From the Sage MAS Team

[#1]

Hello All,

My name is Scott Pugmire and I'm the Senior Vertical Industry Manager for Sage focusing currently on Sage MAS 90 and 200 and Sage MAS 500. My wish is to bring to you a new dynamic way of looking at the marketplace that no one else is taking advantage of yet. Why would this be important? Because understanding what you're going after is just as important as understanding your plan of execution. Almost all of the major ERP software providers these days are acknowledging this due to the fact that our customers are more savvy that they used to be, and they expect us to understand them better.

So how is this new vision different? Well most of the ERP software providers look at the depth they want to pursue as manufacturing or distribution and leave it at that. Or they may even go a little deeper and target an industries such as Food & Beverage, Industrial Equipment, or Automotive; but not really see the connection between manufacturing, distribution or service. The problem does not seem to just reside in the ERP community but across the board. In fact, there really does not seem to be any standard way of looking at the marketplace from multiple perspectives that makes any sense. For example I've heard news reports that speak about trends in the manufacturing sector vs. the hard goods sector; or been asked to identify what industry I'm in when responding to a whitepaper download. So if I manufacture building materials, am I in Construction or Manufacturing? If I distribute medical devices, am I in Healthcare or Wholesale-Durable Goods?

The methodology I have come up with takes all of these questions into account. If you allow a little liberty - every business can be classified into one of four categories. I call them Industry Sectors and define them as Manufacturing, Distribution, Service, & Retail. So if you use the term manufacture loosely you can include farming, mining, fishing, ranching, etc. Service can include everything from government services to utilities to architecture, to restaurants. These Industry Sectors don't necessarily qualify as tight-knit groups, but they do serve to put all businesses into four sectors.

To define a vertical think of an eco-system of businesses that provided a common product or service to a common end recipient. Automotive; Food & Beverage; Chemicals; Industrial Equipment, Supply, & Service; and Life Sciences are all examples of  Vertical Industries. I have been able to segment the entire market into 78 distinct Vertical Industries that have a cross-sectional relationship with the Industry Sectors. So using this concept now allows us to define that a business may be in the manufacturing sector of the Automotive vertical.

I hope this makes sense, but if it is clear as mud then feel free to reach out to me and let me know your thoughts.

Scott

Message Edited by gmasini on 02-20-2009 05:28 PM

[#2]

Having come from a vertical industry prior to my life at Sage, I understand how important it is for a software company to do more than just talk about my industry, they really have to understand my industry....and not just from a 10,000 Ft level. There are so many factors that come into play when a company begins to assess their "software needs". A "one-size-fits-all" approach should be left to the baseball hat manufacturers. That way of thinking no longer has a measurable life-span in our industry.

I'm pretty excited about how Sage is deciding to pursue the vertical market place. The foundation that you described in your post is unique to Sage and is indicative of our commitment to meet our customers where they are.