Hello from Denver and the Sage Summit afternoon keynote. Assuming I have wireless or some sort of ‘Net connection (pretty please, Sage?), I will be live-tweeting the event, so if you follow me on Twitter, I apologize for clogging up your stream. If you like that sort of thing, you can follow me @laurenmizzou, or search Twitter for #SAGE for more Sage micro-bloggers. In addition to Sage product announcements and strategies at today’s keynote, Olympic decathalon winner (and recent reality TV star) Bruce Jenner is here to talk about finding the champion within during tough economic times. (Something tells me that Jenner didn’t collaborate with step-daughter Kim Kardashian on this presentation.)

Just yesterday, Sage altered its branding a bit, dropping “Software” from its title to align more closely with the Sage global operations, Sage Groupl plc. Also yesterday, the business management software provider hosted a run and walk along the Cherry Creek Greenway in Denver led by Jenner, of course.

Early this morning David van Toor, general manager for Sage CRM, delivered a CRM-specific keynote that introduced new features and enhancements to the three Sage CRM products: SageCRM and SageCRM.com, SalesLogix, and Act! by Sage. Look out for a detailed destinationCRM.com news story on the new releases early tomorrow. To whet your palate, here are a few highlights which I expect will be expanded by the Sage exective team during the keynote:

• A greater commitment to Web 2.0 and Social CRM in all three products. The basis of this will be through the use of mashups. 
• SalesLogix 7.5 will “spoon feed” users who struggle with filtering through data and accounts. Includes new filters, tabs, groups, and timelines, to see the whole picture of the customer.
• Act! Mobile Live supports new operating systems. Sync Act! to virtually any handheld — even the new Blackberry. 

I expect much of this conference to focus on how to get the most out of your business given the economic climate. I attended a presentation this morning given by Sage CRM champion, Bill Hoffman on using CRm to drive business value in a tough economy. Hoffman had a unique view on the role SMBs can play — and he doesn’t see scaling back as an option. “In the small-to-midsize business market, we have an opportunity to thrive,” he says. “Your competition does not have CRM systems and you competition does not have communicative sales skills. They are backing off on marketing and training … When they back off, move full speed ahead.”

Epicor Software is one of those companies that, in hindsight, we probably haven’t covered often enough—we certainly don’t play favorites around here, but it’s not always clear why some firms make it onto the radar screen more often than others do.

Yesterday, though, Epicor publicly—and, to be honest, a little coldly—confirmed receipt of a $9.50-per-share offer from Elliott Associates, a roughly 20 percent premium over its previous closing price. So I’m reminded that there’s a massive, healthy, robust CRM industry out there, and we have to be vigilant in keeping tabs on it.

Irvine, Calif.–based Epicor has certainly paid its dues—founded in 1984, it’s been around longer than the CRM industry itself. (Click here to download the PDF of Epicor’s Fact Sheet from the company Web site.) According to the company’s press materials, Epicor was named one of Fortune magazine’s 100 Fastest-Growing Companies in 2006, and serves over 20,000 customers in more than 140 countries—but it isn’t simply a CRM provider; in fact, Epicor boasts of its “integrated enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), supply chain management (SCM) and professional service automation (PSA) software solutions,” and there’s no immediate sign of what share of its customer base is utilizing CRM.

But where has it been hiding? Eight years ago, for example, our longtime friend Chris Selland (who was at Yankee Group at the time) was quoted in our magazine [before my time; I'm just accessing archives] as saying that Epicor was one of the best-kept secrets in the CRM industry: “If it can get its marketing act together, the company has a great integrated front/back office offering for the mid-market and could finally present a real challenge to Pivotal and Onyx.” [More after the break.]

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