Around half of small businesses say they are ready to run their companies using Bots and AI, according to new global research from Sage. The research comes as Sage announces a fresh launch of cloud accounting solutions to take business builders, and entrepreneurs closer to future where accounting is invisible.

Today Sage, the market and technology leader in cloud accounting announced;

• Global Innovation – announcing new availability of 5 accounting cloud solutions across 7 global markets for business of all sizes
• 20,000 Sage AI users can’t be wrong - tens of thousands of ‘new to Sage’ customers adopt accounting chat bot Pegg in 6 months since launch
• Over 100 new and fully integrated ISV’s on the Sage Marketplace – building on Sage’s heritage of strong partnerships, including global relationships with Salesforce, Microsoft, Apple and Slack
• Invisible accounting by 2020 - leading the business builders of tomorrow towards an ‘invisible accounting’ environment so they can focus on building their business.

Focusing on Sage’s home market, Jacqueline de Rojas, Managing Director: UK & Ireland – Northern Europe, commented: “Our new Sage solutions are built to support the mobile and automated way in which our customers want to run their businesses. They are designed to empower business builders to automate back-office functions, operate with mobility in mind and live in a world where there is virtually no finance admin. Busy business owners want 'invisible accounting'.”

New products launched in the UK & Ireland include:

• Sage 50c – Sage’s trusted accounting solution now gives its customers greater flexibility with new cloud and mobile services, with the added benefit of Microsoft Office 365 integration. This new version is also complemented by real-time insight, and is designed to give Sage 50 customers complete control over their accounts. Now available in the UK with further roll out planned for 2017
• Sage People - Sage People is a new fast and flexible cloud Human Capital Management (HCM) solution for mid-sized businesses and enterprises. Now available in the UK, US, Canada and Australia

The new products work alongside UKI’s existing cloud products:

• Sage One – Easy to use cloud accounting solution for entrepreneurs, sole traders and start-up businesses that manages everything from sales and purchasing to cash flow and taxes. Latest release now available in US, UK, Canada, Ireland and newly available in France and Germany
• Sage Live –A powerful, customisable, and cost-effective cloud accounting solution. Built on the Salesforce Lightning user interface, customers can manage multiple locations and currencies all in the palm of their hand, whilst taking advantage of the add-on solutions available on the Sage market place and the Salesforce App exchange. Now also available in France, Germany and Spain

The AI revolution

Over 1 million new customers have followed Sage to the cloud, resulting in a 46% increase in subscription relationships. Today, Sage announced that the first accounting chat bot Pegg now has over 20,000 users in 110 countries, and outlined how it was responding to this move to mobile, live, cloud accounting that integrates with AI technology.

Following market research conducted by Sage, which showed that 64% of small business owners would welcome “invisible accounting”, Sage announced its commitment to providing business builders and entrepreneurs with just that by 2020.

Sage CTO, Klaus Michael Vogelberg said “Because entrepreneurs don’t go into business to manage taxes and admin, our vision is to create a business environment for entrepreneurs where these tasks are invisible by 2020, freeing up business builders to follow their dreams.”

“Sage’s vision is to empower entrepreneurs and business owners to spend less time on administration and more time on what they love doing,” said Kriti Sharma, Vice President, Bots and AI at Sage. “Artificial intelligence is the answer for solutions to the everyday pain points people are facing now. Our work at Sage allows us to leverage the latest advances in technology against the immediate challenges our customers facing today.”