News
Accounting Today names SystemLink to List of "2003 Pacesetter Firms"
ACCPAC and IBM offer ACCPAC Advantage Series Linux Solution
J. David Beck, President of SystemLink North America Named as Panel Member
Accounting Today's 2002 Technology Pacesetters
Sage Group Plc Acquire ACCPAC
On Tuesday 23rd December 2003, the Sage Group, Plc, Computer Associates International, Inc. and ACCPAC International, Inc. announced a definitive agreement under which Sage will acquire ACCPAC. The acquisition is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to be completed by the end of February. This is great news for all of us and it opens the door to an exciting future.
For the most part, and in the short term, it is "business as usual". You'll continue to have access to SystemLink and ACCPAC programs, services, and the benefits you've come to expect and depend on. Some changes most certainly will arise as Sage and ACCPAC bring the organizations together but make no mistake, Sage is committed to supporting both SystemLink and ACCPAC products going forward.
As part of Sage in the United Kingdom, also known as Best Software in North America, ACCPAC will become part of an organization focused exclusively on business applications for small and medium-sized businesses (SMB). ACCPAC's end-to-end business management applications will become an important part of the overall Sage product strategy.
The acquisition of ACCPAC by Sage will bring many benefits to Sage, ACCPAC, SystemLink and to you, our clients and prospective clients.
For Sage, this acquisition significantly strengthens the company. In particular, Sage will now offer ACCPAC's unique "freedom of choice" proposition. ACCPAC Advantage Series is the only SMB product that is both database independent and has a strong presence in the open platform world, since it operates on Linux, Novell and Microsoft. This will also provide Sage a strong alliance with IBM, a relationship fostered by ACCPAC and manifested through the support for Linux and IBM DB2. Also, ACCPAC contributes to Sage's lagging technology by now enabling Sage to offer ACCPAC Advantage Series, a web enabled product that provides out of the box integration with ACCPAC CRM. In addition, Sage will now be able, through ACCPAC Online, to offer ACCPAC Advantage Series and ACCPAC CRM in a hosted environment.
Sage's existing products sets, because of technology architecture limitations do not enable hosting options. Perhaps, even more importantly, Sage, as an iinternational organization did not, until now, have a single product that could be offered worldwide. Instead, Sage offers an amalgam of different products for different regions of the world. With ACCPAC Advantage Series, Sage now has a single product and code set that is suitable for sales anywhere in the world. The technology and feature set of ACCPAC, which were its competitive advantage prior to the acquisition, will now offer Sage instant recognition as a market leader with a superior product set through ACCPAC's comprehensive suite of end-to-end business management applications. Sage will also be adding more than 540,000 business clients to its worldwide customer base and over 7,000 business partnerships (VAR's) worldwide. The addition of ACCPAC will strengthen Sage's business in Australia and South Africa, complementing Sage's existing operations, and will provide an entry into Asia with a strong position in Singapore. "ACCPAC also strengthens the company's overall North American position, especially in Canada," says Ron Verni, CEO of Best Software, "In addition ACCPAC Online, which offers hosted accounting, CRM, and other business applications, provides an attractive alternative to Sage's desktop solutions."
For ACCPAC, the acquisition represents a departure from Computer Associates. Although a strong corporate parent, ACCPAC did not fit its core business model, i.e. the development and sales of enterprise computer management applications, network management and storage management. The Sage Group Plc focus is exclusively on supplying business management software, related products and services to the small and medium sized business community worldwide. Additionally, many of you that attend software trade shows or pick up and read the computer press will have noticed Sage's high profile through aggressive marketing. ACCPAC's, by comparison, limited resources in this area meant it was not able to compete against its bigger competitor. The acquisition addresses this shortfall, and as a result we expect the profile of ACCPAC to be significantly raised, albeit under a different banner. Ron Verni says "that following the merger the ACCPAC brand will remain intact indefinitely. The ACCPAC brand is very strong, and we have no plans to change that, but we will co-brand ACCPAC products with the Sage logo to let customers know they can get the same Sage quality products and service within a larger family, adding that ACCPAC's employee base will also be retained."
For SystemLink, at least in the medium to short term, we expect it to be very much business as usual. Both ACCPAC and Sage have a reputation for being channel oriented and as such we see no reason for this to change. High level relationships built up over many years may well change. However, any significant changes or possible moves by Sage to pursue economies of scale are not envisaged until the longer term. As an independent subsidiary of Computer Associates, ACCPAC has come a long way, not only from a product perspective, but also as a community of committed professionals. ACCPAC and SystemLink will now move to the next stage of our evolution and many new and exciting opportunities with Sage.
For our clients, again we see no major changes in the short term. Sage, globally, have their own programs in place, which mirror those operated by ACCPAC, e.g. Software Assurance (formerly SupportPlus). The rates charged by Sage are similar, but not necessarily the same, therefore the cost to our clients may alter in the future, as well as the process. SystemLink will of course convey any procedural and/or cost differences if and when this becomes imminent. ACCPAC has been purchased because the product sets are technologically more advanced than anything within the existing Sage range of products. ACCPAC is not going to go away. On the contrary we expect ACCPAC to become Sage's flagship product.
From all of us at SystemLink please accept our sincere thanks for your loyalty during the last year and know that we all look forward to continue working with you as we leverage the new opportunities and challenges before us. We wish you a Happy & Prosperous New Year.
SystemLink Named an Industry Pacesetter by Accounting Today Magazine Accounting Today names SystemLink to List of "2003 Pacesetter Firms"
New York, NY, December, 2003 - For the 3rd year in a row, SystemLink was named by Accounting Today magazine an Industry Pacesetter for business management technology consulting practices. The Pacesetters were selected based on recognition by peers and business partners as leaders in the field, and on their proven records as innovators and business generators. As in past years, Accounting Today's editors identified candidates for the Pacesetters by canvassing the top accounting and enterprise software vendors serving the business market, and from Accounting Today's in-depth knowledge of the industry.
"It is an honor to be recognized for a third consecutive year," said David Beck, President of SystemLink North America. "Our continued focus on customer service and cost effective, innovative solutions delivery has allowed SystemLink to excel, even in a difficult market for ERP providers. We continually strive to achieve excellence. Our clients expect us to be the best in the field of business technology services."
ITA invites SystemLink to be a part of Group T, an elite group of top technology consulting and accounting firms
Washington, DC, September 2002 - Being recognized for its commitment to providing superior solutions to small and medium-size businesses, SystemLink has been invited and has accepted to be part of the Information Technology Alliance's Founding Members, an elite group of top VARs and CPA firms. This distinguished invitation has been extended due to the high level of support and service SystemLink has provided businesses in their market and for their commitment to being a leader in the industry.
"The focus of Group T is to provide an independent forum for leading businesses to share information, assess the nature and direction of the profession and to accomplish their own business goals," said Ron Eagle, president of ITA. "By participating in ITA, SystemLink has shown that they are committed to the long-term success of their organization and their clients."
"Being a ITA member is a great way to meet and network with other leading-industry firms," said David Beck, of SystemLink. "We are always looking to better our firm's infrastructure and operations. Having a forum to do so allows both SystemLink and our clients to be more successful."
ACCPAC and IBM offer ACCPAC Advantage Series Linux Solution
Washington, DC, August 2002 - SystemLink, a global CRM accounting and management software solution provider, along with server giant IBM and accounting software vendor ACCPAC are running a joint campaign to promote a product bundle which will offer accounting software running on Linux. The new offering will be made up of an IBM xSeries server, DB2 database, and a Linux operating system with ACCPAC's Advantage Series accounting software. President of SystemLink North America, David Beck CPA, says "ACCPAC and IBM enable SystemLink to deliver to the marketplace the ACCPAC Advantage Series financials on the IBM Linux platform at a much lower entry cost than competing solutions. The strong support structure of IBM makes it a very exciting campaign, and we are looking forward to some very favorable results."
J. David Beck, President of SystemLink North America Named as Panel Member
Washington, DC, April 2002 - SystemLink North America announced today that J. David Beck, President, will present strategies for growing a business through Business Intelligence Solutions at the annual technology conference "Tech2002" of The AICPA to be held in Washington DC in May 2002. The discussion panel, moderated by Chuck Wunderlich of BDO Seidman, is comprised of leaders in the IT industry and will discuss niche markets, their business opportunities, and best practices.
Mr. Beck has been selected to participate on the panel because of his expertise in Business Intelligence solutions and his success in developing a Business Intelligence consulting practice.
Accounting Today's 2002 Technology Pacesetters
New York, NY, January, 2002 - Keeping your existing clients happy is a theme that keeps reappearing in a series of articles recently published by Accounting Today Magazine. Providing increased levels of service via upgrades, new applications and related services represents a key growth strategy in the accounting technology industry.
"The potential for attracting additional business from existing clients has even gotten the Pacesetter firm executives hopeful of offsetting declines from the sluggish economy. The secondary growth strategy that they identified was to continue targeting specific vertical markets or moving into new ones", states Alexander MacInnes of Accounting Today Magazine.
Research indicates that the demand for internet-related services failed to meet expectations from a year ago, but predicts that the demand will increase in 2002. This growth will occur as the market becomes more mature, and the Web-based products become more clearly defined.
"The vendors are shipping better products and not just giving lip-service to eBusiness, while consultants are developing better methodologies to market and deliver the products, and the clients are educating themselves," says J. David Beck, President of SystemLink North America in a recent interview with the magazine.
