General Consultant Discussion

So I just got quotes from Sage for 2 customers with the July 31 deadline for a switch deal. I asked for a document that would show what the customer would get by switching to ""cloud"" (by edition and product bundle), and am told that there is not such a document. (And even if there was, it would lead customers to believe that they could get multi-bin AND mobile apps, when it is really an OR). So how are we, as consultants, supposed to help our customers make an intelligent, informed decision on whether to switch or not? If it is just about price, then the choice is between ""Is $1000/year savings (until you get ""ungrandfathered"") worth giving Sage a kill switch if we decide to (or circumstances force us to) drop maintenance in the future"" or ""drop maintenance entirely and bank $10k/year for the next 3-4 years against the price of a new system"". Changing the UI is not really a plus for existing customers. (Feel free to quote me at the next BPAC meeting, though a blog article on why you are dumping your Sage stock would probably have a better chance of being listened to)

I agree with your observations. I've been very frustrated with the same things. I've told customers that (a) this is the path Sage is moving , (b) I don't think it will change and (c) therefore they will need to go subscription sooner or later and they should take the deal and lock in a maximum 10% EULA stated rate hike I don't feel comfortable about any of this either. In my opinion Sage would have been much better to just announce that people are moving to subscription and that they'd guarantee a 10% cap on increases until the customer hit SLP. My .02: What this is really doing is funding Sage's development efforts and sponsorships and charity efforts in places that have no impact on the installed Sage 100 customer base.

P.S. - I stopped trying to give a feature by feature comparison because (a) I found most users didn't really care and (b) once I offered to compare perpetual vs subscription the customer became ""deadlocked"" in trying to make a decision and they were more than happy to have me run umpteen comparisons (all for free) to which the ultimate outcome was ""you really don't have much choice so why run a dozen what-if scenarios if the way forward is subscription"".