Sage expands ecosystem and new strategic initiatives to support worldwide partner community

Sage adds 150 ISVs in the first 100 days of its Marketplace launch and outlines continued commitment to partner-led business strategy

CHICAGO (July 25, 2016) – Sage, a market leader in cloud accounting software, announced today at Sage Summit a number of new initiatives which build on its Partner strategy and emphasize Sage’s focus on driving growth through and with its partners, a commitment central to its business model.

The Sage partner strategy is designed to enable partners of all sizes to work together to solve customers’ increasingly complex business problems. It will do this through building and reselling solutions in a connected framework of providers collaborating locally and globally.

It’s been a transformative year from a partner perspective for Sage. In his keynote speech Stephen Kelly, CEO of Sage talked of his vision for growth, highlighting partnerships as a way to deliver, Kelly pledged to drive 45% of its worldwide revenue through partners, increasing this from 38%.

To reinforce Sage’s commitment to partners it is implementing new initiatives and tools, including:

• The Sage Partner Program – replacing over 54 worldwide partner programs throughout 2017, the program has developed since its launch in November 2015, incorporating Independent Software Vendors (ISV), Strategic Alliances, Value Added Resellers (VAR) and Cloud Service Providers (CSP), together with Accountants and Corporate Partners into a scheme designed to make working with Sage better and simpler.
• Sage Marketplace - provides ISVs with access to an open ecosystem that allows its members to showcase their Sage developer add-ons. Sage added 150 new ISVs in the first 100 days, and has continued this pace to date.
• Sage Partner Community – provides partners with a frictionless environment for communication. Giving simple access to Sage with exclusive content and support services, Marketing Development Funding (MDF) and online education and certification. The Partner Community can also access an online message tool, as well as providing peer-to-peer communication between partners.
• Reward program - The first worldwide Sage CEO Circle in February 2017. Under this new scheme, the top partners will be rewarded with an invitation to join our CEO and Executive team for a unique and exclusive high level strategy session.

Building alliances

As part of its strategy to increase growth, to aid speed to market on product delivery, add skills and facilitate wider access to the global marketplace, Sage also announced at Sage Summit a series of strategic alliances with market leading global software businesses. These aggregated routes to market dramatically extend the reach and coverage of the Sage Ecosystem.

Alan Laing, Sage’s EVP of Partners & Alliances said: “Sage’s commitment to our partners is serious. The focus of our strategy is to bring consistency, support and the strength of our combined brands to our partners, in order to encourage profitable growth to all our partners. Sage partners are helping us to win in the market, and we are doing everything we can to achieve our shared goal.”

For those not attending Sage Summit 2016, all of the keynotes and more can be viewed at the virtual event http://bit.ly/29N0zbE

About Sage

Sage is the market leader for integrated accounting, payroll and payment systems, supporting the ambition of the world’s entrepreneurs. Sage began as a small business in the UK 30 years ago and over 13000 colleagues now support millions of entrepreneurs across 23 countries as they power the global economy. We reinvent and simplify business accounting through brilliant technology, working with a thriving community of entrepreneurs, business owners, tradespeople, accountants, partners and developers. And as a FTSE 100 business, we are active in supporting our local communities and invest in making a real difference through the philanthropy of the Sage Foundation.

Sage – a market leader for integrated accounting, payroll and payment systems, supporting the ambition of the world’s entrepreneurs. www.sage.com

Press contact:

Betty Tian
Sage
Office: 604-207-3611
Mobile: 604-376-7398
Betty.Tian@Sage.com