In addition to a channel version of the formerly direct and retail-focused Sage One, Sage has also announced Sage Live for Accountants, a version of the cloud solution designed to put more accountants on the platform, and allow accountants to resell it.
Lisa Ewens, Director, Product Management for Global Cloud Products at Sage
CHICAGO — Sage One – Sage’s cloud-based solution for what the company calls its Startup market – has not been sold by its value-add partners, That’s about to change, however. Today at Sage Summit, Sage is announcing Sage One Partner Edition, which will be available – in 2017 – to both Sage’s accountants and general reseller partners.
Sage One Partner Edition’s broader deployment is part of the newly-announced Sage Partner Program. It has been available previously in Europe, however.
“We have been most successful to date with this accountant channel model product in the U.K.,” said Lisa Ewens, Director, Product Management for Global Cloud Products at Sage. “We have these very strong relationships there because it is our home base. We have very strong brand awareness and are the dominant player there. So we were able to leverage these relationships and put this product in the channel to see how it fared – and it has been very successful.”
“We are also very strong in Spain as well, and this has also been piloted there,” said Georgina Timothy, Global Product Manager, Customer Engagement at Sage.
Part of the objective here is to strengthen the accountant channel in Canada and the U.S.
“We have a very active accountant channel as well as direct in the U.K. and Ireland, and it’s something that we are looking to have in North America as well,” Ewens said. Partner compensation will be based on the reseller model, with specific compensation depending on the partner tier. It’s a high margin offering. The base margin at the top Platinum tier is 40 per cent.
“In addition, this will be a way for other types of business partners to sell as well,” Timothy said. “It is not limited to just the accountant channel.”
Sage One Partner Edition makes it simple for accountants to onboard clients to Sage One, manage their billing and then work with them in real-time.
“We will transform Sage One Accountants, a portal that connects accountants to a direct user,” Timothy said. “In the calendar year 2017, we will transform this to give accountants a lot more ability to use Sage One. It gives them options to onboard hundreds of clients if they want to.”
“It allows them to onboard customers in a digital way,” Ewens said. “They can use the partner edition to do this themselves.”
Additional abilities provided include being able to view critical practice and individual client data at the touch of a button, in real time.
“The emphasis with this product is on the simplicity of onboarding partners to Sage One,” Timothy said.
While Sage is making it a priority in its 2017 fiscal year to increase lead generation for its channel, with Sage One Partner Edition, it’s basically the reverse.
“This is designed to access that white space in the market – the market that uses presently uses Excel and Google Sheets – and bring them to Sage,” Timothy said.
Sage also announced U.S. availability of a new integrated cloud-based accounting and practice management solution, Sage Live for Accountants. This version of Sage’s cloud offering for the scale-up market is available now in the U.S., and is scheduled to be available in Canada in September.
“We presently have a limited number of accountants on Sage Live, which is a new product, and is just ramping up,” said Fabiola Stein, VP Product Management Accountant Cloud Apps. “This can enable accountants to resell Sage Live.”
