Four months after it was sold by Sage Group to Accel-KKR, Sage Nonprofit Solutions has officially changed its name to Abila, with plans to increase its workforce by 20 percent to 150 employees in 2013.
Abila will also remove the Sage name from all of its products and may have additional product brand changes going forward, but for the time being its lead product will now be Fund Accounting 100 with others following a similar path. With the rebranding, the company has also developed a new logo, Website and corporate identity.
As for the name itself, chief executive Krista Endsley claims it is derived from a Latin term meaning “skilled expert,” but for her it was even more than that.
“We did some perception studies to help define who we are in the market, and for us the name is also about competency, ability and inspiring possibility,” said Endsley. She also noted that while the company is comparatively smaller than its former parent, it provides opportunity for more growth as a business and in their sector.
“We have a more entrepreneurial spirit, under Sage that not always the case. We put our own IT department in place, our own finance department, HR, and a new VP of marketing so we can respond to customers quicker,” said Endsley. “We’re a more focused, strategic and streamlined business and we can serve our customers better.”
On the product side she noted that the company is investing more in R&D and released its first mobile app for Android and Apple devices in June.
There will also be investments made in marketing and eventually in the reseller channel, which currently stands at 58 U.S. partners. Endsley noted that Abila would also like to work closer with CPAs and plans to “take the best of the marketing and partner programs that Sage had and bring that to our channel.”
