Sage

Sage Summit 2015: Postcard from New Orleans

New Orleans Postcard: Sage Summit 2015 Announcements of Note

The top messages we received at Sage Summit 2015 this year were:

  • Sage is actively developing cloud products and is committed to a more modern user experience.
  • For customers who use on-premise, Sage will *not* force migration to cloud. This is especially important for clients who prefer to control their own servers or who have integration to Sage CRM (which is not fully supported in Sage’s cloud offerings as of this date)
  • Sage 300 ERP is dropping the ‘ERP’ moniker, and will be known as Sage 300 going forward.

Introducing Sage 300c (c= connected):

  • Sage 300c is in development as a cloud-based UI for Sage 300.
  • However, not all Sage 300 modules are available (We’ll talk more about that.)
  • The browser screens are built on HTML5 and look fresh-  the placement of buttons are the same as desktop, but a new font and contemporary colors are introduced – from flat grey to white & mint green.
  • The new screens are available on any device with a browser: so your Android, iPhone, tablet or (goodness me) a Mac will all work.
  • “Entered by” metadata is now added to GL screens.
  • GL, AP, AR, and Bank screens now have a new POST button so you can create and post at once.
  • Required fields are indicated.
  • There is no software installation for these browser screens.
  • The browser version does not use the Tomcat service – just IIS.
  • However: unfortunately, Sage 300c is not yet fully integrated with Sage CRM.

Sage 300c release schedule (releases are planned to happen every 4 months):

October 2015:

  • New home page
  • Most financial web screens for GL, AR, AP, Bank and Tax
  • French and Simplified Chinese translation

February 2016:

  • AP/AR recurring entries
  • Recurring charges
  • Revaluation
  • Refunds
  • Retainage
  • Adjustments
  • Most operational screens for OE, IC, and PO
  • Development of SDK (software development kit) for third-party integrations

So, the bottom line as of Sage Summit 2015: if you would like to introduce Sage 300c at your organization, and you are using a robust Sage 300 system, you would switch between desktop and browser to use all facets of Sage 300. Because of this limitation, we see this working best for a customer who allows some “light” users (say, salespeople) to see limited Sage 300c screens from their mobile device (because that’s a fully supported browser based function). But desktop users would still either use exclusively desktop mode, or switch  between a desktop and browser to experience the updated screens.

Introducing Sage Live

  • Sage Live is one of the first accounting products that Sage is building as a cloud-first product.
  • It’s mobile friendly, contemporary looking, and responsive.
  • It’s been built on the Salesforce1 platform, implying future integration with Salesforce as a CRM option.
  • There is no out of the box integration with Sage CRM.
  • Ultimately there will be an ecosystem of apps for Sage Live, allowing developers to create new add-ons
  • At the moment, Sage Live does not have robust modules on offer- it’s strictly financials and initially meant as a way to persuade current QuickBooks customers to switch to Sage.

Out take on Sage Live is that it could be an attractive and affordable option for customers who are very interested in a cloud product but do not need Inventory Control and would be happy with a solution that strictly focuses on financials.

Sage CRM

Sage CRM is stable, supported and still the top integration option for the Sage 300 products. This conference focused much more on the changes to Sage 300 products but there is ongoing work on Sage CRM by the developers in Dublin.

Sazeracs

We’ve confirmed that Sazeracs are still the cocktail of choice in New Orleans. Cheers.

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