back to article Sage CEO: £60m says we can convert more folk to Business Cloud

The latest CEO to take the controls at Brit accountancy software maker Sage is intending to convert the laggards in its customer base to the cloud by spending £60m on R&D and product improvements. It has been a troubled year for the organisation, what with operational execution woes hitting financial results and high-profile …

  1. johnnyblaze

    Many stand by the opinion that the one and ONLY reason the cloud exists is to get hold of user data and drive/force customers to a subscription model, which boosts revenue massively for companies like Sage (well, that's their plan anyway). Everything else plays second fiddle. Once they have you, the idea being they can sell you more subscription 'services'. Revenue, revenue, revenue!

  2. Dan 55 Silver badge

    If there's anything least suited to the cloud it's accountancy software

    Heavy usage by everyone at the same time every month, trimester, and year.

    They've already got you with changes to taxation which ensures people need constant updates so why do they need a cloud anyway?

    1. MatthewSt

      Re: If there's anything least suited to the cloud it's accountancy software

      That's _exactly_ why cloud is a good fit. You scale up for your busiest month and scale down for the rest of the year. Meanwhile your provider uses the capacity to cater for retailers on black Friday or super bowl, Christmas shopping, concert sales, and whatever else has peaks and troughs.

      That's literally the main selling point of the cloud!

      1. Dan 55 Silver badge

        Re: If there's anything least suited to the cloud it's accountancy software

        And what really happens is it goes down due to underestimated load or some configuration problem when you most need it. Not even the Amazon website is immune to this and they should know a thing or two about AWS.

        Sage pushing a software update is by definition more reliable than the cloud. Your software and your company's accountancy data are stored locally and you won't be left waiting for someone else to fix a problem at an inconvenient time. For this use case, there are no upsides to holding data hostage on someone else's server.

        1. MatthewSt

          Re: If there's anything least suited to the cloud it's accountancy software

          No upsides apart from access by multiple concurrent users (accountant and client) and portable use (being able to send invoices straight from a client's site through your phone). Not to mention the third party ecosystem and add-ons available.

          With regards to "what happens if...?", what happens when your hard disk fries and, as a small business, you need to wait a couple of days for your shared IT contractor to arrive to sort the backup or new kit to be delivered?

          Every system has advantages and disadvantages, and maybe the cloud isn't for you, but that doesn't mean it isn't for everybody.

    2. katrinab Silver badge

      Re: If there's anything least suited to the cloud it's accountancy software

      Having you and your accountant able to access the data at the same time is useful. They can do all their accounting adjustments, depreciation and so on while you continue to put your sales and purchases into it.

      Clouds are one way to do this, there are other ways such as give them a login on your remote desktop server.

      Sage Drive is supposed to allow you to do this, however, it is not reliable enough to be of any use, so you will need to find another solution, such as an rdp server.

  3. a_builder

    Sage drive/cloud = useless

    We have a group of companies on Sage50 via SageDrive which is their cloudy clod hopping offering.

    Reliability poor.

    Routinely disconnects and needs reconnecting to the cloud. Not stable enough.

    Whilst the desktop software is less bad than it used to be the cloud side is a joke and if you want to configure a Windoze server server as the master machine (you may ask why a cloudy offering requires a master machine at all) don’t bother reading the instructions.....in fact just don’t bother at all: that way you save wasting part of your life.

    There is still part of a mainframe embedded into Sage50 somewhere I can feel it in my.....

    I’m using Zero (no not the Jap plane from WWII) the accounting package and it works and makes sense and things.

    Top piece of advice using Sage: migrate to something else.

    1. katrinab Silver badge

      Re: Sage drive/cloud = useless

      "There is still part of a mainframe embedded into Sage50 somewhere I can feel it in my....."

      It was originally written for Amstrad computers running CP/M, then ported to MS DOS and later to Windows.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Sage are pushing customers

    Sage have always been aggressive with marketing, but they have pushed the boat out for subscriptions and tried to use making tax digital to force everyone into some sort of subscription.

    Those who held out against the sales pressure may reap the rewards because there are now multiple companies offering bridges to submit VAT returns.

    Sage have not been good to developer or reseller communities the developers have seen a 10 fold increase in fees, resellers have no margin on Sage50 subscriptions, and the sales they have already made will loose the recurring commission.

    From here it looks like sage are desperate to squeeze every penny they can even if it means destroying the business models of "partners"

    1. VinceH

      Re: Sage are pushing customers

      "Sage have always been aggressive with marketing, but they have pushed the boat out for subscriptions and tried to use making tax digital to force everyone into some sort of subscription."

      Exactly what I've been saying all along. I would jump ship (I already use VT for some clients), but the problem is, I've found no software that is as good as Sage for those whose accounts I keep in it. If I have to upgrade from my five year old version for something, I will - and I'll be looking at non-subscription options - but if I can avoid doing so I'll stick with what I have for as long as I can.

      "Those who held out against the sales pressure may reap the rewards because there are now multiple companies offering bridges to submit VAT returns."

      Indeed - both the sales pressure and FUD whereby some cloud-first companies were at one point trying to make people believe that making tax digital means you need to use cloud software.

      An ex-client called me a dinosaur for my position on stuff like this. I think we therefore need a dinosaur icon!

    2. katrinab Silver badge

      Re: Sage are pushing customers

      It is not at all clear that MTD is going to happen. They are way behind schedule, it doesn't work for a lot of use cases, eg anyone, who at any time, has ever traded with someone in another EU country. Also, there is a very large Brexit-shaped object heading their way which needs more urgent attention.

  5. Korev Silver badge
    Joke

    FY18 dogged by execution woes but, er, all sorted now

    Does that mean they've got a better hitman now?

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Easy Money

    I know how they are fixing it forcing everyone into their subscription model with a huge price increase.

    Just got my renewal £480 (186% increase) instead of £168 or £240 (43% increase) if I opt out of telephone support.

    For this you get an upgrade to V25 from V24 (provided you download it yourself from mysage as the software doesn't tell you a new major version is available much like AVG). It has an extra letter C in its name and no extra functionality other that them saying its MTD compatible.

    It still a desktop app and cloud drive/office 365 features appear to be extra.

    I'm not sure what the difference is as I've used Sage for years to submit electronically.

    Your other option is to renew the existing software which is not MTD compatible and will not be maintained going forward.

  7. remoteaccounting247

    They've already got you with changes to taxation which ensures people need constant updates so why do they need a cloud?

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