Sage reshapes its channel businesses

The Irvine, Calif.-based provider of mid-sized ERP, CRM and accounting applications is forming a business management division, along with one dedicated to industry and specialized solutions. A payment solutions and health-care division will round out the company’s organizational chart.President and CEO Ron Veri said the company is trying to pursue a strategy that will make his team more connected to customers. One key way to do that is to bring its accounting, ERP, CRM and related businesses into the business management divison. The industry and specialized solutions division, meanwhile, will focus on vertically-oriented products such as online payroll and HR systems for the construction, real estate, and non-profit industries.

“There’s been this artificial boundary between front office and back office. Customers don’t want to be forced into one or the other,” Verni said.

“We’ve also learned that customers want more from us than just selling a product. If they are interested in business process outsourcing, things which are difficult to do, they want a partner to help them do that.”

That doesn’t necessarily mean the company will be working more directly with those organizations, however. “We would always prefer to include our partners, which is why we create partner programs for them,” he said. “Some customers will elect to (work with a partner) and some won’t. We always want to make sure that the customer gets served.”

In many cases, the business units will also allow Sage to offer more back-end revenue sharing to its channel partners, even if a VAR isn’t the one doing the work. If a reseller finds a customer that wants Sage to handle its maintenance and support, for example, the partner will receive a portion of that revenue.

Sage is making the move to ease the ability of customers to grow their business with the company. If an Act! or SalesLogix customer wanted to move to Accpac Pro, they had to purchase from two different units of Sage.

“As you move through your business life, you shouldn’t have to give up the business relationships you’ve created,” he said. “It should be that someone would know all about you – if you move to that next point in your business.”

As part of the transition, Sage’s former chief marketing officer, Nina Smith, will lead the business management division while Doug Smith, president of the small business software division, will lead the industry and specialized solutions group.

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Jim Love, Chief Content Officer, IT World Canada

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