Sage kicked off the first day of Sage Summit 2017 by addressing its partners, outlining both what they could expect from the software company over the next few years and what those partners, resellers and accountants were anticipating in their own businesses, based on Sage-commissioned research.
Sage executives presented these survey findings while explaining that the company would continue advancing its technology into in-demand areas like artificial intelligence and machine learning, but continue supporting legacy customers on more traditional and desktop solutions.
Sage’s continued “customer for life” strategy aligns with where those customers fall on the cloud adoption scale—according to research conducted by market intelligence firm IDC, 51 percent of surveyed Sage channel partners consider themselves halfway along the journey to becoming cloud ready. Relatedly, 66 percent believe the cloud enables them to have a more predictable revenue stream and 58 percent believe software-as-a-service helps them win new accounts and improve customer acquisition.
Customer tech-readiness was evident in the numbers CEO Stephen Kelly presented to attendees during the partner day keynote, which included increasing software subscriptions, rising Sage Live revenues and the introduction of 52 new Sage products and versions this year, including several to be officially announced during Summit. Along with these announcements was the promise, by Kelly, that Sage “will never fall asleep at the wheel again.”
“Our technology is absolutely ready for prime time, and the proof is in the numbers,” Kelly said.
While the new solutions range from accountant-specific tools to AI functionality, they all serve to “automate all that boring stuff,” Kelly said, explaining that, according to their research, 86 percent of accountants are “ready for the invisible admin revolution.”
The latest Sage products and enhancements, which were demoed for partners and resellers Tuesday, will be officially announced when the Sage Summit general sessions commence Wednesday.
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