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Sage Going on Road to Improve Accountant Relations

Sage logoSage North America, whose accounting software has largely been displaced by QuickBooks at accounting firms, is going on the road as part of a program to renew relationships with accounting professionals. And it plans a certification program for its Peachtree software for the first time. The company is also hiring accountants who will help their colleagues in running tax and accounting businesses, instead of trying to sell them software.
"We are reconnecting and reengaging with the accounting community. We are rebuilding relationship. We have been a little bit distant," says Jennifer Warawa, director of partner programs.

The company has already announced an accountant track would be offered for the first time ever at its annual Insights reseller conference, being held in Denver in May. And following that event, Warawa and executives plan to hit the road on an eight-to-12-city tour that is designed to give accountants a chance to express their views. Plans are still being created, Connie Certusi, senior VP and general manager for the company's Small Business Accounting Solutions group will be present for all and other executives, depending on the city, will also likely attend.

"It’s a key piece for me that we take down the walls between them [accountants] and our executives," says Warawa.

The company has also been working to standardize its programs across its wide product line and lining up programs for small business accounting packages is going to get the same treatment. Warawa is responsible for programs for products including BusinessWorks, BusinessVision, Simply Accounting and Master Builder.

"If they (partners) have three different products, we want to make it’s not three different sign ups," she says.

The accountants being hired are called accountant advocates and Sage is seeking those who have years of experience and can talk the language of accounting professionals. "They are not selling anything. They are trying to help you with your business," she says.

A certification program for Peachtree, which has never been offered, is scheduled to be launched about the time of the Insights conference. The company also is hiring a staffer to help place Sage's software products in more university and college classrooms.

Bob Scott
Bob Scott has provided information to the tax and accounting community since 1991, first as technology editor of Accounting Today, and from 1997 through 2009 as editor of its sister publication, Accounting Technology. He is known throughout the industry for his depth of knowledge and for his high journalistic standards.  Scott has made frequent appearances as a speaker, moderator and panelist and events serving tax and accounting professionals. He  has a strong background in computer journalism as an editor with two former trade publications, Computer+Software News and MIS Week and spent several years with weekly and daily newspapers in Morris County New Jersey prior to that.  A graduate of Indiana University with a degree in journalism, Bob is a native of Madison, Ind
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