Sage conference draws African support
In his opening address, Jeremy Waterman, managing director of Sage ERP Africa, focused on the mobile revolution and the challenges it holds for software vendors. He said: "It is not really the concept of mobility that is revolutionary, but more the reality of the delivery mechanism that has undergone an evolution."
Himanshu Palsule, chief technology officer and head of product strategy at Sage Group said in his keynote address, "All Sage products going forward will be built with a mobile and cloud strategy in mind. This is not a trend with an end in sight; it is a new way of life."
Benoit Gruber, vice president of Product and Alliances Sage ERP X3, Product Marketing Europe and Sage mid-market, spoke about the road ahead for Sage ERP X3 and the planned release for version 7.0. This new technology update will make native thin client access to Sage ERP X3 a reality from any device, desktop or mobile.
Sean Mooney, the Head of Research and Development at Sage CRM assured partners that Sage CRM will remain at the heart of integrated business.
A strategic sales summary was delivered by Keith Fenner, senior vice president for Sales at Sage ERP Africa. "We have had an extraordinary year and the success of Sage ERP X3 in Africa continued with triple growth digit growth in 2012. It is an ideal fit for many of the larger companies in Africa.
Another highlight of the conference was the announcement of Parity Software as the winner of the Sage National Solution Provider award for 2012. This is the highest recognition awarded by Sage for excellence in development, sales and technical expertise.
"We are extremely pleased by the fact that after 30 years in business we continue to receive the highest industry accolades and that we still provide top quality business solutions for Sage and other business partners," said Parity's managing director, Warren Williams.