Today saw the end of Sage’s annual partner messaging thrash and if first impressions are a sign of the future then Sage has left partners with mixed messages. Paul Stobart, Sage UK MD gave a sharp and clear message that Microsoft is no Sage longer partner flavour of the month.
This is the first time I’ve been public with this but those how know me will tell you I’m not a Microsoft fan. We’re prepared to make a stand because they (MSFT) really don’t understand or value support. One of our challenges is to educate users about the true cost of using Microsoft.
This was the key message as Paul played to two ‘full house’ seminar briefings – where he took a comic poke at Microsoft, Salesforce.com (ahem) and Exchequer. (More later.)
In the halls, VARs were genuinely relieved at Sage’s commitment to make integration a priority instead of an afterthought. Paul committed an extra £2million from total revenues to R&D as part of the increased commitment to ‘plumbing’ R&D.
On the other hand, a number of vendors were less than happy at the format of the ‘new’ combined partner/customer event. One partner, who had shelled £20K was ‘fuming.’ Another, who’d shelled £5K for a shell stand said:
Sage got in the way of our being able to meet with other partners. Punters were funneled between the food and the Sage people.’
OK – everyone has beefs about partner event setups. Having watched proceedings, I can understand these people’s ire. However, the name of today’s game is effective networking. That was one of the big messages from Office 2.0. But then the Office 2.0 folk are jointly committed to a fresh view of the world. I’m not sure the same is true of the VAR market in the UK.
Having said that – some people ‘get’ being social at these events. I know for example that an ex-Sage partner used the afternoon to leaflet Sage partners, handing out a cheeky card as a way of attracting attention.
In the days to come we’ll find out whether Sage partners – who are now in the mid-market firing line – are able to adapt to Sage’s fresh mid-market positioning and have the smarts to understand what this ‘could’ mean…or whether this is an opportunity for new entrants to make their mark. Me? I’m keeping my powder dry.
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