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Sage Announces Global CRM Strategy
By DAVID SIMS
TMCnet CRM Alert Columnist
The Sage Group, plc has announced the launch of a new global CRM organization to "drive the company's market-leading CRM business around the world," according to company officials.
The company also announced new branding that will be adopted worldwide for its line of CRM products, focused like a laser beam on small and medium-sized businesses. Any new, comprehensive global CRM strategy would be a first for Sage, whose business has tended to rely on regionally-based products designed to meet the local needs of SMBs.
Yet Sage Group Chief Executive Paul Walker says the creation of a global CRM organization is "an important step in Sage's long-term growth," believing that the move allows the company to "fully capitalize within the CRM market on its existing advantages in products, local service capabilities, and customer base."
Recent Sage hire Dave Batt as Senior Vice President and General Manager of Global CRM has been tasked with heading up the new organization, which will include product strategy, product research and development, and product marketing resources.
The Sage CRM products, which currently include such brands as SalesLogix and ACT!, will be delivered with a new common branding program with the tag line "Freedom of Choice," branding for the entire family of Sage CRM products.
CRM industry analyst Sheryl Kingstone with The Yankee Group says (in comments solicited by the vendor) that "CRM is rapidly becoming a key ingredient of SMB operations."
The announcement of the global CRM initiatives coincides with announcements of the impending launch of Sagecrm.com in the UK and France, and Sage CRM in Germany, and Spain. Sage CRM is offered for both on-premises and online use. The product is written with a Web architecture and provides two way integration to back office accounting.
And yesterday Sage announced that it will expand its Simply Accounting by Sage product line, introducing a new Accountants' Edition with the launch of its 2006 product releases later this fall.
They've also announced "unlimited access to priority support for the company's Simply Accounting Business Partners," as well as the expansion of the Sage Software Accountants Network into Canada.
David Sims is contributing editor for TMCnet. For more articles by David Sims, please visit:
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