Customer Awards Program Description and Criteria

The Sage Customer Awards Program recognizes the outstanding achievements of our valued customers. This annual program honors the accomplishments, innovation, loyalty, and partnerships of Sage customers and in 2009 will award one winner in each of the following six categories:

For information about the rules and judging process, please download the Sage Customer Awards Program Rules & Regulations PDF.

Innovation

The Innovation award recognizes the extraordinary achievement of a customer that has adopted Sage applications as an enterprise-class solution for their industry. This company must recognize significant technology and business benefits by committing to the Sage platform, and achieve world-class performance while enabling business processes to deploy throughout the organization. The winning entrant will demonstrate exceptional alignment of business objectives to long-term industry trends, differentiate themselves to their customers, and achieve at least one of the following: outstanding ROI, user adoption, or gains in efficiency and effectiveness of existing resources. Efficiency is the ability to perform existing tasks faster while effectiveness takes a new approach for potentially new processes.

• Supply the name and contact information of Sage business partner, certified consultant, Accountants Network member, independent sales organization, channel partner, or the customer submitting a nomination.
• Provide the names of customer nominees, main contact information, and the Sage products that the customers utilize.
• Include the date when the Sage product was installed and what hardware the customer is using to run the software.
• Discuss the unique nature of the customer's industry, how the customer fits into the market mix, and how they tackle the business challenges of this industry in a unique manner with a competitive offering. Additionally, detail how Sage assists the customer in achieving a differentiated value proposition for their customers.
• Scope—Indicate what business problem or opportunity the Sage product implementation addresses and what the measurement/classification/scope is for the problem or opportunity.
• Mention the user adoption strategy (if applicable) and any unique approaches and challenges that were faced.
• Impact—Note any efficiency and effectiveness that resulted from the implementation of the Sage application.

Back to Top

Rookie of the Year

The Rookie of the Year award recognizes a new Sage customer who has achieved and exceeded their stated objectives, established a new trajectory for their organization to deliver upon financial, service, process, and/or employee goals. The winning entrant will stand out among peers as achieving customer intimacy, operational excellence, or a unique product and/or service offering. Complexities of implementation or unique approaches to addressing a business challenge are two examples of achievement.

• Supply the name and contact information of Sage business partner, certified consultant, Accountants Network member, or the customer submitting the nomination.
• Provide the name of the customer nominee, main contact information, and the Sage product that the customer utilizes.
• Include the date when the Sage product was installed and what hardware the customer is using to run the software.
• Discuss the stated objectives for the implementation and results tracked against those objectives. Mention how Sage (and the implementation partner, if one was used) helped achieve those objectives, and the areas of improvement still to be achieved.
• Scope—Indicate the unique nature of the implementation as it addresses specific business challenges or opportunities.
• List any “Moments of Truth” during the first year of implementation and utilization that stand out as learning opportunities.
• Discuss the strategy toward customer intimacy, operational excellence, or unique product and/or service offering, and how Sage helps achieve these goals.
• Impact—Note any practical or measurable results in the customer's business (sales, expense reduction, efficiency gains, profits, etc.) from using Sage products.

Back to Top

Best End-to-End Deployment

The Best End-to-End Deployment award recognizes the outstanding achievement of a customer who has implemented and integrated two (or more) Sage applications and realized synergies from the combined result. This company has recognized both significant technology and business benefits by committing to Sage and its complementary platforms, resulting in a world-class business management solution. The winning entrant will demonstrate the combined benefits that standalone implementations could not achieve.

• Supply the name and contact information of Sage business partner, certified consultant, Accountants Network member, independent sales organization, channel partner, or the customer company submitting the nomination.
• Provide the name of the customer nominee, main contact information, and the Sage products the customer utilizes. (Minimum of two (2) Sage products must be in use at nominee's business.)
• Include the date when the Sage products were installed and what hardware the customer is using to run the software.
• Scope—Indicate a business problem or opportunity that the Sage product implementation addresses, and the size of the problem or opportunity.
• Specify how the organization decided upon an integrated solution and what technology and business benefits were to be gained through such a strategy. To what degree were these benefits realized?
• Explain how an integrated solution is greater than the sum of its parts.
• Impact—Note any practical or measurable results in the customer's business (sales, expense reduction, efficiency gains, profits, etc.) from using Sage products as an integrated solution.

Back to Top

Best Use of Customization

The Best Use of Customization award recognizes a Sage customer who has best configured and/or customized their Sage application to align with the business objective sought. Unique and creative utilization of a Sage framework leads to a sustained competitive advantage when configured and customized to align with business processes and objectives. The winning entrant will explain both the business landscape and challenges faced, and how the Sage solution was adapted to address those challenges.

• Supply the name and contact information of Sage business partner, certified consultant, Accountants Network member, independent sales organization, channel partner, or the customer company submitting the nomination.
• Provide the name of the customer nominee, main contact information, and the name of the customized Sage product.
• Include the dates when the Sage product was installed and customized and what hardware the customer is using to run the software.
• Scope—Indicate a business problem or opportunity that the Sage product customization addresses, and the size of the problem or opportunity.
• Point out the implementation/customization partner who was involved and the level of expertise and workload that was provided.
• Explain the business landscape and challenges the customer faces and that makes their firm unique to their industry.
• Clarify why the implementation required customizations and what business and technology objectives were sought.
• Describe the nature of the competitive advantage achieved relative to competitors in their market. What makes this advantage sustainable?
• Impact—Note any practical or measurable results in the customer's business (sales, expense reduction, efficiency gains, profits, etc.) from using customized Sage product(s).

Back to Top

Community Stewardship

All companies measure success differently—some through profits and shareholder value, others though intangible benefits derived from products and services. The Community Stewardship award is designed to recognize an outstanding organization that emphasizes the local, national, or global community in an effort to better the lives of the people who the organization strives to serve.

• Supply the name and contact information of Sage business partner, certified consultant, Accountants Network member, independent sales organization, channel partner, or the customer company submitting the nomination.
• Provide the name of the customer nominee, main contact information, and the Sage product the customer utilizes.
• Describe the customer's business and the constituents it serves.
• Explain the impact the customer has on its constituent stakeholders and what sets them apart from others who try to serve the same demographic.
• Give details about the customer's community outreach efforts.
• Include the date when the Sage product was installed and what hardware the customer is using to run the software.
• Scope—Indicate a community problem or opportunity that the Sage product implementation addresses, and the size of the problem or opportunity.
• Explain how the customer is outstanding in its efforts and how the Sage product lends itself to accomplishing their goals and objectives.
• Impact—Describe the impact of using Sage products on the community problem or opportunity.

Back to Top

Lifetime Achievement

Sage seeks to recognize an organization that exemplifies the long-term benefits derived from the use of its applications. Through tumultuous economic environments and shifting technology trends, companies must adapt to the challenges of the market. The winning entrant will demonstrate how they have achieved or exceeded stated objectives for 10 years or more, and how Sage facilitated this performance.

• Supply the name and contact information of Sage business partner, certified consultant, Accountants Network member, independent sales organization, channel partner, or the customer company submitting a nomination.
• Provide the name of customer nominee, main contact information, and the Sage product the customer utilizes.
• Describe the customer's business and the background of its industry.
• Include the date when the Sage product was installed and what hardware the customer is using to run the software. (Nominee must use Sage product for a minimum of 10 years.)
• Indicate major challenges that have arisen in the customer's market over the past decade and how has it addressed those challenges. Explain how Sage and/or the business partner or certified consultant assisted in that process.
• Explain the customer's objectives over the last decade and how Sage and/or the business partner or certified consultant played a part in those objectives.
• Scope—Describe what business problem or opportunity the Sage product implementation addressed initially.
• Discuss any “Moments of Truth” during the past 10 years that stand out with regards to the customer's business and Sage.
• Impact—Note any practical or measurable results in the customer's business (sales, expense reduction, efficiency gains, profits, etc.) from using Sage products since its implementation.

Back to Top

For information about the rules and judging process, please download the Sage Customer Awards Program Rules & Regulations PDF.

If you need further information about the Customer Awards Program, please e-mail your questions to customer.awards@sage.com.