Senior shake-up boosts Sage channel support

Sage has undertaken a massive restructure of its senior management team in an attempt to increase its focus on both reseller and retail channels.

The accountancy developer has taken on a marketing director, Mark Searles, former marketing director at Midland Bank, who will be responsible for all marketing activities and will report directly to managing director Graham Wylie.

Sage has also appointed Mike Kelly general manager of retail, with a brief to grow the company?s channel.

Searles admitted that the vendor?s support for its channel had been lacking in the past. ?I am very keen to look at the level of value-added support for the channel, which in the past hasn?t been as great as it could have been. We want to increase the level of marketing focus on the dealer and retail channels.?

Paul Donnelly, MD of retail distributor Gem, praised the move to increase retail focus. ?In the past, most of the sales and marketing focus has gone to the resellers. The appointments mean retail will have board-level representation, so we?ll get more focus.?

Sage?s entry-level Instant product is the only product sold through the retail channel.

Other senior-level appointments include product managers for the Sterling and Sovereign ranges. These positions have been filled by Steve Attwell, former head of field sales for Sovereign, and Jan Garrill, ex-marketing manager for bus and train operator Stagecoach, who will be product manager for Sterling.