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Sage Partner Cloud

  • 1.  Sage Partner Cloud

    Posted 12-02-2020 15:02
    I am still trying to figure out what this does for partners other than the "provisioning portal", new bundles (discount) and new requirements.   
    • The provisioning has been performed at no or minimal charges by I-BN, Summt, GoTo, Swizznet, etc.
    • New bundles are always good but aren't full bundles as you still have to add hosting... So nothing really revolutionary other than a bundle
    • New requirements 
      • Partners must be Azure responsible
      • Partners must report more
      • Partners bear more credit and collection list 
    I am sure I am missing something.

    ------------------------------
    Gary Feldman
    President
    I-Business Network, LLC
    Marietta GA
    6786270646 x224
    http://www.i-bn.com/
    ------------------------------


  • 2.  RE: Sage Partner Cloud

    Posted 12-02-2020 15:11
    So the Q&A is basically saying this is nothing new.  We are just using Azure because we have ignored the cloud partners that have been working with us for over 20 years!!!  Thank you new guy Shane

    ------------------------------
    Gary Feldman
    President
    I-Business Network, LLC
    Marietta GA
    6786270646 x224
    http://www.i-bn.com/
    ------------------------------



  • 3.  RE: Sage Partner Cloud

    Posted 12-02-2020 17:55
    Edited by Wayne Schulz 12-04-2020 15:10
    1. This is a case of technology looking to solve a people problem - the "upgrade within 12 months" is an excellent idea. The time to have started was 5 years ago.  Instead, the Sage 100 product became a hot potato with rotating management and priorities.
    2. What happens when Sage releases timely but the ISVs are lagging 6 months behind. This happens pretty frequently now. A better idea, IMO, would be to spend time getting this 12 month upgrade cycle polished before introducing Azure MSP responsibilities to the partners.
    3. Think about all the other things the partner will bear responsibility for:
      1. Backups/restore - will you be able to restore down to the file ( ie SY0CTL )
      2. Password resets
      3. Printers ( this probably should be #1 )
      4. Getting ISV's to install properly - hopefully, there's a way for the ISV to get an RDP connection to the server without being a Sage user
      5. Security ( hopefully this has MFA, VPN ) - I don't have any customers who allow me to RDP to their servers without at least a VPN and often an MFA requirement too.
      6. Surprises when ISVs don't work with SPC - one example might be Sage AP Automation which doesn't work with Unified Login. Let's hope unified login is not a requirement. Update 12/4/2020 - Unified login is an initial requirement for SPC so you should ensure that any add-ons used or contemplated are compatible with unified login.
      7. The readiness of partners to become an MSP ( today's session was the first time I have seen Sage describe this as essentially an MSP program) - for example, do you have a policy in place to reset logins and passwords ( which is the top thing IT people spend busy time with ), the crisis weekend calls that a server ran out of storage? 
      8. What happens when crypto type malware hits? ( Hint: You're the MSP so you're probably not charging the customer for the restore and rebuilt)
      9. Are customers able to run O365 on this platform? Other non-ERP type apps? 
      10. How much memory and storage? What' the cost to increase that?
      11. Can you run Premium on this ( I'm thinking no ). 


    ​

    ------------------------------
    Wayne Schulz - Schulz Consulting - 860-516-8990
    ------------------------------



  • 4.  RE: Sage Partner Cloud

    Posted 12-02-2020 18:26
    Edited by Moira Goggin 12-02-2020 18:33
    1. Multi-device support, if it's in the cloud, enjoy supporting iPhones, Androids, Tablets, Macs.
    2. Sage gives away training and support to the customer, cutting any hope of recovering margin through support work.
    3. Sage can flip a complaining customer to a new partner office with lightning speed or may keep the customer 'in house'.
    4. Tier-credit will erode as Sage needs cash flow.
    5. Sage Advisor will become mandatory, but that auto-update errors will be yours to fix.
    6. Server/customer security for compliance will be hard to establish, limiting the potential customer base.

    (should have started at 12, but interesting what landed at point 13)

    ------------------------------
    Moira Goggin
    Executive Director
    90 Minds, Inc.
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: Sage Partner Cloud

    Posted 12-03-2020 19:18
    Edited by Gary Feldman 12-03-2020 19:18
    Wayne, I believe Premium will be available at some time if not immediately.  Sage 300 is a SQL application and templating / scripting the SQL server part of provisioning is not a big issue.  

    We have found moving from set it up and don't change it unless its broken, to a world of constant patching a much bigger challenge.  Keeping on 1 or 2 standards will be key to this program having a chance.   We still have our original cloud domain which is over 20 years old and getting customers to move out of it has been a daunting challenge.  The customers just don't want to upgrade even when we do a parallel technical migration for free!  Even in a cloud, some customers don't want any change, interruption, risk or cost.

    ------------------------------
    Gary Feldman
    President
    I-Business Network, LLC
    Marietta GA
    6786270646 x224
    http://www.i-bn.com/
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: Sage Partner Cloud

    Posted 12-02-2020 19:06
    I'm hoping @Phuong Nguyen can answer my questions, some of which admittedly stem from arriving late due to a support ticket from a client!​  Add on your own, please, 90 Minders. Thanks in advance! 
    Who provisions the servers, who decides how much space is needed and who responds to performance issues?
    Who installs Sage 100?
    Will both on prem and hosted Sage be referred to as Sage 100, sans 'cloud?'
    What is the tier incentive?
    What level of access with partners have on the Azure boxes?
    Will Sage be on one server and another server set up for terminal services?
    I know, I'm wading into the weeds!


    ------------------------------
    ==================
    Rhonda McNamara
    Customer Success Manager
    Stewart Technologies, Inc.
    rsm@stewarttechnologies.com
    ------------------------------



  • 7.  RE: Sage Partner Cloud

    Posted 12-03-2020 10:23
    I have a heap of technical questions but the main unknown right now is: what exactly is the Sage "provisioning portal"?  Is this pretty much a program where Sage helps with marketing and some admin details, but nothing functional / operational?  A clear list of all the value-adds by Sage (marketing, discounts on Azure, special bundles...) would be appreciated.  What benefits are there to using SPC over other hosting services?  Picking a few of the bigger names in the Sage 100 specialist hosting providers and showing a feature comparison grid would be wonderful.

    ------------------------------
    Kevin Moyes
    Technical Systems Analyst
    Munjal White Consulting Co.
    Toronto ON
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 8.  RE: Sage Partner Cloud

    Posted 12-03-2020 11:00

    Like everyone else, I'm confused and disappointed with what Sage is expecting the partners to do in order to offer hosting for Sage 100.  I can't imagine most resellers have time to deal with the "I can't get in" and "I need a new password" and "I can't print!" issues that hosting brings.  We've been offering hosting since 2012, and without a fully staffed IT Department to solve all of the issues users have, I know we would have failed miserably.   So – I'm concerned for the myriads of resellers who don't have an IT Staff to solve all of the user issues that hosting brings...

     

     

    Sue Bennett | President

    Bennett/Porter & Associates, Inc.

    503-620-3484




    Original Message


  • 9.  RE: Sage Partner Cloud

    Posted 12-03-2020 17:30
    It does make one scratch their head.

    ------------------------------
    Moira Goggin
    Executive Director
    90 Minds, Inc.
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 10.  RE: Sage Partner Cloud

    Posted 12-03-2020 19:09
    Edited by Gary Feldman 12-03-2020 19:10
    Having a schizophrenic company that does both hosting and reselling I can tell you that it is two completely different competencies.   The skills for tracking down why someone can't get in with a Mac is very different than configuring a Sage 100 system.  We broke our company into separate teams for cloud and applications and even within the company keeping barriers down between silos is a challenge as it is often hard to draw the line between application and infrastructure.  

    I am most disappointed that they have little to no institutional knowledge of how hosting has worked in the past when they worked with IBM (and the partner), with hosting partners, when they tried to do it themselves, etc.  

    I think this may be another effort at trimming down the number of channel partners.  Only larger partners or CPA firms which have technology practices will be likely to invest in the types of resources required.  To run a cloud practice you will need
    • A good cloud engineer.  That person will need to be well acquainted with Azure to work in this new Sage Environment. 
    • Tier 1 support person who must be able to triage cases without some good skills in Microsoft Operating Systems and networking concepts. At the same time they must be good with people and have an understanding of the ERP or they won't understand the language of the customer
    Azure and offerings like this have brought down some of the barriers to entry in running a hosting practice, but until you get a volume of hosting, it will be quite expensive.  But that is not Sage's problem.

    ------------------------------
    Gary Feldman
    President
    I-Business Network, LLC
    Marietta GA
    6786270646 x224
    http://www.i-bn.com/
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 11.  RE: Sage Partner Cloud

    Posted 12-04-2020 15:52

    Considering the fact that MSPs are under siege from the dark web and insurance companies are declining to offer protection policies, you want to thing twice about getting into this game.  Being an MSP these days is quickly becoming inadequate table stakes.  You really need to be focused on MSSP capabilities and CISSP caliber certs.  Definitely not for the faint of heart.

     

    Jeff Mack

    Integrated Computer Systems

    425-284-5413 direct

    206-948-9423 mobile

    http://www.ics-support.com

    https://www.mtwocloud.com

    https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-mack-1660906/

     

    ICS MTWO Logo CMYK

     




    Original Message


  • 12.  RE: Sage Partner Cloud

    Posted 12-04-2020 13:39
    Edited by Phuong Nguyen 12-04-2020 14:04
    Hi @Rhonda McNamara - Thanks for tagging me. I did my best to answer your questions below.

    1. The partner provisions the servers and decides how much space is needed and responds to performance issues. Regarding database size, we received a similar one in beta and according to our product team, Microsoft Azure makes it easy to adjust space if needed.

    2. The partner installs Sage 100.

    3. Yes, we're dropping the "cloud" name from 100cloud.  The move in the long term is to call the product suite "Sage 100" and discuss deployment options as their own separate thing - on prem, cloud hosted, Azure, etc.. 

    4. I'm not 100% sure about the tier incentive. Your PAM should be able to tell you more on that.

    5. Partner access to Azure is owned by the partner so it's up to you what sort of access you grant yourselves.

    6. One VM (server) for everything.


    ------------------------------
    Phuong Nguyen
    Sage 100 Product Marketing Manager – US
    Sage
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 13.  RE: Sage Partner Cloud

    Posted 12-04-2020 16:08
    Edited by Kevin Moyes 12-04-2020 16:09
    @Phuong Nguyen
    Does Insight offer services related to general IT user / system support (day to day access / workstation issues, "I can't print...", security, full backup and recovery options...), for partners who are not interested in doing the heavy lifting from an IT perspective?​

    Without a full IT service option endorsed by Sage (similar to how other hosting providers package the platform with a variety of service options), I can't see how SCP could ever fit into our business model.

    It would be fantastic if we could earn Tier credit for something like this, but we're Sage 100 specialists, not a full service IT firm.

    ------------------------------
    Kevin Moyes
    Technical Systems Analyst
    Munjal White Consulting Co.
    Toronto ON
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 14.  RE: Sage Partner Cloud

    Posted 12-10-2020 09:00
    Hi Kevin,

    I asked my product team this question and below is their response.

    Insight are able to provide multiple levels of support that are required by the Business partner, however some of these will be at an additional charge.
     Currently the support areas for SPC are as follows.
     Sage: Sage solutions support (much like you receive historically)
      • Insight:
        • Level 1 Break fix support for the Azure infrastructure – Included as a part of the MSFT subscription
        • Level 2 support to business partners  - Support relating to the customer VM – Chargeable
    Any other support requirements outside of the MSFT Azure infrastructure is up to the partner to negotiate with Insight or a 3rd Party



    ------------------------------
    Phuong Nguyen
    Sage 100 Product Marketing Manager – US
    Sage
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 15.  RE: Sage Partner Cloud

    Posted 12-10-2020 09:07
    Would very much appreciate some public-facing info on this prior to the launch so that we don't wake up to phone calls from customers wanting to move to the new xxx that they just heard about in an email/postcard.

    ------------------------------
    Wayne Schulz - Schulz Consulting - 860-516-8990
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 16.  RE: Sage Partner Cloud

    Posted 12-10-2020 09:14
    Edited by Phuong Nguyen 12-10-2020 09:14
    Hi Wayne,

    We sent out messaging guides and a GTM overview 2 weeks ago in the Sage Partner Newsflash prior to the Dec. 2 webinar. We will have customer facing materials for partners to use to communicate to their customers next week on launch day.

    We're made a decision not to send out any customer communications, save for some updates to our website which is aimed at new prospects, to avoid this exact problem so partners have time to certify themselves before any customer-focused marketing push from Sage goes out. 

    Phuong

    ------------------------------
    Phuong Nguyen
    Sage 100 Product Marketing Manager – US
    Sage
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 17.  RE: Sage Partner Cloud

    Posted 12-04-2020 17:18
    Back when Microsoft Action Pack was shipped out as a binder full of CDs and they had just started buying up ERP companies, I remember being horrified that this package that went to every little IT shop in the country included brochures  encouraging them to become ERP consultants.  This is the same thing in reverse, and just as misguided.  There are companies out there already who have been hosting Sage 100 for years, and that's where I will continue to send any of my Sage 100 customers that want a hosted solution.

    ------------------------------
    Phil McIntosh
    President
    Friendly Systems, Inc.
    Asheville NC
    678.273.4010 ext 5
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 18.  RE: Sage Partner Cloud

    Posted 12-04-2020 17:31
    Exactly @Phil McIntosh
    If Sage wants to compete with those established, experienced, trusted full service hosting providers then their offering needs to have a comparable feature set.  A program which doesn't recognize this reality is likely to get very little attention.
    ​

    ------------------------------
    Kevin Moyes
    Technical Systems Analyst
    Munjal White Consulting Co.
    Toronto ON
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 19.  RE: Sage Partner Cloud

    Posted 12-04-2020 18:16

    @Phil   - Yes back in the day there were several of us looking to be the "official Sage hosting partner" and the problem was that they wanted a cut bigger than many providers base margin with a cap on our fees below what the market was bearing.  Although prices have actually come down over the years, providing Sage and the Partners a cut was too big a nut and the program was abandoned.  A few years later we were again in discussions with Nina Smith as a preferred provider.  That program was much more reasonable and would increase end user prices slightly to provide Sage a reasonable cut for their marketing might.  Then she was let go and again there was no hosting partner program.   There was one more program that was available for Sage 50 hosting, but not for bigger products.  After a few more years of trying we stopped making efforts for getting into a "program" the way we did with SAP (we got Certified). 

     

    Last year at Thrive On, we got a glimmer of hope with the new bundling (if I am allowed to use that word) program and we really liked Timothy.  He and Dianne Lane and several others were a breath of fresh air.  Then Covid and new rounds of change.

     

    The bottom line for existing hosting partners is that another marketing push will raise all ships like a rising tide.  Each time a publisher initiative fails, we catch some of the customers scrambling for stability and we grow more.  I appreciate the recognition of the need for a program, and lament that they don't think to consult with those who have worked with/for them for over 20 years!




    Original Message


  • 20.  RE: Sage Partner Cloud

    Posted 12-03-2020 13:24
    Sage is sending around a recording of the webinar as well as a set of PDF documents that are essentially FAQ. Check your email for copies.

    ------------------------------
    Wayne Schulz - Schulz Consulting - 860-516-8990
    ------------------------------



  • 21.  RE: Sage Partner Cloud

    Posted 12-07-2020 15:48
    This is the 3rd time Sage has tried an inhouse hosting option.  The reality is they have limited their liability and placed all the pressure on the partner.  The partner must develop their own Service Level Agreement, make arrangements for support, etc, etc.  The 90 Minds membership has listed a lot of reasons why a partner should think twice about becoming a MSP on the Sage Partner Cloud platform.  The one thing I've learned in over 8 years of providing cloud services to partners and clients is cloud hosting ain't easy.  And maybe it's the entrepreneur in me but bigger isn't necessarily better.  I've fought my entire life against large rep firms, IBM, all the big box sales training companies and now AWS, Azure, Rackspace, and the list goes on.  One statement that struck me in the presentation was the reason Sage chose Azure..."it's Microsoft and Microsoft has a reputation for being reliable" or something to that effect.  I don't know what you're experience has been with Microsoft but I've never found them to be flexible, easy to do business with, caring or customer centric.  

    The bottom line is there are already plenty of quality cloud hosting options within the Sage 100 and 90 Minds channel who are flexible, easy to do business with, caring and customer centric.

    ------------------------------
    Bob Tobey
    I-Business Network, Cloud Channel Manager
    I-Business Network, LLC
    Marietta GA
    678-627-0646 x231
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 22.  RE: Sage Partner Cloud

    Posted 12-07-2020 16:16
    Speaking of liability, being responsible for hosting IT infrastructure properly / safely is not a part-time side gig.
    https://www.wired.com/story/nsa-warns-russia-attacking-vmware-remote-work-platforms/

    ------------------------------
    Kevin Moyes
    Technical Systems Analyst
    Munjal White Consulting Co.
    Toronto ON
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 23.  RE: Sage Partner Cloud

    Posted 12-07-2020 18:51
    Cyber security insurance and E&O insurance are definite musts in a hosting practice.   Also, know that cyber security insurance does not cover the time and expenses incurred by your team for responding to an attack.   We have used two companies expensive and more affordable.   Expensive was great to work with, but in our one incident, it covered only a fraction of the out of pocket cost and nothing of the lost revenue.  The more affordable one has greater coverage, but required a threat of suit before they would cover any expenses.  Fortunately that attack had very low cost and we never actually filed the claim.

    ------------------------------
    Gary Feldman
    President
    I-Business Network, LLC
    Marietta GA
    6786270646 x224
    http://www.i-bn.com/
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 24.  RE: Sage Partner Cloud

    Posted 12-12-2020 20:33
    I just noticed that the following line item is now included in the product list on the portal for customers that are current:

    Sage 100cloud ADV Azure AD Premium

    Is that like the "free" CRM user?

    ------------------------------
    John Hoyt, Co-Founder
    Next Level Manufacturing Consulting Group
    johnh@nextlevelMCG.com
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 25.  RE: Sage Partner Cloud

    Posted 12-14-2020 09:47
    I believe that license is Sage trying to deal with a technical requirement for using the Office 365 connector.

    ------------------------------
    Kevin Moyes
    Technical Systems Analyst
    Munjal White Consulting Co.
    Toronto ON
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


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