Channel criticises Tetra over hiring of Sage man

Software Former Sage reseller boss Sayers to push CS/3 for rival.

Accountancy software vendor Tetra's decision to appoint the former boss of a Sage reseller to spearhead a channel expansion drive has confused its dealers.

Phil Sayers has been appointed as business development manager at Tetra, to help expand its European dealer base from its current total of 30.

Andrew Yuille, marketing director at Tetra, said Sayers' focus would be to push CS/3 Financial, a mid-range enterprise resource planning product line with a higher market focus than the low-end product from rival Sage.

But the appointment received mixed reactions from the channel. One channel source said: 'If Tetra is trying to boot its dealers upmarket and port them to CS/3 as opposed to the older, lower end Tetra 2000, this is a strange way to go about it. The channel needs all the leads it can get and someone with a Sage background will not be ideally placed to do it.'

A representative at K2 systems, another large Tetra dealership, refused to comment on the move.

Peter Dryer, marketing manager at Tetra reseller Foundation Systems, said the vendor's approach to the channel had 'improved markedly over the past 18 months'.

But John Tate, managing director of accountancy software reseller Tate Bramald, said: 'Tetra has historically been perceived as being pretty tough on the channel. Once built, the channel is much more dependent on Tetra than Tetra is on the reseller.'

Tetra floated on the London Stock Exchange in November.

Yuille denied Sayers' background would be a problem. 'It's not his Sage experience that's particularly relevant, it's the fact that he's been a dealer. He has a wealth of channel development experience, which is what we need,' he said.