Sage, which has a global position in construction enterprise resource planning (ERP) and other software to small and mid-sized business (SMB)-sized contractors has expanded its construction cloud suite well beyond financials to preconstruction and construction management.
Sage does go to market with independent software vendor (ISV) partners, but this is not a partner solution, and the announcement was foreshadowed by its May 2023 acquisition of construction management software vendor Corecon. The launch of Sage Construction Management adds cloud preconstruction and project management capabilities to its portfolio of Sage Intacct Construction, Sage 100 Contractor and Sage 300 Construction and Real Estate.
“Sage is proud to offer the only true cloud solutions built for construction with full end-to-end capabilities covering preconstruction, operations, and financials,” Sage Vice President of Product for Construction and Real Estate Julie Adams said. “Sage has been an industry leader at the forefront of innovation for more than 50 years. The addition of Sage Construction Management further strengthens the depth and breadth of Sage’s construction portfolio and fills an industry need for comprehensive cloud-based solutions that fit the requirements and budgets of smaller contractors and can scale to support their needs as they grow.”
Sage Construction Management is a cloud-native solution, so it naturally supports collaboration and mobility so field, office, and external teams can share real-time project information for decision support and transparency. The solution is offered together with Sage Intacct Construction Financials as an end-to-end suite that enables operational and finance teams to align and work together towards improved job profitability.
“In researching project management solutions, it was clear that this was the package for us,” Mid-Atlantic Building Services Office Manager Shawn Peterson said. “It can take us from the first subcontractor proposal, through the last pay app to the client. And with everything in one platform, everyone can access what they need in their own individual capacities without being disjointed.”
Sage is also offering the Construction Essentials package, which includes Sage Construction Management and Sage Intacct Construction Financials as an end-to-end suite at a cost-effective price for growing contractors. In addition, Sage Construction Management is available as a standalone preconstruction and project management solution with connectors to other accounting solutions, providing businesses the power and flexibility to choose the mix of solutions that best addresses their needs.
Sage Construction Management includes project schedule capabilities.Sage
IRONPROS caught up with Sage’s Adams for a through briefing on the new product and what it means for contractors evaluating construction business software.
IRONPROS: So, to begin with, is this net new sales part that will carry its own subscription costs? Or is this something that's bundled in with Intacct or with the other Sage ERP products?
ADAMS: We’re really excited about how we're bringing this together. Sage Construction Management, together with Intacct Construction Financials, is bundled together as one end-to-end solution that covers precon, operations, project management, financials and accounting. It's all one bundle. When you buy Sage Intacct for construction, you get the whole solution footprint, and then buy as many users as you need—how many project management users you have, that's how many user licenses you buy.
Now, the other thing to note here, is that there is project manager functionality in in the previous Sage Intacct core financials for construction. There's a project management user license there, and when you buy what we're now calling a construction management user license, you are entitled to all the functionality in our new construction management module, as well as all of the functionality that existed previously within the Intacct Construction Financials solution footprint.
IRONPROS: Okay, so would that be would that kind of cut both ways so, if you've got the project management user license in Intacct, you then also get the construction management user license?
ADAMS: Now, it's really the CM user license that is the all-encompassing type of user. And by the way, all construction customers going forward, not retroactively but going forward, will be buying construction management licenses versus project management licenses.
IRONPROS: With this new functionality, what's the relationship between this and the functionality that came with the Corecon acquisition?|ADAMS: It is basically Corecon that enabled us to get to this point at a rapid pace. We took our Corecon acquisition, and we added to it, we invested in it, and we built out the tighter integration with all of the other assets that we have at Sage. And then we brought the user interface together. So, Corecon is the foundation of what we've what we've been able to do.
