Sage today announced their North America partners of the year. The list seems to shift from year-to-year in line with Sage’s strategies.
Sage North America Announces 2020 Partner Of The Year Awards
Sage Aligns X3 – 100% Partner Sales and Service
Sage has announced that they will exit the direct sales market for one of their flagship accounting products – Sage X3.
Previously Sage sold X3 through a Direct Team and a Partner Team. Sales that were made directly were also implemented with Sage’s own professional services team.
Moving forward Sage will eliminate the direct portion of sales and instead utilize a Sage X3 specialist team which will assist the partner channel in selling and supporting X3.
Most of the Sage direct staff have been re-aligned to other areas within X3 although there were reportedly a small number of staffing reductions.
My View: Publishers undoubtedly receive a significant number of inbound leads from prospects who locate the main product website. However, implementing and providing on-going service and support for complex ERP frequently requires either a local presence or some very specific industry expertise.
This is also likely a further acknowledgment that Sage X3’s target market is more mid-market than enterprise which also make staffing and servicing better suited to regional partner organizations.
Sage Adds Neal Watkins as EVP Small Segment
Sage has updated its Leadership Team page with a new executive who will oversee their Small Segment.
Neal Watkins joins Sage from BAE Systems Applied Intelligence where his LinkedIn indicates he served as Chief Product Officer since 2015.
Based on the description of his role it looks as if Sage is beefing up their competitive stance in the very small business arena.
Neal is responsible for leading the Small Segment Category Teams to provide products, solutions, and clear customer journeys for owner-run or small organizations that are increasingly looking to adopt emerging technology while managing costs and cashflow.
The Sage leadership page shows Watkins joining in April 2020 while LinkedIn shows him onboard with Sage as of January 2020.
Another change to the Sage Leadership page shows Jim Emerick, a 5-year veteran of the Sage services team coming off the page although Emerick’s LinkedIn still indicates Sage employment as of today.