The Sage Group
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| Type | Public (LSE: SGE) |
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| Founded | Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, UK (1981) |
| Headquarters | Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, UK |
| Key people | Tony Hobson, Chairman Paul Walker, CEO |
| Industry | Computer software |
| Products | Accounting, CRM, Varying according to country, MRP |
| Revenue | £1,295.0 million (2008) |
| Operating income | £267.4 million (2008) |
| Net income | £166.3 million (2008) |
| Employees | 14,500 (2008) |
| Website | www.sage.com |
The Sage Group plc (abbreviated Sage, LSE: SGE) is engaged in the development, distribution and support of business management software and related products and services for medium-sized and smaller businesses.[1]
The Company is listed on the London Stock Exchange and from time to time been the only UK software company listed in the FTSE 100 Index.
The name Sage was chosen when at lunch in a pub, Graham Wylie was taken with a poster showing a botanical drawing and description of the uses for the common herb of the same name.[citation needed]
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[edit] History
[edit] Development of the business
The Company was founded by David Goldman together with Paul Muller and Graham Wylie in 1981 in Newcastle upon Tyne to develop estimating and accounting software for small businesses.[2]
While a student at Newcastle University Graham Wylie took a summer job with an accountancy firm funded by a government small business grant to write software to help their record keeping. This became the basis for Sage Line 50. Next, hired by David Goldman to write some estimating software for his printing company, Campbell Graphics, Graham used the same accounting software to produce the first version of Sage Accounts. David was so impressed he hired Graham and academic Paul Muller to form Sage, selling first to printing companies but then to the wider market through a network of resellers.[3]
In 1984 the Company launched Sage software, a product for the Amstrad PCW word processor,[2] which used the CP/M operating system. Sage software sales escalated in that year from 30 copies a month to over 300.[2] The Company was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1989.[2]
In 1994 Paul Walker was appointed Chief Executive. In 1998 Sage’s Professional Accountants Division was established. In 1999 Sage entered FTSE 100[2] and launched a dedicated Irish division, based in Dublin as well as its e-business strategy. In that same year the UK acquisition of Tetra saw Sage enter the mid-range business software market.[4]
In 2000 Sage shares were named ‘best performing share of the 90s’ in the UK business press.[5] In 2001 Sage acquired Interact Commerce Inc[6] and entered the CRM/contact management market and in 2002 Sage won 'Business of The Year' in National Business Awards.[7] Also that year Sage sponsorsed the new Music Centre in Gateshead for £6m - now known as The Sage Gateshead - the largest ever UK arts/business sponsorship.[8] By 2003 Sage was the only remaining technology stock in the FTSE 100 Index. In 2003 at age 43 Graham Wylie retired with 108.5 million shares in Sage worth £146m. He was rated Britain's 109th richest person in the 2002 Sunday Times' rich list.[3]
[edit] Major acquisitions
The following are the major acquisitions the Company has undertaken:
- 1991 - Dac Easy (U.S.)
- 1992 - Remote (Telemagic) (U.S.), Ciel (France), Dataform (UK)
- 1994 - Extra Software SPA (Spain), Multisoft (UK), Timeslips (U.S.), Saari (France)
- 1995 - Sybel (France)
- 1997 - Prosoft (U.S.), KHK (Germany)
- 1998 - Peachtree Software (U.S.), P.A.S.E. (UK), PACS (UK), State of the Art (U.S.)
- 1999 - Infologia (Portugal), Tetra (UK), Taxsoft (UK), Peachtree (U.S.)
- 2000 - Computer Resources (Ireland), Adaptus Software (UK), Apex (Ireland & UK), SESAM (Switzerland), CSM (UK), Hartley (UK), Best Software (U.S.)
- 2001 - Interact (U.S.), TAS Software (UK)
- 2002 - Coala (France)
- 2003 - Softline (South Africa/Australia), Grupo SP (Spain), Timberline (U.S.), ATW (UK), Promis (UK)
- 2004 - ACCPAC International (U.S.)
- 2004 - IntelligentApps - Business Intelligence software soon to become Sage BI Enterprise
- 2005 - Logic Control (Spain)
- 2006 - Verus Financial Management, Inc (US Based payment processing company), Intuit Master Builder (U.S.), Contractor Anywhere (U.S.)
- 2006 - Emdeon Practice Services, Inc (leading vendor of software and services for doctors' practices in the US, most of which are small or medium-sized businesses)
- 2007 - Snowdrop Systems Ltd (UK) (Develop, Distribute, and Support HR and Payroll).
- 2007 - KCS RightSource (HR and Payroll software and outsourcing)
[edit] Sage Pay
- 2009 - The protx payment system becomes part of the Sage family under the name 'Sage Pay'.
[edit] Operations
Founded and headquartered in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom, the company initially grew organically, but more recently has grown primarily through acquisitions. It now operates worldwide. The company's US headquarters are in Irvine, California, the Canadian headquarters are in Vancouver, Canada and the French and Continental European headquarters are in Paris, France.
[edit] Strategy
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This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2009) |
Following the formula that worked for them in the UK, Sage's pattern is to acquire one or more of the leading entry-level accounting packages in a country then adds to its portfolio products from the next few tiers upwards until it achieves a dominant market position. As well as the benefits of high market share, this purports to provide an upgrade path for customers that outgrow their systems (or have their system 'killed off') thus retaining them over time. While Sage gives the impression through their marketing of a carefully-positioned 'family' of products within each market this is often not the case with either overlap or gaps frequently occurring. There is rarely any attempt beyond the occasional token utility to provide compatibility between different products so users hoping to move from one product to another are faced with a completely new implementation rather than an upgrade in the true sense of the word. Aside from the Sage brand itself and the use of numeric names there is often little in common between products. They will face a different code base, data architecture, user interface, and often reseller to support them.
Sage is content to have massive duplication of accounting products across its range from country to country without being tempted to rationalise. According to Sage's website the only global accounting/ERP products in their stable are the Adonix ERP X3 product originating from France and Accpac which was already widely used outside its home market of the USA, although it is not offered in the UK or Europe with the exception of its CRM which is bundled with Line 500 to form Sage 1000.
Sage is slow to kill off products but once new sales for a product begin to slow down development is slowed down. Products with an old architecture and dwindling user base will have support withdrawn. This is in keeping with Sage's very conservative financial policy which keeps a tight rein on development costs of even its current line up. For example flagship products like Line 500 have gone for substantial periods with only token improvements in some areas of the product.
Sage has bought a number of companies that offer horizontal solutions - CRM, Business Intelligence, Payroll/HRM, Retail/POS etc. and these have been interfaced or integrated with a number of products across geographies to add value and to round out their solutions.
The company in recent times claims to be focusing on vertical market software. The clearest evidence of this is the purchase of several software companies focusing on construction, accounting practice management, not-for-profit and retail. In most cases, though, these products seem to be quarantined to their existing geographic markets even when in the case of construction they make acquisitions in both the USA and the UK. Within these markets there can often confusing overlap between separately acquired products. It is however clear that with such a broad base of products and users that overall Sage is far from a vertical specialist.
[edit] Train your Business Brain
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This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2009) |
As part of their current marketing strategy, Sage funded the revival of The Krypton Factor TV show to ITV1. The show was on-air from 1 January 2009 and ran for 10 consecutive weeks. The thinking behind this strategy was as follows: Sage performs the functional things in business that ensures an operation runs smoothly, leaving people in business more time to grow and be successful. In order to take this one step further, Sage launched a nationwide campaign to identify, understand, explore and celebrate the qualities that make people in business more likely to succeed. The Krypton Factor champions the ability of ordinary people to transform themselves to become extraordinary and to achieve ever greater success. By funding its return and speaking to over 1000 business people, Sage was able to learn what makes people successful.
Once Sage had identified these qualities (that they refer to as Business IQ attributes) (foresight, logic, numeracy, memory, concentration and response) they created a website in conjunction with ITV’s The Krypton Factor; Train your Business Brain. The aim of the site is to educate people to what qualities make a person more successful and provide visitors with some inspiration in the form of videos. Games based on the five rounds of The Krypton Factor are featured on the site to provide mental stimulation to test and train a person’s key business IQ attributes. Sage has incorporated league tables to make the games more interactive for users to compete with other people in the same industry, region and age group.
[edit] Products
Sage's products include:
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[edit] Sponsorship
The Sage Group is a patron of The Sage Gateshead, a new Tyneside music venue designed by Sir Norman Foster.[8]
[edit] See also
[edit] References and footnotes
- ^ "Sage Group PLC: Full Description". Reuters. http://stocks.us.reuters.com/stocks/fullDescription.asp?symbol=SGE.L&WTmodLOC=C5-Profile-1. Retrieved on 2008-01-12.
- ^ a b c d e Sage History
- ^ a b Vaughan-Adams, Liz (2003-04-12). "Sage founder retires at 43 to get married and enjoy his £146m fortune". The Independent on Sunday. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/sage-founder-retires-at-43-to-get-married-and-enjoy-his-acircpound146m-fortune-594205.html. Retrieved on 2009-03-15.
- ^ Sage buys Tetra
- ^ Sage looks risky in an uncertain business climate
- ^ Sage buys Interact Commerce
- ^ Business of the year 2002
- ^ a b Software sages of Newcastle
[edit] External links
- Sage Group plc website
- Sage UK Website
- Sage Software's website
- Sage SnowdropKCS HR & Payroll Solutions
- Sage Software India
