Sage launches SaaS offering, looks to acquire new channel

Accounting software specialist, Sage, has launched a new Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) product that it hopes will open a new market and channel for it.

Sage My Business starts a $25/ month, although users will get the first 90 days as a trial period.

The product specifically targets smaller businesses – those that would traditionally use MYOB on the desktop.

Although Sage My Business can scale to significantly larger organisations, Sage general manager, Michael Smith said the vendor would expect to upsell into more enterprise-ready solutions.

Though the vendor is being cautiously optimistic about the program’s potential – aiming for a few thousand customers in the first year, it hasn’t had a significant presence in the small business market previously, so Smith said the hope is that existing accountants using Sage HandiSoft would act as a channel for onselling the solution to new customers.

“The product does not using accounting jargon in any way,” Smith said. “It’s very suited to the lay user. We’re hoping to use the HandiSoft client base as a referral base – it’s being positioned as a consulting opportunity for the accountants.”

Through the system, a microbusiness’ accountant would be able to potentially log into his customer’s Sage My Business account to make changes or provide appropriate advice.

Sage HandiSoft currently counts around 6500 accountants as customers – a channel that could potentially reach four million end customers.

Sage managing director, Alan Osrin, claimed there was no real player in this market niche at present, but it would grow to be a significant one in the coming years.

“Zero has had a head start in this space, and MYOB has the existing product brand sitting on customer’s desktops. But the market is very open, and there will be a dominant player in the coming years – it just comes down to who has the best product,” Osrin said.

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