Sage recently provided us with a glimpse of the future for both Sage 100 and 100cloud including development goals, new features planned in upcoming releases, and continued expansion of the ecosystem of connected apps. Let’s take a closer look at the road ahead for your ERP software.
One word that describes all current and future product development goal is modernization. That applies to modernizing not only the underlying technology, but to the user experience when it comes to things like ease of use, screen navigation, and the installation process. It also means that if you need to migrate from Sage 100 or 100cloud to another Sage product, it will be as easy as updating.
On the technology side, Sage aims to create an unparalleled integration of accounting, payments, and payroll in addition to an expansive collection of 3rd party products and cloud-connected apps to extend the power and functionality of your core accounting system.
Here’s what Sage has in store in terms of new features expected over the next several months:
March 2018 – new features expected with the release of Version 2018.2 include moving the Timecard component of desktop payroll to the business framework, enhanced budgeting, and planning functionality, integration with Office 365 for Sage 100 customer contacts, and a handful of time-saving enhancements for ease of use.
June 2018 – the release of Sage 100 and 100cloud Version 2018.3 will bring modernized cloud-based mobile time entry, artificial intelligence BOTS that respond to KPI inquiries, consolidated sales order invoicing, and a dedicated marketplace for finding Sage-connected and 3rd party apps.
September 2018 – the release of Version 2019 later this year will bring real-time bank feeds and auto-clearing integrated with bank reconciliation, eCommerce integration for online business and customer self-service, a “Google-like” global search engine for Sage 100, mobile employee expense management, modernization of the Work Order module, and much more.
It’s worth pointing out that many of the planned enhancements and new features mentioned above will be exclusive to the Sage 100cloud product. As we talked about in previous blog posts, Sage 100cloud is still hosted on-premise but offers the ability to connect to more 3rd party products and cloud-connected apps to extend the power and functionality of the core accounting features. The biggest difference is that this product is offered as a subscription versus the traditional perpetual licensing model. While Sage is committed to supporting and allowing customers to continue using the traditional Sage 100 perpetual license product, most of the new development effort going forward will be focused on Sage 100cloud.