Sage Software has announced that IDC (News - Alert) Canada has for the second consecutive year ranked the company as the leading provider of enterprise application software to small and mid-sized businesses throughout Canada.

 

The rankings are based on revenue figures researched by IDC for calendar 2006. The report, titled "Canadian Enterprise Applications 2006 Vendor Shares," says that Sage Software (News - Alert) maintains its position as the leading provider of Enterprise Resource Management (ERM), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and Supply Chain Management (SCM) applications to SMB's in Canada.

 

According to the IDC report, Sage's Canadian operations have maintained their SMB market position with its Accpac and Simply Accounting financial applications. Investments in CRM, both SageCRM and SalesLogix, are also beginning to have a positive impact on the vendor's market presence in Canada, the report finds.

 

Sage targets such industries as accounting, as well as hospitality, construction, manufacturing, and real estate. Sage promotes its long term relationship with charter accountants and usage of its products in colleges and university courses. In the SMB space, Sage has strong presence among customers via its presence in education and with such professional organizations as Canadian Management Association.

 

Last week Sage Software announced ACT! for Palm OS 3.0, for use with the ACT! by Sage 2008 (10.0) and ACT! by Sage Premium (10.0) contact and CRM products.

 

ACT! for Palm OS runs as a native application to enable ACT! feature use on Palm OS handheld devices, including a linked calendar and task list, contact record access from scheduled appointments, and viewing customer interactions.

 

David van Toor, senior vice president and general manager for Sage CRM Solutions, said ACT! for Palm OS is a way to address data portability needs.

 

Alternative data synchronization tools do not provide Palm OS users with true contact management, Sage officials believe, because "these applications require use of their device's date book and address book." ACT! for Palm OS, running as a native application on Palm OS devices, lets users access information and track schedules while synchronizing with their desktop or Web versions of ACT!.

 

The product lets users attach notes or history to multiple contact records without having to enter the same data multiple times, and a custom field view can be used to create a snapshot of ten data fields. Application graphics, activities and calendars all appear in color so users can view items by priority.

 

A couple days ago Sage Software announced the new ACT! by Sage Online Community available at http://community.act.com for registered ACT! users.

 

The ACT! Online Community is supposed to let ACT! and ACT! by Sage Premium users, product developers, and Sage Software personnel "interact with each other through a variety of themed discussion forums and blogs covering best practices, product usage tips, and feature requests, among other topics," according to the Sagians.