintenance. I look at it this way - 100c is the product moving forward. There will come a time when 100c gets something you (the client) really, really want. Sage is offering their best deals right now, and the price will go up for a while, and if 100c gets that thing you really, really want during that time, you're going to be grumpy, knowing you could have changed earlier when it was cheaper. Eventually, Sage will be desperate to get those last few people off 100 and they'll have a really good ""sale"" again, so your options are to do it now, or wait a really long time and do it later.

I have been largely unsuccessful with these conversations and instead I lead the customer toward my interpretation of Sage's direction, advise that in the bulk of cases if we do the math and 100c at SLP is cheaper that they should migrate under the 9/30 program. If 100c at SLP is more expensive then it's is a more difficult conversation and not one that I an personally pressing unless there is some very clear defined benefit: - Customer can platform change Standard to Advanced or SQL (for no added money) - Customer is buying Job Ops which I think may only be 100c - Customer needs/wants one of the freebies with mainteannce I do not think it is my job to make excuses for Sage product management.

No @JeffSchwenk unfortunately, there is no great document. There is very little value to make this move other than what Beth pointed out. For customers who have always renewed their business care plan, this seems to be the right move. Of course, nothing seems right with Sage anymore.

It's ""THE BEST SAGE 100 YET!"" I typed it in all capital letters, becasue the image is of a person using a Megaphone :) http://go.na.sage.com/Sage100c

How about these?

@JeffSchwenk Attached is my standard e-mail developed to send to all current customers as an e-mail or attachment. We wanted something that was less Sage-y and fit on a single e-mail page. The subject of the e-mail is the title: ""Sage 100c - The Future of Sage 100"". If you want to make changes, I also attached the Word document.

My boilerplate that I have used within emails: - On November 5, 2015, Sage introduced Sage 100c. This release is Sage's next generation for Sage 100 featuring a modernized user interface and a change in how the product is priced from large initial payment and recurring maintenance to subscription paid yearly. - Beginning January 1, 2017, Sage will phase out new license sales of Sage 100 in favor of subscription pricing for Sage 100c. - Existing users of Sage 100 can stay on the product, though Sage is offering the opportunity to users whose maintenance renews during this quarter to move to Sage 100c until 9/30/16 for no initial additional cost beyond the annual maintenance you would normally pay for Sage 100 renewal maintenance. - Sage's End User License Agreement specifies that subscription costs may rise no more than 10% over the prior year price paid. ( https://goo.gl/Aq5LL0 ) - After January 1, 2017, Sage 100c will be the only Sage 100 type license Sage sells to new users. - Sage is actively in the process of moving existing Sage 100 users like you to the Sage 100c product. We think this will continue for the foreseeable future. - In most cases, especially if you are using manufacturing, you should migrate to Sage 100c as we see Sage putting significant future development resources toward Sage 100c. - If you are using Sage 100 Standard, we think you should consider migrating at the same time to the Advanced or Premium (SQL) version which is available under the promotion for no added initial cost. Talk to your partner about the advisability of this as there may be some reasons that SQL is not an option for you. - Please let us know if you would like us to migrate you to 100c. Depending upon available promotions, this could mean no change in the initial year maintenance which goes toward 100c. Let me know if you'd like me to ask Sage for pricing on your behalf.

Question: is the no charge platform move available at any time, or only when the customer makes the switch to 100c?

Thanks to all who have posted a response and shared documents. I must say that I continue to be underwhelmed by Sage's effort to push this adoption. The word FUD comes to mind a lot. I can't tell you what will happen but I do know Shxx will happen if you don't make a move......... Yikes. Such a clear statement of the future......

@BrianKelly ""For customers who have always renewed their business care plan, this seems to be the right move."" I don't see it like this. If I already bought the product, and have been paying maintenance to keep it updated to the current level, how can it possibly make sense to sign a document relinquishing my ownership, and now renting the same product at the same annual fee as the maintenance (or more)?

The misconception has been that there has been ownership all along. It was always a use license. The problem, as Wayne has pointed out many times, is Sage has not had imbedded code to stop use when maintenance (or subscription) is unpaid. Unpaid maintenance hurts the channel equally in that we did not get upgrade dollars and have supported very old versions (if we chose to).

Technically it may not be ownership. It is a perpetual license which means the company that bought the software has a license to use it in perpetuity. Of course unpaid maintenance hurts Sage and hurts the channel. That is a short term view. Long term, if the customer doesn't perceive a fair value they will look elsewhere.

If the customer buys a perpetual license and times get tough and they can not afford maintenance, they can still use the software. Users on a subscription plan can not legally use the software if they don't make a payment and risk getting the software disabled. If I already have a perpetual license, I need to see a huge upside in features in a subscription 100c that benefit my company before adopting this risk.

@DougHiggs I do not disagree with you about perpetual, and I also agree with @JohnHoyt about it not being ownership. It is a license to use someone else's intellectual property, and it always has but was never sold properly in the past. My point is simply this: Sage has decided that 100c is the product that will receive all of the development effort going forward. If I am a customer, and I have always renewed my business care plan and fully expect to do so in the future, then migrating to 100c makes complete sense if it is the same price or less than my current business care renewal. I do not like what Sage is doing, but for my customers who have always renewed their business care plans, and Sage 100 is a very good solution for them, I believe it is in their best interest to move 100c now that pricing is equal to their current renewals. For other customers where they haven't always renewed their business care plan or Sage 100 is just OK or they do not like Sage, then I might tell them to stay on the current business care plan or to not renew at all. Every customer is different, and I believe we are in a position to help them think through the options.

If you read the current EULA, customers are NOT in compliance on perpetual if they do not pay any required fees, which includes annual maintenance fees. As I commented, Sage has done a poor job of enforcing this, as have other software publishers. I hope Sage puts the appropriate code in to disable use. If a user does not upgrade this will do nothing against perpetual off plan. It also is not worth Sage's time to pursue these customers. I have no sympathy for customers who choose not to renew maintenance. It affects Sage, other users who do pay and the channel. Many of these that do not pay are not doing it due to business being down. And for those where that is true, they don't have a choice to not pay their utility bills or payroll taxes, so why is this any different, especially when it is detailed in the EULA?

The concept of value regarding software is all relative. The majority of our customers continue to pay maintenance every year and on time without complaint. The value they perceive is the software continues to provide what they needed originally, it is compatible with new operating systems, it works with minimal issues, and, most importantly, the software publisher continues to be in business. Enhancements are a bonus and they may or may not decide to use the. It's not that big a deal.

100c is the product that will receive all of the development effort going forward"" - but will that be like a company that is losing money worrying about what the corporate income tax rate is? Work order on the framework is still ""next year"".

It's also important to remember that decisions are made in context of alternatives. For customer of any complexity (those who don't should consider moving to less complex offering) and who stops maintenance, they effectively decide to stop upgrades, etc. Most of the time Sage has shown little mercy on reinstatement, so if you get back to plan, you'll pay the period you missed. without upgrades eventually they'll be stuck. Then their alternatives are other products which, surprise!, are all subscription based. Avoiding this is a short-term optimization at best. The world changes.

The world changes"" devil's advocate version: In four years of maintenance you will have repurchased the same old software. If you don't pay maintenance for four years, you have banked the money to make the software purchase that best fits your needs from among the choices available at that time.

Phil, no argument with you there. But I will bet you that very few Sage users who stop maintenance do so intending to migrate to something else in a few years. But the thought is worth including to make the point.

EULA attached. The reference I see applicable to perpetual is section 1.b. ""if You purchase an On-Premise License, You may Use the Software only if You pay the required On-Premise License fee or fees when due."" I understand this to mean if you pay the Sage invoice for the software when it is due then you have a license to use the version you paid for forever. There is no mention of maintenance. I do not believe the use of the word ""fee"" or fees"" refers to maintenance as Maintenance is defined in section 2.g. If there is another part of this agreement that is contrary to this please point it out.

With all of that said, it's clear that 100 is not (and probably never was) intended for small businesses. As elitist and cold-blooded as it may sound, it's not for the little guys out there, ergo, if they can't afford it, they should look somewhere else.

Good luck with that argument against Sage's lawyers. Sage would not write it the way they have if it did not include all fees.

I'm taking it to the Supreme Court for a full review opinion. :-)

I never have understood how unilaterally changing a contract like a EULA was enforceable since only one party gets any value from the change.

@DougHiggs - Unfortunately, you may have to wait until well into 2017 for a good hearing. Otherwise, it will end in a 4-4 tie.....