Sage News and Discussion

This Sage One commercial has been running on the Fox News Business Channel.

I just don't get the appeal of this or of X3. Both products seem thin and very niche oriented. What am I missing?

I agree with you @PeterWolf, I'm not seeing the appeal either. That said, it is the first time I've seen a fairly good quality ad from Sage on any product and also it looks like they've actually picked an ideal venue for airing it. Unlike the ads for Sage 100 at the Anchorage Alaska Airport. Can you imagine how a quality ad for say Sage CRM, Sage 100/200 run on a business network show would increase demand and brand awareness? As usual Sage, got it only partially correct - good ad, good placement, wrong product.

I think it sort of depends on how they handle the inquiries from the ad. If the reps and material can aggressively push the idea that ""Sage has a range of ERP based on your needs, so if you don't Sage One will meet your needs, lets look into the others."" Then it makes some sense. Sort of bait and switch, but that approach does work. That said, Sage One will probably become irretrievably branded as ""completely inadequate"" by the time Sage actually adds adequate functionality. They'll have to call the real product ""Sage Two

Before getting too excited about Sage One- sign up for a free demo. I believe one of the shortcomings is (was) that it doesn't write checks. The other shortcoming is no upgrade path. The third shortcoming is Sage's incorrect belief that small businesses will settle for very very light project/task management (in comparison to many many strong competitors like Basecamp or Podio or Asana). In short to me it looked like Sage dusted off their 1986 research and built a product that would have kicked ass ... in 1986.

Wayne, you might be misunderstanding my meaning. I know Sage One is an embarrassingly limited product. I was suggesting that the only way out of that with the current advertising would be a strong bait and switch approach. I was trying to be charitable. Actually, I think the portion of Sage incented to sell Sage One probably doesn't have a clue. Eventually your (correct) assessment of the product will be known by both initial samplers and the press. With virtually no sales, Sage will pull the ads. What they do after that is anybody's guess. Too bad.

I've been asking Sage what they're thinking --- and they think it's just wonderful. The one way we'll know if it is succeeding is if they announce paid user subscription numbers.

We'll see if it works out any better than their advertising for Sage CRM on the Stern show. Every time I've heard the ad during one of Howard's commercial breaks, it's grouped with ads from FreshBalls and Ashley Madison. Does that mean Sage is looking for a business owner who cares about personal hygiene, wants to cheat on his wife, and have a great way to track his ""marketing"" campaigns?

@WayneSchulz - yes, and they think X3 is the second coming. Both products are in the same boat (in my opinion) - light on features, very narrow on target market.

I cannot understand why SageOne presently has no upgrade path to any other Sage products. It also doesn't seem like it's a common code base with the UK version. I'm scratching my head more than anything and haven't said much because I'm assuming there's more coming.

I assume that they bought it and didn't develop it. If my assumption is correct, why *would* it have an upgrade path? They don't think along those lines, do they?

My impression is that this is self-developed.

I have no confidence that Sage has the development (product mgt and technical) expertise to develop a low-end, cutting-edge product from scratch. None. nada. all their previous expertise is taking an existing product and enhancing it. X3 came from Europe - not internal. The last one started from scratch was Sage 500 - look how long it took for that to be moderately successful. So, when adoption of Sage One goes nowhere despite the hype, the question is, ""Does Pascal blame the product or the marketing?"" All the incentive is to blame the marketing. Depressing.

That is depressing Jerry.

As is the case with much of what's happening in North America - I believe this strategy is being driven from abroad.

I don't disagree with the product strategy. Sage One would be powerful for the whole product line if it delivered on the promises made in its marketing. The execution strategy is one only a bean counter could love. A shame.

No surprise there, @JerryNorman. Watching the interim financial report really underscored the fact that Sage is a holding company - NOT a software development company.