Sage goes one further with combination Sage 1000 for manufacturers

Sage, the undisputed leader in ERP and accounting packages for SMEs in the UK, yesterday took its technology to a new level with the launch of Sage 1000. Described by Sage director of manufacturing solutions Andrew Buckley as, “a re-architecting of Sage Line 500 combined with our CRM MME [Customer relationship management mid market edition] suite,” it looks set to provide Sage’s gold standard for manufacturing users. This, says the company, is a lot more than simply bolting its ERP and CRM offerings together. As Buckley says: “That only takes you so far: it allows front office users to access some of the data that might sit in the financials or operational system, but there are still two databases and multiple records to maintain. “So what we’ve done is used ‘clever technology’ [proprietary and standards-based integration tools] to create a new system – an integrated, single database application suite with the best of Sage Line 500 and CRM MME and a modern web-centric interface with end-to-end workflow, roles-based dashboards, user self-service and access from anywhere with any device.” The new system has the potential to break down some of the classic barriers. It will thus enable better sales and operations planning, and it means, for example, that production scheduling will be able to view the sales pipeline and vice versa. Equally, sales people will get immediate access to customer history through CRM, along with stock, sales and credit history. Meanwhile, scalability is the same as with the existing Line 500 – so potentially many thousands of users, which positions it as ideal for manufacturers in the £10m to £50m revenues range. “We think that UK domiciled manufacturers with overseas operations, or UK businesses of multi-nationals will want this system,” says Buckley. “We’ve never attempted to compete with Tier One companies like SAP and Oracle – that’s not the market space we’re in although this architecture would accommodate that. Microsoft SQL at its heart of Sage 1000, and that will scale.” He also claims a new low level of total cost – cost of implementation, acquisition and support. “You are effectively getting a single system for not much more than the cost of a traditional mid-market ERP system. And whereas most systems work out at between £1,000 and £4,000 per user, we’ll be at the lower end of that range,” he says. Interestingly, from idea to launch took just six months despite this being an entirely in-house Sage development. Buckley makes the point that since Sage relies on its partner channel for sales into industry sectors, it used developments there for customers as the start pint, and ‘productised’ the initial developments. As for the future of Line 500, he insists that there’s no change – indeed that future developments of Sage 1000 will also run on 500. “We have a large number of users out there and there are still customers that wish to use ERP without the additional functionality of CRM,” he says. However, he also concedes that the likelihood is that the market will move fairly quickly to Sage 1000. “The road map is convergence, but if we’re developing new functionality for 1000 that will also be deployed to Line 500. we are not sun setting that system.” David Pinches, director of ERP at Sage, comments: “Since we announced our intention to launch Sage 1000 in February, we have seen huge interest from both business partners and customers alike. Businesses are beginning to realise that the sharing of customer and supplier data between departments is critical in gaining competitive advantage. “To date, 10 of our largest business partners are currently progressing through our accreditation process. We have already signed a number of customers based on our pre-release version, whilst existing customers will be able to migrate supported by our trade-in options. We’re organising 20 events around the country to explain our strategy face-to-face with our customers.”