Sage Software, the North American subsidiary of The Sage Group plc, announced today that it has acquired the Corum Mobile Division of Corum Corporation, a privately-held software consulting and development company based in Concord, ON, Canada that specializes in mobile customer relationship management (CRM) technology. The acquisition was completed through Sage Software’s Canadian subsidiary, Sage Software Canada, Ltd. The acquisition solidifies Sage Software’s current and planned use of Corum’s industry-leading mobile CRM technology, which is already fully integrated with and available for Sage CRM SalesLogix. This mobile access technology will eventually be made available for all Sage CRM Solutions customers around the world, including millions of Sage CRM, SageCRM.com, and ACT! by Sage clients. The Corum Mobile Platform provides the infrastructure and functionality needed to design, build, deploy and manage scalable mobile applications that include mobile sales and field service automation.

“The Corum acquisition strengthens our CRM strategy because it allows Sage to broaden its CRM mobility solutions with a unified technology,” said Dave Batt, senior vice president and general manager of Global CRM for the Sage Group plc. “Sage CRM SalesLogix clients are already benefiting from Corum mobile access technology through a previously existing partnership. Recent research confirms mobile CRM technology is becoming increasingly important to our customers, and this acquisition strongly supports our desire to further address that need on a global basis, across our entire Sage CRM Solutions portfolio.”

Corum Corporation has been developing add-on solutions for Sage CRM SalesLogix since the product was first launched in April 1997. The Corum Mobile Platform supports BlackBerry, Microsoft Windows Mobile, and Palm hand-held devices using the Windows Mobile operating system, and provides users with secure, always available, access to critical information within their existing enterprise software.  Combining the Corum mobile platform with the Sage CRM SalesLogix product provides users with more access options to their data wherever they are and whenever they need it – via the office, the web, wireless, dial-up or cradle synchronization.

A recent study published by the Aberdeen Group supports the strategic importance of this acquisition by Sage Software in response to the growing demand for mobile technology solutions that expand the functionality of CRM systems. Comments Leslie Ament, Aberdeen Group practice leader and director for Customer Intelligence Research, “The increasing demands and pressures of selling within a global environment require that sales professionals have mobile access to real-time customer data.” Ament continues, “Our research demonstrates that top performing organizations provide sales professionals with access to vital customer information such as: key accounts, order status, and inventory availability at the point of customer interaction as a competitive edge. Annual benefits measured by these best-in-class performers include: revenue growth, increased sales productivity, and enhanced customer loyalty and retention rates.”1

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