With his resignation coming one month before the company closes its fiscal year on September, the change will leave many speculating. Earlier this year, the company hosted a surprise second quarter trading update to report it had missed revenue guide. During the third quarter update, Sage said revenue was up 6.8 percent over last year’scorresponding period, putting the level up 6.5 percent for the nine months. About 30 executives paid the price for the miss, including leaders in the Sage Enterprise (X-3) effort.

Kelly joined Sage in November 2014 after holding the job of COO of the government of the United Kingdom from September 2012 until taking the Sage job. A high-energy person, Kelly brought lots of changes to the software company including last year’s purchase of Intacct to provide a mid-market cloud entry. In 2017, it also picked up Fairsail, whose product became Sage People.

The company has struggled to hang onto top talent, with keeping leaders of it home country a problem. It hired high-profile executive, Jaqueline de Rojas as managing director of Sage U.K., Ireland and Northern Europe, in July 2016 but she stayed only nine months.  That job was filled in June 2016 by Alan Laing, who led the alliance and partnerships programs, globally. But Laing left Sage in June and the company replaced him on an interim basis with Lee Perkins, who held the job before de Rojas.