Who moved my ERP?

This week’s blog post is brought to you by our very own president, Kerry Mann. This photo was taken at a recent panel where Kerry was asked to speak on some of the changes happening with Sage BusinessVision Accounting.

Who moved my ERP? While not a famous book, it is a question that our customers and colleagues ask all the time. Why can’t things just stay the same? They worked so well! We can look to dozens of retail mass market examples to see just how exciting and convenient things can be when disruptive technologies are introduced.

Done a Google search lately? Listen to music on an iPod? Watched an entire season of House of Cards on Netflix? It’s not just that these applications have cool features. They are written on technology never before thought possible. And that’s exactly what Sage has been investing huge research dollars into. And we all know that as much as we always want to focus on what else we can bedoing, we also must have the discipline to recognize what we need to stop doing!

Sage BusinessVision Accounting was launched in 1987. It quickly became recognized as a product of deep value at a great price for those customers with entry level ERP needs. Those who use it love it. The underlying technology has aged and although there are no plans to stop selling it just yet, it is at the “decline” phase of the natural product development cycle. EVERY product sits on this curve somewhere and as Sage BusinessVision moves through decline, other newer products sit in develop and invest. So what does this mean for our customers? Well, just like not every customer will need the same ERP product, not every customer needs to do the same thing right now.

Some Sage BusinessVision customers have already chosen to migrate to newer technologies because their business dictated that need. Customers have migrated to Sage 50 Canada, Sage 300 and Sage ERP X3. In a couple of months, customers will also have the option to start considering Sage 300 online – a very exciting alternative that will be detailed in an upcoming blog! For now we understand that Sage BusinessVision will receive 2 product updates a year, plus 2 tax updates a year, for a total of 4 updates per year.

The key thing to remember, as always, is that there is no “one size fits all” solution. Mantralogix really appreciates the approach that Sage has taken to ensure that there are great product options for every type of small, medium, and mid market customer. As a Sage Select business partner, our role at Mantralogix is to work with you to understand your needs and then determine the best fit. Call us when you are ready and we look forward to understanding your business needs to determine the right alternatives for you!

As Spencer Johnson writes in his famous change management book, “Who Moved My Cheese?”: “Life moves on and so should we”. Oh and by the way if you don’t have the time to read the book you can now watch it on YouTube!