Sage North America Announces Inaugural Customer Award Program Winners

DENVER, CO--(Marketwire - November 18, 2008) - Sage North America announced today the winners of its inaugural Customer Award Program at Sage Summit, the company's annual customer conference taking place here. Thirteen companies were recognized in seven categories: Best Innovation (5 winners), Rookie of the Year, Best End-to-End Deployment, Best Use of Customization, Community Stewardship (2 winners), Best Use of Multiple Sage Software Products/Services, and Lifetime Achievement (2 winners). Nina Smith, Sage North America president, Business Management Division (BMD), and Doug Meyer, Sage North America president, Industry & Specialized Solutions Division (ISSD) officially presented the awards today during the Sage Summit keynote address.

Best Innovation Awards

The Best Innovation Awards recognize the extraordinary achievements of businesses and organizations that have adopted Sage applications as an enterprise-class solution for their industry. The 2008 Best Innovation award recipients are:

-- R.S. Quality Products, Inc., Allentown, PA, the Accounting Solutions-Small Business winner, using Peachtree by Sage, and ACT! by Sage;

-- Bazaar & Novelty Ltd., Vancouver, B.C., Canada, the Accounting Solutions-Mid-Market winner, using Sage Accpac ERP and SageCRM (Sage Accpac Extended Enterprise Suite);

-- Delta Dental of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, OK, the CRM Solutions winner, using Sage SalesLogix;

-- Broadband Specialists, Inc., Balch Springs, TX, the Construction and Real Estate Solutions winner, using Sage Timberline Office, and;

-- Rogue Valley Council of Governments, Central Point, OR, the Nonprofit Solutions winner, using Sage MIP Fund Accounting.

Rookie of the Year

The Rookie of the Year Award was given to a first-year Sage customer who achieves best product implementation and/or first-year results. The 2008 Rookie of the Year award recipient is:

-- Hotels Unlimited, Inc., East Windsor, NJ, a Sage MAS 500 ERP customer.

Best End-to-End Deployment

The Best End-to-End Deployment Award was given to the Sage customer who has implemented multiple Sage solutions and achieved great success with them, demonstrating the combined benefits that stand-alone implementations could not achieve. The 2008 Best End-to-End Deployment award recipient is:

-- Trinity Manufacturing, Inc., Hamlet, NC, using Sage MAS 500 ERP, Sage Abra HRMS, Sage SalesLogix, and Sage FAS.

Best Use of Customization

The Best Use of Customization Award was given to the Sage customer who has customized their product to meet an industry-specific or business-specific need leading to a sustained competitive advantage. The 2008 Best Use of Customization award recipient is:

-- Metrolina Greenhouses, Inc., Huntersville, NC, a Sage MAS 500 ERP client.

Community Stewardship

The Community Stewardship Award was given to two Sage customers whose use of a Sage application has helped them make a positive impact on the local, national, or global community to better the lives of the people these organizations serve. The 2008 Community Stewardship award recipients are:

-- Louisiana Economic Development Department, Baton Rouge, LA, using SageCRM, and;

-- Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta, Atlanta, GA, using Sage MIP Fund Accounting.

Best Use of Multiple Sage Products/Services

The Best Use of Multiple Sage Products/Services award was given to a Sage customer who has implemented three or more Sage Software applications with demonstrated excellence in business results from integrating the products and services throughout their organization. The 2008 Best Use of Multiple Sage Products/Services award recipient is:

-- Cory McFarlane, LLC [formerly Aspirant Development], Tallahassee, FL, using Sage Timberline Office, SageCRM, and Sage Abra HRMS.

Lifetime Achievement Award

The Lifetime Achievement Award was given to two Sage customers that have demonstrated tremendous success with a Sage product for more than 10 years. The 2008 Lifetime Achievement award recipients are:

-- Experient, Inc., Twinsburg, OH, using Sage MAS 90 ERP and Sage SalesLogix, and;

-- Rex Moore Electrical Contractors and Engineers, Sacramento, CA, using Sage Timberline Office.

All nominations for awards were made by Sage Business Partners, Certified Consultants, Sage Accountants Network members, and Sage customers themselves. The winners were chosen by an independent panel of judges, including: Denis Pombriant, founder and managing principal of Beagle Research; Paul Clolery, vice president and editorial director of NPT Publishing Group, and editor-in-chief of The NonProfit Times, and; Ramon Ray, editor and technology evangelist of Smallbiztechnology.com, and a contributing editor for New York Enterprise Report.

The following Sage North America Business Partners who support the 2008 Sage Customer Award Program winners were also recognized: AccuPointe, Inc., Alliance Solutions Group, CRMatic LLC, Con-Tec Management Systems, Inc., Help Software Systems (dba HELP Solutions), JMT Consulting Group, MIS Group, Moyer-Drabick & Associates, Ltd., Net@Work, Plus Computer Solutions, Practical Software Solutions, RBP Methods, and Socius.

Sage congratulates all 13 winners of its inaugural Customer Awards Program, and wishes each of them continued success in the years to come. Nominations for the 2009 Sage Customer Awards will open in summer 2009. For more information, please visit http://www.sagenorthamerica.com/support/awards/.

About Sage North America

Sage North America is part of The Sage Group plc, a leading global supplier of business management software and services. At Sage, we live and breathe business every day. We are passionate about helping our customers achieve their ambitions. Our range of business software and services is continually evolving as we innovate to answer our customers' needs. Our solutions 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 North America employs approximately 5,000 people and supports nearly 2.9 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 14,800 people and supports 5.7 million customers worldwide. For more information, please visit the web site at www.sagenorthamerica.com or call 866-308-2378.

© 2008 Sage Software, Inc. All rights reserved. Sage, Sage Software, Sage logos 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: Mark Priscaro Sage North America (925) 931-7048 mark.priscaro@sage.com