Labahn said repeatedly that Life is for a new market and serves more complex businesses that are now using QuickBooks. "We have been working with those customers to identify their needs and requirements," he said. What I got with the interview and FAQ is a repeated chorus that the product will let accountants focus on higher value engagements, that it's not just about accounting and that business owners and accountants can see data in real time. Gee, nobody has ever said that before, have they? The product is demoing in June and LaBahn expects it will be generally available in July by the time of the Sage Summit conference. Pricing will be available then. Sage Life is being sold only to new customers. Maybe that's why Sage did not talk about any upgrade path to or from the product. The interview also involved Jennifer Warawa, Global VP of product management for accountants. I asked about if and how members of the Sage Accountants Network will be involved. "It allows them to play a more of a dynamic advisory role," she said. "SAN is more traditionally our desktop product. As we move more cloud solutions, it's a little bit of a different proposition from the network." There's nothing in this answer saying SAN will or won't be involved. But from LaBahn's perspective, how many people get to say they are VP for Life?
SAGE GETS LIFE Featured
The alliance between Salesforce and Sage turned into something specific this week with the announcement of Sage Life. With FAQ list sent to the channel, Sage spent a lot of time talking about what the product is not—it won't displace Sage 300, X3 or CRM, or anything else. What it did not talk about is the products whose target market seriously overlap Life—Sage 50, the Old Peachtree and Sage 100—as the product is said to be for companies with 10 to 200 employees. Asked the impact on Sage 50 more than once, Doug LaBahn, newly minted as a global VP of product marketing for Sage Life, did a tap dance that could have qualified for "Dancing with the Stars."
