ICB USA recently attended the July 2016 Sage Summit Conference in Chicago, IL
ICBUSA recently attended the July 2016 Sage Summit Conference in Chicago, IL
During Summer and Fall, there are always plenty of conferences to attend, with an abundance of information to walk away with, and new ideas to learn about, as well as access to solutions providers key team members and networking with peers.
The reality is that while these conferences can be key, not everyone is able to attend them. ICBUSA would like to give you a summary of the conferences you can’t make it to in person, but from a new angle: the Bookkeepers’ Point of View.
Sage Summit is one of the largest accounting-related conferences out there. The first day is usually reserved for partners or accounting professionals, while the following days include small business owners, entrepreneurs, and software affectionados as well.
Day 1 started with the local favorite Mike Ditka leading the Sage team into a combined team leadership focus and “huddle”. It was lots of fun and a great way to start conference.
One of the most anticipated town hall meetings of the day was the highly engaging top thought leaders in the Accounting Profession speaking on the book “The Future of the Professions” co - authored by Daniel & Robert Susskind. Daniel Susskind spoke first about the book, and then joined a discussion with the panel, including: Doug Sleeter, Gary Boomer, Ron Baker, Joe Woodard, William Nahum and our own ICBGlobal CEO Garry Carter.
Jennifer Warwara, a crowd favourite and Sage’s EVP Product Marketing, was brought in to talk about each of the product roadmaps and the direction they will be taking to improve “real time” bookkeeping needs via those products. Monday (Day 2) of Sage Summit was very busy, with around 1500 attendees.
An exciting keynote from Stephen Kelly talked about the change in Sage’s focus. His message targeted bookkeepers and accountants, aiming to make sure they understand that Sage while is working on developing their cloud solutions, they are not leaving behind their desktop products. The movement to the cloud from desktop includes a “c” series, in which each desktop product now has an option to show it’s “cloud” side. An example of this is the popular Sage 50 desktop product, for which they are now introducing Sage 50C: a hybrid cloud desktop product that will help customers transition to the cloud. Read more on the product here: 50C Hybrid News. These changes allow bookkeepers the availability to real time access for their product.
The book is a fascinating read and highly recommended for anyone in the accounting industry, or in fact any of the professions, whose industries are predicted to be revolutionized. The future of our profession will undoubtedly follow at least some of the path laid out in this book and it’s important to know what’s likely to be coming our way. If you don’t think that you need to adopt technology, or that you can survive in the bookkeeping world without change, then you will be in for a surprise. Here’s a link to the book on Amazon: Future of the Professions
Days 2 & 3: The fun started bright and early, with keynotes that were not only informative but also interactive, with live, real-time product demos and examples of how Sage has changed from desktop to futuristic products that are making the lives of both bookkeepers and their clients easier.
To read about all of the Sage Summit sessions and keynotes, you can see each day's agenda here: Sage Daily Agenda and the Sage Keynote Speakers here.These engaging speakers told real life stories and shared insights that will relate to both your business and your life.
Here are some of our favorite quotes of the conference:
Sir Richard Branson -”Running a business is incredibly fulfilling & totally terrifying”
Robert Herjavec: “If you want it bad enough, you’ll learn the skills. If you don’t, you’ll make excuses”
Ashton Kutcher - “Social Media is like a business within a business”
Daymond John - “You can never afford to lose any of your assets. It’s the small things that end up eating a business”
Yancey Strickler - “People are excited to be part of ideas”
Gwyneth Paltrow: - “Self-Belief is everything”
Zooey Deschanel - “Trust your gut and be yourself”
And finally, ICBUSA and Sage hosted a Bookkeepers Social event on Wednesday evening. We had a great group of attendees, from local bookkeepers and Canadian bookkeepers (members of ICBUSA’s friend IPBC), and Roger Knecht of ICB's Training Provider Universal Accounting Center, as well as Cindy Schroeder from the local Bookkeeping Buds community. Please enjoy a few of our favorite pictures:
ICBUSA is happy to bring to you these conference recaps, as well as bookkeeping socials, hosted exclusively for the bookkeeping community.
Please be on the look out for us at each conference and come and say hi, and meet other members of your community!
