From Bots to Blockchain, Connected Cloud to Connected Cars, Sage Sets Out Its Vision for the Tech Revolution

CHICAGO, IL--(Marketwired - Jul 26, 2016) - Sage, a market leader in cloud accounting software, announced today at Sage Summit 2016 its strong commitment to future technologies, with a focus on new and existing partnerships that power business growth. Revealed during CEO Stephen Kelly's keynote address, which opened the world's largest gathering of entrepreneurs and business builders, Kelly spoke about how, through the use of the latest technologies and tools, Sage is levelling the playing field for entrepreneurs -- and it's just the start of the technology revolution all entrepreneurs and business builders of all sizes need to be a part of to compete and grow.

Investing in the future with the introduction of Sage Cloud

The dedication to helping businesses grow is a personal crusade of Kelly's. Following the investment of £139m on research and development during FY15, the Sage CEO used the keynote as a platform to set out how all Sage products will now be connected to the cloud, with new mobile, social, chatbot and IoT offerings in the pipeline for the entire portfolio.

Sage Cloud will allow businesses to integrate all activity across Sage products quickly and easily. It will also make it possible for Sage customers to activate integrations with partner products within a few clicks and will eliminate the need for maintenance or change due to product upgrades. Sage further pledged its dedication to the developer community with the launch of Sage Marketplace, a new open, API-driven platform for Independent Software Vendors to showcase their Sage developer add-ons and apps.

Industry firsts -- leapfrogging the competition

Another highlight was the official launch of Sage's new admin bot, Pegg, a smart assistant that allows users to track expenses via their chosen messaging app. Pegg removes the complexities and enables entrepreneurs to manage finances through conversation. By digitising information at the point of capture, it takes away the pain from receipts and expenses, eradicating the need for paper and data entry.

Powerful new partnerships

This coincides with the news that Sage has partnered with Slack, which will act as one of the core messaging channels connected to Pegg. Having recently joined as ‎Global Director for Mobile Product Management, Sage's Kriti Sharma said: "With the rise of freelancing and the sharing economy, the number of small businesses is growing exponentially. Most of these business owners use messaging apps, and with Pegg we aim to bridge the gap between these apps and work, rendering accounting invisible to the end user and making running a business as simple as sending a text. We're incredibly excited to partner with Slack, the fastest growing enterprise messaging app; together we share the vision that the future of the workplace is conversational, easy and fun." Announced with a demonstration live on stage, the accounting industry's first bot, Pegg is available now in Beta. New users can register at hellopegg.io.