Schulz Consulting

Consulting and Upgrades

Sage 100 Hosting Options Expand With Summit Hosting and I-Business Network Combination

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On June 30, 2021, Summit Hosting announced the strategic acquisition of the I-Business Network ( I-BN ) Cloud Hosting practice. This combination adds the I-BN hosting customer base which includes Sage 100 and SAP Business One to Summit Hosting’s cloud provider list of over 30,000 end-users.

About Cloud Hosting for Sage 100

While most Sage 100 users are running the program from their own servers an increasing number of companies have moved their servers to the cloud.

In December 2020, Sage unveiled a Sage Partner Cloud offering for qualified Sage Partners who then utilize Azure and Sage’s provisioning portal to act as a type of managed service provider ( MSP ) and migrate their customers to Azure. However, there are some limits to SPC, namely that it presently only works for Standard or Advanced ( no SQL ), has a limited number of supported ISV integrations and is primarily for hosting Sage applications.

As a follow-on to the Sage Partner Cloud offering Sage is testing a strategic hosting provider program that is closer to traditional cloud hosting except it requires an endorsement by the publisher. We have noticed some of the early participants advertising this solution which appears nearly identical in capabilities to the traditional cloud hosting.

Summit Hosting Expands Cloud Hosting Services with Acquisition of I-Business Network’s Cloud Services Practice

According to the press release:

Summit Hosting, the largest Sage Hosting provider, announced today that it has acquired I-Business Network’s (IBN) Cloud Services Practice. Another step in a 5-year acquisition plan focused on becoming the leading financial cloud hosting provider with cloud computing and Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS). The expansion will immediately grow the Summit Hosting customer base and add a new practice area focusing on SAP Business One, further solidifying Summit Hosting as a leader in small and medium-sized business (SMB) hosting providers.

“We are excited about the IBN acquisition as we continue to expand our hosting expertise and solidify our place atop the list of cloud hosting services in the SMB marketplace,” says Stanley Kania, CEO at Summit Hosting. “We would like to welcome our newest customers and look forward to providing enterprise-level security and world-class customer support.”

Customers transitioning from IBN can expect improved security and satisfaction with state-of-the-art data centers and an enterprise-level security suite installed on each server, including 24/7 security monitoring. They will also have immediate protection from our dedicated 24/7 Security Operations team and access to our 24/7/365 U.S.-based support team.

“We searched extensively for a partner with expertise and experience to serve and support the needs of our customers and their business management software” said Gary Feldman, CEO at I-Business Network, who will join Summit Hosting and head SAP Business One growth and acquisition strategies. “Summit Hosting checked all the boxes with world class technology in its US and Canadian data centers, deep expertise in cyber security and a North American support team that understands the importance of system reliability and responsiveness to customer requests.”

Summit Hosting provides cloud-based hosting for Sage, QuickBooks, and presumably now SAP Business One. Their website indicates they have been doing so since 1986 when they began as myownasp and subsequently merged in 2017 with NovelAspect to become Summit Hosting.

According to a blog post on the I-BN website – I-BN customers can expect improved security and satisfaction with an expansion of choices with Summit’s state-of-the-art data centers and an enterprise-level security suite. Summit has a dedicated 24/7 Security Operations Team and a 24/7/365 U.S.-based support team. Joining forces with Summit will also provide a leading niche hosting provider to the SAP Canadian market. Gary Feldman will work with Summit to garner SAP Hosting Certifications and drive Summit’s SAP growth and acquisition strategy.

For more information on hosting Sage 100 in the cloud – contact Summit Hosting.

When is cloud computing right – and wrong – for your business?

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Cloud computing is the increasingly popular method of running applications remotely. Instead of hosting software internally on hardware owned by your company under the cloud computing model you have an outside firm manage both the application and hardware infrastructure – theoretically saving significant overhead costs in the process.

However cloud computing may not be for everyone. An article in PC Magazine outlines 5 key considerations to the use of the cloud:

1. Does the cost benefit justify the disruption — Aka – will you save enough for it to be worthwhile?

2. Do you applications require specific hardware or speed of delivery?

3. How much capacity will you use?

4. Are data regulations and security hurdles too high to overcome?

5. When SHOULDN’T you use cloud computing (Hint: When confidentiality and speed are overriding issues).

The article is a short read and may serve as a good primer for anyone considering a move to the cloud.

Cloud Computing: Is it right for you?

Up To 25% Of ERP Users Looking to Upgrade Or Change Solution

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Forrester Research has an interesting study predicting that up to 25% of companies might be in the market for either upgrading or completely changing their accounting system.

What’s interesting about this news post is there’s no clear direction that companies are headed. The decision between a SaaS (software as a service) offering which is hosted off-site and an on-site offering is, according to this article, largely made on a company by company basis.

 
From The Computerworld Post:

An ERP boomlet, born of necessityFor the past decade, ERP has been the poster child for IT projects that overpromise and underdeliver. It was notorious for painfully complex rollouts that took years to implement, required massive customization, and were often only partially realized. Billions of dollars were spent just trying to get ERP systems to work as advertised.

Now ERP is back — and not just for big enterprises looking to refresh legacy systems. According to surveys by Forrester Research, roughly one out of four SMBs and enterprises plans to either upgrade their existing ERP solutions or implement a new one over the next 12 months.

Many of these are small to midsize companies that have been getting by for years with QuickBooks or Peachtree but now need to take managing their businesses to the next level, says Forrester Research analyst China Martens.

Computerworld

Sage One North America – Announced. Sorta.

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Sage has just tipped their announced — but previously un-named — multi-tennant “true SaaS” offering for North America will include a product branded Sage One. This announcement comes in the form of a LinkedIn job announcement (click the image at left for a copy of the details) for a Sage VP of Research and Development.

This SaaS offering from Sage is likely the same as that currently offered online to their Ireland and UK customers. During the July 2011 keynote at Sage Summit, CEO Pascal Houillon quickly alluded to a “true SaaS” offering that would appear in North America during the second half of 2011.

There was no further information publicly announced and cursory discussion with coy Sage personnel only uncovered that the expected product would be on par with Peachtree in terms of capabilities.

At least one analyst had been briefed under non-disclosure. Other analysts report that Sage vaguely discussed the SaaS product but apparently had not started to publicly demonstrate the capabilities.

It remains to be seen whether Sage One North America is to be a completely new SaaS offering – or as is more likely – simply a re-work of the existing international Sage One online service.

The first public clue that Sage One’s arrival in North America is imminent comes in this job posting from September 26, 2011 on LinkedIn where Sage advertises for a VP of R&D for the Peachtree, Simply and Sage One North America offerings.

More information as the product becomes available in North America.

MAS90 Online: Pre-Release Information, Pricing

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Last week Sage sent around a pre-release guide to their upcoming MAS90 Online offering. Expect this to become available in October 2011 and MAS90 Online to be a competitively hosted version of MAS 90 aimed at companies in the 1 to 5 user range.

MAS90 Online modules will include:

Accounts Payable
Accounts Receivable
Bank Reconciliation
Bill of Materials
Business Insights Dashboard
Business Insights Explorer
Electronic Reporting
General Ledger
Inventory Management
Library Master
Paperless Office*
Purchase Order
Return Merchandise Authorization
Sage ERP MAS Intelligence*
Sales Order

 

Important Notes:

1. Upgrades have to be done by the partner and by downloading the data and then uploading the newly updated/converted data. This means Sage doesn’t upgrade the customer automatically — and the customer still had the expense of having a partner (or themselves) doing the upgrade. This sort of baffles me but I guess at least the hosting saves some complexity.
2. Crystal Reports have to all be designed offline (I think this may have more to do with licensing)
3. No credit card processing
4. No SageCRM integration
5. Phone  support is additional/optional (maintenance is mandatory ).

6. Business Insights Dashboard and Business Insights Explorer will be available within the Sage ERP MAS 90 Online service.

Sage ERP MAS Intelligence (SMI) is under evaluation for compatibility at this time.

7. The following Modules and Functionality are NOT Available:
• Bar Code
• Batch Faxing
• Credit Card Processing
• Custom Office
• eBusiness Manager
• eBusiness Web Services
• FAS Integration
• Federal and State eFiling and Reporting
• Job Cost
• Payroll
• Sales Tax powered by AvaTax
• SageCRM
• Timecard
• Visual Integrator
• Work Order

8. No outbound email server for Paperless Office

9. No third party integrations

10.

MAS90 Online Pricing

Sage ERP MAS 90 Online pricing will offer customers a suite of business management software applications hosted by Sage, accessed over the Internet, for a monthly subscription fee. A minimum requirement of one full concurrent Sage ERP MAS 90

Online user license for one year is required to access the software, with optional add-on user licenses and services available for additional fees. Included in the monthly subscription fees are: the secure backup service, up to five Sage ERP MAS 90 Online companies, one gigabyte of personal storage, and one free named user license of both Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel. Discounts will be offered for multi-year contracts and pre-payments.
Sage ERP MAS 90 Online user licenses ($169*) are concurrent licenses and can be used by a pool of users.

In addition to Sage ERP MAS 90 Online user licenses, Sage also offers optional Remote Concurrent Access License (RCAL) for an additional monthly fee ($75*). RCAL licenses allow user access to Sage ERP MAS 90 Online system ─ but differ from Sage ERP MAS 90 user licenses, because they are named Citrix users.

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