Sage and AWS: Helping SMBs Embed Agentic AI

Sage and AWS are on a mission to help small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) modernise and embed agentic AI across workflows.

Their expanded relationship, announced at Sage Future in San Francisco, bring together the former's financial technology with the latter's cloud infrastructure and AI services.

The partnership will explore four areas: expanded innovation and go-to-market initiatives to bring AI-powered financial software to more Sage customers; the introduction of Sage Developer Solutions on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore available in AWS Marketplace; tech integration that removes barriers to AI adoption; and accelerated migration of desktop franchises to AWS cloud.

Modernising finance systems

According to IDC, global spending on AI is expected to grow by 31.9% annually between 2025 and 2029 as organisations move from experimentation to embedding AI across core business operations. For many SMBs, the cost and complexity of modernising finance systems could represent the biggest barriers to capturing that opportunity.

Steve Hare, CEO of Sage, explains: "AI presents a massive opportunity for small and mid-sized businesses. But they need AI they can trust, with the right support, tools and infrastructure to adopt it.

"This is what makes our collaboration with AWS so powerful. We're making it easier and faster for our customers to have greater access to trusted intelligence, built into the way they run their business."

Julia White, CMO at AWS, says the partnership aims to simplify technology adoption for growing businesses.

"Small and mid-sized businesses shouldn't have to choose between powerful technology and simplicity," adds Julia. "Working with AWS to innovate for the AI era, Sage is building intelligent agents that customers can discover and deploy directly in AWS Marketplace, so growing businesses can move faster from day one."

Building AI agents

Sage AI Developer Solutions – built on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore – enable businesses to deploy AI across core financial workflows. The system can automate tasks across accounts payable, cash flow management, payroll processing and compliance reporting.

AI agents carry the potential to reduce manual effort and help business owners make faster decisions. Sage partners will build AI agents on AgentCore, creating a catalogue of financial automation tools available for purchase and deployment in AWS Marketplace.

The marketplace model gives SMB customers a channel to discover and adopt AI-powered capabilities within existing financial systems, allowing organisations to adopt the tech within existing infrastructure.

"This collaboration reflects a shared commitment to helping organisations put advanced technology to work in practical, meaningful ways," comments Ken Kortas, Partner at Wipfli, which is set to benefit from the collaboration. 

"By building on Sage's developer platform and Amazon Bedrock AgentCore, we're able to embed AI directly into the financial workflows that businesses rely on every day – driving better insight, stronger execution and lasting value. Making these solutions available through AWS Marketplace also allows organisations to adopt innovation with confidence, on their terms."

Embedded AI capabilities

For SMBs running desktop financial software, the path to AI-enabled finance has often hard to achieve. Sage and AWS are accelerating the migration of customers from desktop products to cloud solutions.

The collaboration combines Sage's product knowledge serving SMBs with AWS cloud infrastructure and migration tooling, making the transition faster, more affordable and less disruptive for businesses moving to cloud systems.

The modernisation pathway could give businesses access to real-time financial insights, embedded AI capabilities and a broader range of solutions.

What's more, the collaboration creates a foundation for Sage's developers and ISV partners. By building on AWS infrastructure and distributing solutions in AWS Marketplace, Sage partners could reduce integration complexity and focus on delivering industry-specific capabilities for the businesses they serve.

The AWS Marketplace distribution model gives partners the ability to reach customers through an established channel, reducing the time and resources required to bring new solutions to market.