Sage ERP 1000 – Not another software name to contend with, surely? As a company that has worked with Tetra Cim 1.7, Tetra Cim 2000, Tetra CS/3 and Sage Enterprise to this day, using Sage Line 500 and Sage 1000, we admit that we try to convey the product or service we offer to potential customers. or existing. customers is a challenge. And it usually takes an in-depth discussion or a series of discussions to educate people, not in a condescending way but because ERP is not a commonly known or everyday word. So, after having various take on the naming conventions used since Sage took control of the product, we finally applaud them if the rumors are to be believed. Starting in July of this year, the Sage 500 and Sage 1000 will be merged and known simply as “Sage ERP 1000” and will be available with or without CRM functionality.
Sage Line 500 is the transactional engine and old-school product of what is an enterprise-wide software solution, often referred to as ERP within the Sage software stable. Sage Line 500 remains at the heart of Sage’s ERP offerings and will be for some time due to barriers to change. A multi-company, multi-currency, multi-language ERP system, regardless of your development platform, is costly and expedient. This is why Sage hasn’t rewritten the product greatly since they had ownership of the product or at least from a users point of view.
For all intents and purposes, Sage 1000 today is simply Sage 500 at the core with a CRM wrapper using Sage MME. The link between the two are SQL views, stored procedures, and an email (exchange) engine. Some problems with this are that the aesthetics of the product have been criticized, such as its lack of basic Windows functionality, not being able to click a column header to change sort patterns, its case sensitivity, not being able to export easily documents to Word, Excel or other from the standard report output.
Ultimately, however, and in the context of Sage ERP 1000, it appears that the Sage name, marketing strategy, and brand are coming together. Both this and its other change can only consolidate the product, its brand, and therefore its identity as a software solution for business needs. Starting in July 2010, Sage ERP 1000 will be released. This will put an end to the expected confusion among your resellers and, moreover, among your customers or prospects.
Q: What is Sage ERP 1000 and how is it different from Sage 1000 or Sage Line 500 V7?
HAS: Sage ERP 1000 is a unified product that can be sold with or without an integrated CRM solution. This will prevent the Company from selling two different products in the same market space (Sage Line 500, Sage 1000). This has to help, especially with the UK introduction of Sage ERP X3, but we’ll save that for another day.
Q: What does Sage ERP 1000 offer or promise on your roadmap?
HAS: What would have been Sage 1000 V3 is now Sage ERP 1000 (release date July 2010 and includes)
• A more attractive and user friendly interface to replace the existing user interface that currently exists in the client domain (GUI/Universal Client (Web)) which will use tabs to replace menus and submenus. Future release 3.1 (January 2011) will include toggling tabs in columns to change sort order, export documents, and increase desktop integration.
• PDF printing as standard instead of a separate or third party experience with associated costs. One hopes this will extend to archiving and something similar to sticky notes where you can cross reference documents or items with transactional data.
• Desktop integration, it is no longer acceptable to have to write specific reports that can then be transferred to Excel with some degree of difficulty. The new version will enable the instant pipeline of information in a variety of output formats that can be worked on and affect the source of origin. (ie: You can perform certain tasks in your ERP/CRM system from within Excel.
• Exceptional reports and Business Intelligence (BI) within the offer. Although we have to say that what you can achieve with SSRS (SQL Server Reporting Services) is phenomenal. Many Sage BI and third party (Qlikview) products, but to name a few, are available and easy to implement and use.
• The introduction of another layer in the software model (S-Data) that will allow the use of user-created fields instead of looking for existing fields, often inappropriate and too few for meaningful resolution of end-user requests.
• Increased use of workflow to help drive a greater customer service experience within a Company and with its external customers.
• Increased use of APIs and FCE extensions to empower the end user when standard in-product offerings fall short.
For more information or simply to register your interest in upcoming product or Business Wide Solution (BWSO) offerings, please contact us via the details below. Our Sage ERP 1000 page will be continually updated as we learn more: Sage ERP 1000 Latest Information hyperlink.