Sage Software won the Business Software Strategic and Management categories with number 1 rank for support, partnership, and loyalty. The categories ranked Sage Software in relation to other vendors serving the market, including Microsoft, Oracle, and SAP. Winners were selected by VARBusiness editors based on the survey results of more than 5,000 systems integrators, IT consulting organizations, value-added resellers (VARs), solution providers and software developers. This is the first year that Sage Software was included in the ARC program. The results reflect the collective opinion of Sage Software Business Partners supporting the company’s Sage MAS, Sage Accpac, SageCRM, Sage SalesLogix and other business management software products and services.

“At Sage we view our Business Partner community as an extension of our operations and invest heavily into providing them with the support they need to be successful business people, employers, consultants, salespeople and marketers,” said Taylor Macdonald, chief channel and strategy officer for Sage Software. “We thank them for their support and for the recognition they’ve given us through these awards.”

Sage Software’s Partner Advantage Program includes dozens of components that business partners can select to tailor the program to their needs. Among them are programs that assist partners in developing business leadership, qualifying and hiring salespeople, benchmarking best practices, securing healthcare benefits for employees, developing marketing plans, and engaging recruiters at sharply reduced cost. Sage Software also offers the services of marketing coaches and sales mentors to provide one-to-one interaction that helps partners drive new business. More information is available at http://www.sagesoftware.com/partners/advantage/index.cfm.

“Because vendors taking part in the VARBusiness Annual Report Card are selected by their own Solution Provider partners, the Annual Report Card has over the last 22 years become the defining research on vendor/partner relationships,” said Robert C. Demarzo, vice president and editorial director, CMP Channel. "We salute each of the vendors named on this year's ARC."

About Sage Software
Sage Software supports the needs, challenges and dreams of nearly 2.8 million small and mid-sized business customers in North America through easy-to-use, scalable and customizable software and services. Our products support accounting, operations, customer relationship management, human resources, time tracking, merchant services and the specialized needs of the construction, distribution, healthcare, manufacturing, nonprofit and real estate industries. Sage Software is a subsidiary of The Sage Group plc, a leading global supplier of accounting and business management software solutions and related products and services for small and mid-sized businesses. Formed in 1981, Sage was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1989 and the Group now has 5.4 million customers and employs over 13,000 people worldwide. For more information, please visit the Web site at www.sagesoftware.com/moreinfo or call (866) 308-2378.

About VARBusiness (www.varbusiness.com)
For the past 20 years, VARBusiness' strategic resources have been the gateway to the commercial and public sector (or government) Solution Provider community. The VARBusiness integrated platform of media opportunities provides strategic insight for technology integrators through industry-defining research, in-depth editorial, channel events and innovative Web services, enabling these IT professionals to make educated decisions for their businesses, partnerships and customers. VARBusiness offerings lead vendors and distributors to unprecedented access to the most powerful strategic Solution Providers in the market. VARBusiness has been the recipient of numerous industry awards for both editorial content and design.

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