Sage 100

Sage Payroll Subscription - We have a long term customer, who has paid maintenance who is tired of updating their tax tables and is ready for an upgrade. Trying to convince them that the payroll subscription is not a bad thing. Then there is the up-front fee. Is Sage waiving this anymore. Would love an answer before I call Sage...

I am curious myself when that cuts off for those previously on maintenance. Sage has not been diligent regarding ensuring those with payroll start on the new separate subscription for payroll. Keep in mind it is not only the upfront fee but if not qualified as a current customer the top tier of subscription is $4K instead of $1.2K.

This customer is nowhere near the top tier. The annual maintenance has nearly driven them to QB and this may throw them over the top. The only hope for keeping them is the new Job Cost, but then they go complete subscription... again driving them away!

Is payroll even viable any longer at the current price? Has anyone sold a Sage 100 with payroll since the price change?

I have an inquiry into Sage sales as to whether the Payroll subscription is included in the elimination of up-front fees and will result in an increase in subscription fees. Not only has Sage not released the formal pricing detail (effective 4/4/2018), the sales people don't seem to know the details Why so secret? I have sold Payroll since the new subscription pricing, and have several proposals pending. When everything is subscription on a new sale, payroll does not stand out, except it is a separate subscription (because It's optional). Payroll subscriptions are still less than payroll services and have a tighter integration.

For the past few years the customer has been updating the payroll tables. It continues to work, beacuse nothing changes in the environment, but as things age, resistance is futile as the OS will not be supported... The subsription concept for payroll is not a bad thing, and actually makes sense due to the continuous requirement for updates and maintenance. Complex calculation performed externally in the cloud makes sense too. The BS of up front cost is BS if the partners due the configuration and their system is developed properly. If they have a lot of manual setup to get a customer working, then they have a bad system. We are constantly working to reduce our up front costs for hosting only to be thwarted by our publishers who make it hard to script or automate... IMHO

Sage is making up for the elimination of up-front fees by increasing subscription fees by 40%. That appears to be due to some complex calculation that keeps Sage's revenue the same or more. Or perhaps each executive had a go at a giant dart board. What we haven't been told, and no one probably knows, is whether the new subscription rates are competitive. I am encouraging all prospects to order prior to 4/4 to lock in a lower subscription fee.

We were told that if a customer owned the payroll module at any point, they can convert to payroll subscription at the existing user price which does not have the upfront fee.

We compared payroll subscription to other services and its still substantially less in most cases.

@MelissaSecody do you remember with whom you spoke at Sage about the upfront fee? Our rep doesn't seem to be aware of this.

For new customers we know that 100c itself will have no up-front fees and the subscription will increase by 40% as of 4/4. Do we know if this also applies to Payroll, since it is a separate subscription? Is the up-front fee going away and the subscription increasing by 40%?

I will check with our representative, but the price list on Sage Sell shows a $2,500 up front fee for Payroll and we wanted to get some feet on the street experience before we go to battle over that!

My Partner Territory Manager is also checking on this. He was checking with Linda Cade - I hope she really knows the answer.

The word is that the Payroll subscription pricing will not change . . . but anything could happen between now and 4/4.

@alanniergarth it was one of the Sales Ops team members. Speak with Larry Sunderlin (He's now the Director of Sales Ops)

I also confirmed no up front cost for existing payroll users. Other than our cost of converting the data.

This is an off-plan user wanting to update to 2018. the extra $2500 is a deal breaker.

Per our rep...The upfront fees are required for off plan customers. The only time they are waived is if there is a promotion or if executive management approves. The upfront fees will not be waived. The best I was able to get is 15% off.

@alanniergarth which rep do you work with? If you are working with a winback rep, many of them are new and don't know the full polices. They do usually charge the uprfont fee on the ERP users, but they should waive the full payroll upfront fee.

@MelissaSecody This is our regular rep. Ashley. This client's plan expired in 2013.