"They [Paychoice] have a licensee model, which we think will be very interesting for our partners and accountants," says Connie Certusi, EVP of Sage's Small Business Solutions division.

Sage sold its payroll service to what was then in CompuPay in 2008. Certusi, who terms the former offering limited, says her company got back into payroll because the acquired company has a cloud platform which is "tightly integrated on the backend. You can think of it as the outsourced model." She also says Paychoice has a "very robust technology platform."

The Paychoice lineup includes self-service payroll for companies with fewer employees and with services that scale "all the way up to the mid-market," say Certusi.

Besides utilizing licensees, Paychoice also has a direct sales channel. "Our ultimate goal is to make it available especially to accountants where we can help them provide the payroll services," Certusi says. She adds that "a significant number of the licensees are accountants."

Certusi describes the acquired human resource services as complementary to Sage's existing products. She envisions technology from Paychoice being utilized in Sage HR products and vice versa.

The 260 Paychoice employees will remain as will the management team. CEO Robert Digby will continue to manage the business. Sage acquired the business from investment firms Great Hill Partners, Baird Venture Capital and North Hill Ventures.,