Sage CRM Solutions Developing Cloud-Based On-Demand Services to Aid Small and Mid-Sized Businesses With Sales and Marketing

SCOTTSDALE, AZ--(Marketwire - January 19, 2010) - Sage North America, which provides business management software and services to more than three million small and mid-sized businesses in Canada and the United States, is developing cloud-based on-demand services for its Sage CRM Solutions product family. ACT! E-marketing, the initial service offering from Sage, provides e-mail marketing campaign management compatible with the ACT! by Sage 2010 contact and customer manager. Sage plans additional on-demand services for its on-premises and hosted CRM systems including sales, marketing, e-commerce and mobility services, among others, that allow SMBs to subscribe to functionality they need, as they need it.

"On-demand services are part of our Sage CRM Solutions 2010 strategy to extend CRM value across our customers' organizations," said Joe Bergera, executive vice president and general manager, Sage CRM Solutions. "Our customers indicated their need for powerful yet affordable e-mail campaign capabilities tightly integrated within ACT!, making ACT! E-marketing an ideal first service offering."

ACT! E-marketing, created with strategic partner Swiftpage™, is a cloud-based e-mail marketing service with templates for e-mail design, survey and Web forms for gathering recipient feedback, drip marketing controls for automating campaigns with multiple e-mails, and a marketing results tab for identifying qualified prospects based on open and click-through metrics.

"ACT! with Swiftpage technology removes the manual steps otherwise required to run an effective marketing campaign," explained Bob Ogdon, CEO of Swiftpage. "Giving small businesses the tools within ACT! to reach prospects with graphical e-mail messages and monitor which contacts are most interested helps sales reps prioritize their activities and better grow revenues."

Specifically, ACT! E-marketing helps small businesses:

--  Reach more contacts more efficiently -- easily and inexpensively send
    larger quantity e-mail campaigns to help drive sales
    
--  Nurture prospects automatically -- create multi-step nurture or drip
    marketing campaigns that can include e-mail, call lists, even postcards,
    for automatic delivery over time based on recipient reading and response
    behaviors
    
--  Qualify more sales leads -- automatically assign scores to contacts
    based on their interaction with e-mail campaigns for a ranked and qualified
    list of who to call first
    
--  Grow a larger prospect database with more contact details -- use Web
    forms to collect contact details and interests from prospects that are
    transferred into existing or new ACT! contact records
    

ACT! E-marketing services begin at $14.95 per month. For more information visit www.act.com/emarketing or attend a Webcast February 3rd at 1:00 p.m. Eastern by registering at www.act.com/AEMwebcast.

About Swiftpage

Swiftpage is an e-mail marketing company that is changing the way traditional e-mail is used. Swiftpage uses the results of e-mail blasts to drive sales activities that help engage the most interested contacts. In addition, Swiftpage brings enterprise level marketing automation functionality to the small business marketplace through their Drip Marketing service. Swiftpage is proud to integrate with the leading small business database applications including ACT! by Sage. Learn more at http://www.swiftpage.com

About Sage North America

Sage North America is part of The Sage Group plc, a leading global supplier of business management software and services. Sage North America employs more than 4,000 people and supports nearly 3.1 million small and medium-size business customers. The Sage Group plc, formed in 1981, was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1989 and now employs 13,400 people and supports 6.1 million customers worldwide. For more information, please visit the Web site at www.sagenorthamerica.com.

© 2010 Sage Software, Inc. All rights reserved. Sage, the Sage logos, ACT! and the Sage product and service names mentioned herein are registered trademarks or trademarks of Sage Software, Inc. or its affiliated entities. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Contact Information: Media Contact: Ryan Zuk Sage North America 480-368-3818 ryan.zuk@sage.com