Top Sage North America partner Net@Work has formed a new program geared toward accounting firms, Sage value-added resellers and other professional service firms looking to partner with the company, share resources and possibly align for a future merger or acquisition, if applicable.

The program was officially rolled out at the Sage Summit partner and user conference in Nashville, Tenn., in August, though Net@Work co-president Alex Solomon admitted that his firm has had the practice in place for some time, and is now formalizing a program that may receive some support from Sage.

"We realize there are different versions for what partners want to accomplish," explained Solomon. "For companies that want to transfer customers to us, we have that opportunity, and for those that want to keep the core business the same but want access to our [product] portfolio, then our portfolio becomes their portfolio. For example, if you do Sage 300 today and want to do X3, but don't have the resources or expertise, we will handle the X3 deals or supplement you and get you up and running. Or if it works, we will talk acquisition when they decide on an exit. Ultimately, our partners decide when they want to pull the trigger. It's a good way for other firms to get used to us and how we do things as well."

Net@Work claims that it will offer its full suite of Sage enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management and human resources management software, as well as its extended technology services and solutions to any Alliance Program member.

The program is free for resellers to join. They can earn 50 percent share of gross software margin paid for existing client recommendations, or up to 20 percent of software gross margin paid for new prospect lead referrals. There is no "expiration" time between lead identification and close.