Sage plans to test its upcoming Accountant Cloud suite via an early adopter program. The software company intends to release that product in the United Kingdom in July and the United States in the fall. However, features are not completely fixed and will be shaped by the test.
"We need to be sure we identify what is important to accountants and what works and what doesn't work," says Jairam Padmanabhan, the Sage VP of global product marketing in charge of the suite.
Most of the applications are already on the market—Sage Live for accounting; the Client Manager and Practice Manager. Also in the mix is Salesforce for CRM. Sage has not yet determined pricing for how modules may be sold bundled and unbundled but they will be available via subscription. The company will also make its Pegg bot available with the Cloud applications.
The Accountant Cloud will provided a single sign-on. The free Client Manger will enable firms to connect with clients and give them access to client data "It also sees jobs that are due," says Padmanabhan.
Bob Scott has provided information to the tax and accounting community since 1991, first as technology editor of Accounting Today, and from 1997 through 2009 as editor of its sister publication, Accounting Technology. He is known throughout the industry for his depth of knowledge and for his high journalistic standards. Scott has made frequent appearances as a speaker, moderator and panelist and events serving tax and accounting professionals. He has a strong background in computer journalism as an editor with two former trade publications, Computer+Software News and MIS Week and spent several years with weekly and daily newspapers in Morris County New Jersey prior to that. A graduate of Indiana University with a degree in journalism, Bob is a native of Madison, Ind
