Sage Joins Supplier Connection
Monday, July 27, 2015 — Sage Summit – NEW ORLEANS – Sage, a leading provider of business management software and services to Small & Medium Businesses, today announced it has joined Supplier Connection, a consortium of 27 corporations aimed at driving small business growth by simplifying access to their combined global supply chain spend.
Supplier Connection simplifies and automates the application process (similar to a universal college application process) for a small business seeking to become a supplier to the group. Through a web-based portal, small businesses have the opportunity to present their goods and services to many large enterprises with the goal of winning contracts, expanding business and creating jobs.
“Sage is committed to helping Small & Medium Businesses succeed and is proud to be involved in a program that helps accelerate small business growth and jobs in the United States,” said Jodi Uecker, interim president of Sage North America.
Supplier Connection is maintained by IBM through a grant of more than $10 million from the IBM International Foundation. Supplier Connection is a free site that increases the ability of small businesses to gain access to the supply chain spending of large companies.
“For small businesses, this is a formula for growth, and it offers large companies access to a wider range of innovative products provided by small businesses," said Stanley S. Litow, IBM vice president of corporate citizenship and president of its foundation.
A recent report from the Center for an Urban Future found that becoming a corporate supplier significantly leads to revenue and job growth. Specifically the report revealed that within two years of winning a contract with a large company, small businesses doubled their workforce.
The Supplier Connection program is a free program for both small businesses and large businesses. In addition to its one-stop registration capabilities, the website enables small suppliers to learn from, collaborate with, and sell to one another so that they can become more competitive and successful in a bid with a large company.
Sage and Deloitte Forge Strategic Partnership to Deliver Affordable Insight and Agility to Small & Medium Businesses
Monday, July 27, 2015 — Sage Summit – NEW ORLEANS – Starting today, it will be easier than ever for Small & Medium Businesses to rapidly deploy cloud-based business management capabilities, thanks to a new strategic partnership between Sage and Deloitte.
Part of the overall Sage strategy to build customers for life, Sage and Deloitte will provide companies with the tools and expertise they need to become agile businesses – all at an affordable price. The two organizations will collaborate across a number of initiatives to help Small & Medium Businesses gain powerful live insight drawn from their financial data.
“Together, Deloitte and Sage will give Small & Medium Businesses an affordable way to harness enterprise-class resources to help them compete and grow rapidly,” said Santiago Solanas, Global CMO of Sage. “This partnership is further evidence of our ambition to provide our millions of customers with everything they need to succeed, not just now or tomorrow, but for the life of their company. Deloitte expertise in implementing cloud offerings will ensure our customers get the most from our industry-leading smart technology.”
The companies have worked together on a rapid deployment of Sage X3, a business management solution available both in the cloud and on-premises. Sage X3 gives companies the power to collect, store, manage and interpret data from a wide variety of business activities.
Kevin Walsh, head of technology consulting for Deloitte, said: “Cloud is an important tool to help companies to grow and scale their businesses faster. This is particularly true in the finance function, where cloud technologies save time and effort and allow data to be accessed 24/7. Our partnership with Sage, as a leading provider of business management software and services to Small & Medium Businesses, will help these ambitious businesses flourish in a competitive marketplace.”
In addition, Sage and Deloitte are exploring how to bring the breadth of Deloitte’s insight to Sage Small & Medium Business customers by offering real-time business intelligence through Sage cloud solutions. The latest of these, Sage Live, has been built on the industry-leading Salesforce1 platform and will enable Sage customers to access this financial insight on any device, at any time.