General Consultant Discussion

We are excited about our premiere version of Sage 100C ERP and all innovation efforts and focus will be placed on this version going forward."" This was part of a message from our Sage CAM. Is this the most blatant ""your Sage 100 is being left behind"" message or did I miss this already. I remember feeling it but I don't remember seeing it in black and white. Also in the message is ""Accesstothefollowingwhenrenewingwithoutadditionaloutpocketexpense"". Is that code for subscription. It certainly doesn't mean ""free"".

I think you're getting the gist. Problem is that I believe Sage has a problem proving that there is a benefit to 100c and I'm not sure how they explain to their existing Sage 100 users that their version that they have loyally paid maintenance for is slated for the ignore category. I think this regime of executives will probably do a sloppy job and then we'll see whether another regime comes in or if we are dealing with a VC buyout.

Interesting that PR is not included in any bundle. Depending on the pricing for that module, that might be a worthy carrot to through in the mix. Upgrade to C and NOT pay extra for PR usage....

Did anyone else notice the part where Sage Inventory Advisor will soon be bundled with the new 100c plans?

I'll be surprised is SIA is for anything but a very crippled subset of the full SIA.

Could Sage 100C only exist because it is a key part of a strategy to move customers to subscription? I don't think it is about innovation or product development. It takes more resources to develop an additional version (Sage 100 Std/Adv, Premium and Sage 100C), so overall innovation and develop will suffer. Reading the tea leaves the message is, ""Get customers off perpetual and unto subscription.

My guess is that Sage was going to migrate 100 users at no cost and convert them somehow to subscription but nobody could agree on how to do it so 100c became a ""new"" product.

100c should not be considered the culmination of paying maintenance for years. Customers who upgraded each year received exactly what they expected - compatibility, program fixes, some enhancements/connected services and a software publisher that continues to exist. Most customers are not looking for any more than that. If the price is right, they will also say ""look at the cool new look"" and choose 100c. My experience so far is Sage is willing to make the price acceptable.

I agree. However my comments above presume, correctly I believe, that regular Sage 100 is going to be abandoned and/or less improved. That is my commentary above and I believe over time I will be correct in predicting Sage's strategy wrt Sage 100. As it stands today, the offer is - **pay kinda/sorta/probably/maybe/ymmv about 15% more for uh, well, um, yeah, errrr, um, yeah it's basically Sage 100 with a new UI**. But someday it's going to be really really really great and we are going to put all sorts of resources into making sure that happens. **Trust us. Have we ever led you astray before with Sage 100 ? ...** I do think Sage will be forced to change strategy around their push to 100c as the 100c offer presently available will not work for material numbers of existing users. The reason the present offer won't work is that **the calculator was invented in 1642** and **most Sage 100 users have greater than a fourth grade education** Sage does not have the insight to correctly market a transition to subscription. In reality, all Sage needed to do was: 1. Implement expiring unlocking keys (lots of other software companies have figured out how) as a benefit of maintenance. These keys get issued for 2016+ only. I think people understand that most software works this way. If the customer wants to stay on version 2015 (or earlier) for the rest of their life - let them. It's Sage's job to work hard to provide value so that the customer wants to keep current. Every discussion around expiring unlock keys seems to presume there would be a customer revolt and that use of software forever is a birthright. I don't believe either is true 2. Offer to allow existing customers to Sage 100c at no cost - at some point the plan is that 100 goes away and 100c survives. 3. Eliminate old licensing $$ but grandfather in existing users so long as they don't drop maintenance 4. New licenses and winbacks are sold on subscription only - if you go off maintenance you must come back on subscription What's so hard about that? Sage's round robin of 3 year executive/EVP teams who parachute in from similar, but never quite the same, industries and try to bump up revenues and save their positions. These executive/EVP teams never quite understand the market and just like clockwork they're gone in 3.

I previously suggested a better approach for 100c pricing [here](https://90minds-com.socialcast.com/messages/29273865?ref=stream).

As a cloud service provider who has been promoting subscription since 1999... we got a ""cloud"" lead yesterday that requires on-premise and has a preference for perpetual licenses.

Payroll would not need to be included in any bundle, as of April, it will be it's own subscription fee.

Once 100c gets features that 100 does not have, aside from the UI, customers will start considering it as a migration. For now I think 100c will be for new customers. And for off plan customers that want to come back into the fold. The subscription pricing is much more palatable than the perpetual license for reinstating. We are seeing subscription pricing finally being embraced by the Sage world. Microsoft clients had to adapt a couple of years ago. Remember Sage EES branding? Sage does play with the name. Clients adapt.