I’ve work for Sage and within organizations that rely on their software so I have a unique perspective from inside and outside of the organization. I find it concerning that management below director levels has not seen any real turnover for at least a decade (the number of managers that have been in their position or a similar position for 15+ years is astounding). Management is not interested in upsetting the turnip cart. They pay lip service to “customer service” and “improving customer experience” but other than some hand waving no action ever really takes place. Complacency is the operating model for low and middle management.
These same managers have seen their superiors come and go with startling frequency which exacerbates their behavior and apathy. They know they just need to ride out the current director, VP, or C-level until that person is shuffled somewhere else, laid-off, or leaves to seek greener pastures. When that happens, the new body rolls out a new initiative and abandons the prior one - nothing is ever really given a chance to see its full effect - department and/or “all-hands” meetings are called to espouse the benefits of this new vision (met with eye rolls, heavy sighs, and ever sinking morale) .
Strictly looking at the support department; staff attrition rates for some software lines leave customers relying on personnel that have little to no training or practical experience in the applications they’re assigned to support. Frequently customers are more knowledgeable about application capabilities than the person they’re asking for help from. When a promising support analyst steps up and takes initiative and additional responsibilities, their spirit gets crushed under the burden of a team that doesn’t reciprocate but instead delegates more, and more, and more until that person is putting in nights and weekends in an effort to keep up with the load; 20% of the staff do 80% of the work.
When management is (begrudgingly) pulled into a support issue that hasn’t been satisfactorily resolved the response is underwhelming. If it doesn’t devolve into semantics and petty bickering over specific wording and how the customer is out of line for having an expectation in mind based on what they’ve been told by the support staff, then blame is placed on R&D or the application is “working as designed”. To add insult to injury, the customer is given the option to visit a website to submit an enhancement request - the last FU that can be given when Support cannot be positioned to be effective.
Recent initiatives (cost cutting and consolidation) have seen the company shift their personnel from the West Coast to Atlanta, GA. In many cases replacing dedicated, experienced, and well trained personnel with apathetic bodies that lack the dedication and competence of their predecessors. Efforts have to be duplicated because the necessary attention wasn't paid to begin with - this results in a frustrating experience for customers and partners as more time needs to be spent explaining the errors then following up repeatedly until it is done right.
All in all, Sage is struggling under the weight of complacency and lack of an actionable vision that is given time to take effect. Software maintenance revenue is the lifeblood of this organization and their MO is to buy up and attempt to maintain applications that will keep that gravy train running. Once that happens though, there is no true innovation that occurs.
