One of the week's big interviews: Sage CEO on his first year

One of the week’s big interviews: Sage CEO on his first year

List: CEO briefing: CBR finds out what Sage CEO Stephen Kelly has accomplished so far and what we should expect from him.

1. Operational legacy carries heavy costs – that need to be cut

"The good news for us in some respects is that because of the fragmentation of the past we never integrated our acquisitions. There’s huge efficiencies for us to drive within our own business."

2. It’s time the software company became a software-as-a-service company

"We’re becoming a SAAS business. I did a capital markets day for analysts in London and said in two to three years we’ll transition to deploying significant growth products through the SAAS model."

3. Why we partnered with Salesforce

"There are a number of strands. The first strand to cover is technology. So through the Salesforce 1 platform comes Sage Live. A project that wasn’t even imagined a year ago."

4. The next year

"We are disruptive. We start with the customer, the entrepreneur, the millennial. The scale of growth in tech and services is exponential. The speed at which you can grow companies and do it sustainability is so much greater than you could 20 years ago."

Read the full interview here.