Heather's surprise announcement at the meeting should have been handled differently ... by Sage! IMO, Anne has done a great job in the past couple years herding the feral cats known to the outside as "Sage Management." Sage dropped the ball by not notifying Anne about this. Frankly, I'm curious as to why Ritchie didn't drop the announcement publicly 3 weeks ago: was this an innocent oversight, or something else? (My guess: the former.)
The agenda for the 90 Minds Sage Development Roundtable has always been set by Sage Dev. This was the whole point to the meeting: getting feedback on questions that Development had about Sage 100. It was NOT primarily to answer questions by 90 Minders. It was Development's loss that they didn't come up with another 15-minute topic to discuss.
That said, we had 15 minutes where we didn't ask any questions. I must admit that I was slow to pick up on Heather's position; otherwise, I would have asked several. I am very curious to know how she thinks her past experience in "product management for several initiatives in our global Service Fabric Group" will help the Sage 100 community. THIS is where Sage Global is moving Sage 100: interwoven into the "Sage Fabric."
I, for one, have been encouraged by Sage's actions in Product Mgt and Sage Product Mktg. It looks to me like they are actively marketing Sage 100 for strategic reasons ... even if those are simply to maintain and build a customer base to eventually feed to Intacct. I didn't initially understand what Sage was trying to do with SPC; now I do.
I suggest that we arrange a "Lunch and Learn" 1-hour session with Mike Ritchie, Heather, and Dianetta on their goals for Sage 100. I think this would be quite helpful to Sage 100 consultants in building the correct expectations.
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Jerry Norman
Smartbridge Partners
(512) 653-7498
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Original Message:
Sent: 07-28-2023 10:43
From: Kevin Moyes
Subject: So I'm going to become unpopular and ask this question
Jeff,
Some of those things relate to non-development topics (and maybe it's worth asking for a general purpose webinar with extra topics are discussed?) but this was a development focused meeting, where I'd prefer the focus remain on the actual product. We were given an opportunity to ask questions in advance, and I know one of mine was answered... (while the one related to licenses / user counts for 2023 was not).
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Kevin Moyes
Technical Systems Analyst
Munjal White Consulting Co.
Toronto ON
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Original Message:
Sent: 07-28-2023 10:34
From: Jeff Schwenk
Subject: So I'm going to become unpopular and ask this question
I have to agree with @Wayne Schulz on this. I was late to the meeting (joined 15 minutes or so in) and the call was nearly over. It seemed as if they had a FEW enhancements to present, an OBTW, let's put Heather on the spot and get her to say "hey", take a couple of questions and then end the call 30 minutes early. Maybe it's me, but I expected a little more meat! Tell me more about the 64 bit issues, tell me more about the IRP needing PM to install, tell me more about converting to OM from PM. Tell me more about the KB migration and why it is difficult finding articles. Just tell me more…..<o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>Maybe we should have a pre-meeting so that we can brainstorm about presentation expectations.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>I would like a webinar hosted by Heather Dispain so she can share her thoughts on the future of Sage 100. About working with 90M's. What are her qualifications? Or is this just another stop on her resume?<o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>And this is NOT just a MOTM management issue. We all have skin in this game, we all need to be proactive participants.<o:p></o:p>
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Jeff Schwenk
Bottomline Software, Inc.
(540) 221-4444
Original Message:
Sent: 07-27-2023 19:18
From: Anne Sawyer
Subject: So I'm going to become unpopular and ask this question
Official Announcement from Mike Ritchie:
Please join me in welcoming Heather Dispain as the new Senior Product Manager for Sage 100 in North America. Heather first joined Sage in 2012 and has served in various marketing and product management roles in the company, including most recently product management for several initiatives in our global Service Fabric Group. Heather is based in the Atlanta area, and we are looking forward to leveraging her skills and passion for our Sage 100 customers and partners.
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Anne Sawyer
Executive Director
90 Minds Inc.
Sunset Beach CA