Sage Makes Business 'As Simple as Sending a Text' With First-of-Its-Kind Accounting Bot

CHICAGO, IL--(Marketwired - Jul 26, 2016) - Sage, a market leader in cloud accounting software, today announced at Sage Summit 2016, the world's largest gathering of entrepreneurs and business builders, its new messaging bot, Pegg. Revealed during CEO Stephen Kelly's keynote speech at Sage Summit, Pegg acts as a smart assistant that allows users to track expenses and manage finances through messaging apps -- which currently boast more than 2 billion users worldwide -- such as Facebook Messenger and Slack.

Pegg hides the complexities of accounting and lets entrepreneurs manage finances through conversation, making the process as simple as writing a text. By digitising information at the point of capture, it takes away the pain of filing receipts and expenses, eradicating the need for paper and data entry.

Sage's Global Director for Mobile Product Management, Kriti Sharma, has a wealth of experience in machine learning, artificial intelligence and product innovation. Ms. Sharma, who is leading Pegg, said: "With the rise of freelancing and the sharing economy, the number of small businesses is growing exponentially. Those with messaging apps log in at least nine times a day; with Pegg we aim to bridge the gap between these messaging apps and work based technology, rendering accounting invisible to the end user and making running a business as simple as sending a text. For far too long, humans have had to learn to talk like computers. It's time for the software to learn how to talk like us. With Pegg, we're putting people first."

The launch coincides with the announcement of Sage's integration with Slack, which will act as a messaging channel for Pegg. As the fastest growing enterprise messaging app, Slack will work with Pegg to bring information to users when they need it, via a platform that they already use.

Jason Shellen, Head of Platform at Slack, said: "Slack's mission is to make people's working lives simpler, more pleasant and more productive. Expense reporting is time-consuming and a pain point for almost everyone, but with Pegg, the process becomes intuitive and fluid. The idea that you can simply message your expenses to Pegg and not have to worry about the administrative hassle of saving and entering paper receipts reflects our vision for the future of work."

A Pegg user, Juraj Pal of Sure, a tech start-up in London, said: "With so much technology available to us, it's fair to question why we still find ourselves caught up in the chaos of admin. We're so used to messaging friends and family that applying it to our work is simple, effective and most importantly, efficient."

Stephen Kelly, CEO of Sage, said: "Sage stands for social, connected businesses. It's a very exciting time for entrepreneurs, and disruptive technologies like Pegg -- another first in the industry from Sage -- prove our unwavering dedication to supporting Small & Medium Business owners, who are the true heroes of our economy. Our integration with Slack will transform the experience of running a business thanks to the shared belief 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.

About Sage:

Sage is the market leader for integrated accounting, payroll and payment systems, supporting the ambition of the world's entrepreneurs. Sage began as a small business in the UK 30 years ago and over 13000 colleagues now support millions of entrepreneurs across 23 countries as they power the global economy. We reinvent and simplify business accounting through brilliant technology, working with a thriving community of entrepreneurs, business owners, tradespeople, accountants, partners and developers. And as a FTSE 100 business, we are active in supporting our local communities and invest in making a real difference through the philanthropy of the Sage Foundation.

Sage -- a market leader for integrated accounting, payroll and payment systems, supporting the ambition of the world's entrepreneurs. www.sage.com

Gina Glickman
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Sage
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