Dear colleagues,
It is three years since we set out our vision and strategy and we have made substantial progress towards becoming a great SaaS company for customers and colleagues alike. We have remained focused on all of our stakeholders – customers, colleagues, shareholders, and society – and on living our most important value of ‘doing the right thing’.
Next month at Kick Offs we will talk more about how we will build on and start to scale the strong commercial and strategic momentum we have created together. It will require us to continue to shift our investments towards those areas that are foundational to Sage’s long-term success including customer experience and brand, technology and innovation and AI and data. And we must simplify our business so that we can go faster and make it easier for customers to buy and use Sage solutions, and easier for our colleagues to serve those customers.
As a result, I have some changes to tell you about today.
Firstly, we will be aligning all Sage product teams under our Chief Product Officer Walid Abu-Hadba. This means regional product teams become part of a united product organisation reporting to Walid, as part of Lee Perkins’ COO organisation.
Secondly, we will be bringing all Sage marketing teams together, reporting to our Chief Marketing Officer Cath Keers. Product marketing (in segment and in region) will also be joining the CMO organisation as part of this change, as will partner marketing and the Hub.
You will be hearing more about how we will transition to this way of working from Lee, Cath and Walid in due course.
And more broadly, as we have evolved our strategy, we have made some decisions about the roles and skills we will need in every part of our business.
It is my job as CEO to make those decisions, even when they are difficult, to ensure we are successful both in the short and long term. We are announcing today that we will remove some roles across the business so we can further rebalance our investments towards our strategic priorities and simplify the business. We will remove approximately:
We will at the same time create new positions and continue to hire to build the capabilities we need for the future.
Shortly, you will be hearing from your regional and functional leader on the next steps.
Regardless of whether you are in a corporate role, a segment or a regional business, our MDs and their people teams will be supporting you through the process in the region in which you are based.
I know that for many of you, the best thing about working at Sage is the people, so I do understand how difficult this news is to hear – for all of you, but specifically for those impacted, and it is not a decision I have taken lightly. We have stood by our commitment to not make changes to our organisation in response to short term events or targets. For the long term, we cannot shy away from the big decisions that, whilst difficult, enable us to focus our investment and simplify our business in ways that will be transformative for our stakeholders.
How people are treated as they leave the business is a test of our values and culture. I am really grateful to all of our colleagues for the part they have played in our success, and that will be reflected for those who are leaving in the way they leave the organisation.
We will be extending and expanding our support for these colleagues with some local enhancements and these overarching global commitments:
Our strategy and plans are about investing in progress from a position of strength: focusing, applying what we’ve learned and getting in the best shape possible for what our customers need in the future. Our FY22 Kick Off events next month will be an opportunity to hear more on our strategy and priorities.
On Monday next week we will have an extended Sage TV Live where I'll take any of your questions.
For now, I would like to thank all of you for continuing to stay focused on supporting customers, partners and each other – and I look forward to talking to you all directly very soon.
Steve