Unifying the Way We Do Business

[#1]

This past week, Sage North America underwent an organizational restructure that resulted in a number of changes to our business.  With regard to the ACT! by Sage Business Unit and Sage SalesLogix, we have folded the North American commercial operations together with the global product development teams.  This unified structure will allow Sage to develop product within the same team as the people that market, sell, and support it here in North America.

I have spent the past five months analyzing the ACT! business, understanding its organizational structure, evaluating future opportunities, and working very closely alongside both product development and the commercial team.  I truly feel that the best way to move this business forward and to more readily align ourselves with the needs of our current and future customers is the creation of this new organization.  Joe Bergera, who to date has been leading our Global CRM business, and who has previously been the general manager for ACT!, will spearhead this effort.  Joe's past experiences with both ACT! and CRM will definitely benefit the product line, and I could not hand it off to a more capable leader.

While I will assist the team through the transition process, I will now return my focus to Sage's Value portfolio of seven products that serve loyal customer bases.  It has been a great privilege to work with a phenomenal set of ACT! employees, partners, and customers and I am excited to see ACT! poised for future success.

Regards,

Sam

[#2]

Sam,
 
Your right—we do have a phenomenal set of ACT! employees, partners, and customers in the ACT! community, and I am thrilled to be working with all of you again.
 
Unifying the Global product development teams with North America operations is an exciting change.  With this new structure, we will be able to accelerate our innovation cycles, reduce our time-to-market, and enhance other processes that are key to delivering extraordinary experiences for Sage customers. The entire Sage CRM Solutions team recognizes that a single business unit with responsibility for the entire product cycle, from ideas to delivery, will be a great thing for our customers.
 
Our vision, as outlined in CRM 2010, will continue to drive the product strategy for our solution portfolio. In fact, at our annual business partner conference this week, Insights 2009, we will demonstrate terrific progress in the areas of Anywhere Workforce, Social Networking, and new on-demand services that will really benefit our customers.   
   
I look forward to working with the talented and loyal members of the ACT! community once again!
 
Regards,
 
Joe Bergera

[#3]

Welcome back, Joe.

Is there any chance you might make some of the materials from Insights on the roadmap available to those of us unable to attend?

Regards,

Mike Lazarus

ACT! Evangelist