Sage News and Discussion

Out of curiosity ... is everyone aware that they no longer need to take the CRM portion of their MAS certification? I saw an announcement that went out to a CRM only partner but saw nothing come to me (I'm technically still qualified as an Accpac CRM partner - so confusing...).

I was but Sage did not do a very good job of communicating this. Sage also hasn't really notified anyone (that I'm aware of ) about their certification status - which leads me to wonder if Sage really knows everyone's status ---- or at least has a convenient way to access that information. In the back of my mind I picture the Sage education team going over Excel spreadsheets and copying data into Atlas - one by one by one....

I would agree with you. I think Atlas has really crippled them internally and they are having a hard time getting information out the door. I wonder if the irony escapes them?

Amazing. Now that everyone has passed the course, it is no longer required? Perhaps they did the math and determined that it was more costly to update the content to keep it relevant than than the projected revenue stream of remaining certifications............. Beancounters strike again....

Or they figured that nobody was taking the course. Nobody wants to sell CRM. And by not having many in the channel certified they set themselves up for a battle the first time they sell into a non-certified account and pry out the customer to another certified partner. Just like most things this seems like a great boardroom whiteboard idea.

Or they realized that maybe, just maybe, it might not make sense to force ERP consultants into a business that many of them are unqualified and incapable of taking on.

I hope so. I just can't understand why every promotion is to geared toward incenting the sale of add-ons -- which quite honestly unless you're implementing yourself are just low margin opportunities to lose a customer.

@RobertWood - If that was the thinking, why force us to take the SQL training? Even after passing the ""certification"", I certainly am not stupid enough to sell a SQL install without partnering with a qualified reseller. Perhaps after getting a couple installs under my belt, I might go it alone. Same holds true with CRM. I'll be the project manager on the deal, but I am not gong it alone initially. Can't afford the learning curve for a one off sale plus the negative press for a failed installation. But I cerntainly will not lose the deal to another competitive product without a fight. Based on Sage's inabiliity to be creative, this was a dollars and cents decision.

Yeah. Good question. I think SQL is still ERP and within the realm of something you're capable of selling and implementing with the help of a SQL person, in theory at least. Whereas CRM, in my opinion, isn't really a product. It's a platform and if you don't know what to do with that platform, you're going to implement it as a product. ERP & CRM are night and day. ERP & ERP SQL are related creatures.

Robert is correct. I spoke with Sophie L about this and she had no idea that CRM was required for MAS and Accpac consultants. She was surprised by this - just as I was surprised that she had no idea this was happening. (You would think the certification people spoke to the other execs before imposing the new requirements...) Sophie / Sage's MME group view was to have ERP consultants / firms align with CRM consultants / firms if they didn't want to pick up CRM. She felt - correctly in my opinion - that it makes no sense to force ERP people to take on CRM if they don't want to. It won't go anywhere. So ... this was the result of her / their new understanding.

Re: @WayneSchulz comment about every promo directed towards add-ons ... that's the future. The ERP market is fairly well saturated so their money is in selling connected services and add-ons like SPS, Sage CRM and other widgets. If 10% of the install base purchased an add-on they would see a signficiant bump in revenue and, more importantly to them, their holy grail of annual maintenance.

The future is in add-ons that work well together and install with zero (or near zero) effort. Sage has been very successful with SPS not because anyone really gives much about selling credit card integrations but the integration could be done by their kids and requires little or no additional training. The piece missing is that the customer expects: 1. Sage box + logo 2. Sage products 3. Sage products can be integrated with little or no effort To the extent 1, 2 and 3 are possible = Sage has a success Example: SPS FRX F9 Starship To the extend that (3) requires a different crew and expensive project to install and implement then I think history is not on Sage's side in terms of adoption.

What you describe is what the future *should be*. We're discussing Sage here unfoetunately...

Noticed on my ""certifcations"" page in SageU that I'm qualified Sage CRM Implementation Consultant, as of 3/30/2012 - took the week long CRM Engineer course back in 2008! Nice to know I'm certified for something that's no longer required. Wouldn't dare implement CRM without someone's help - like Peter.