Having recently attended the Sage Sessions event at The Sage Gateshead, I have to say comparing it to Xerocon is like comparing night to day.
Don't get me wrong, the event was superbly run, the sessions containing excellent content and well presented.
It was the audience. The atmosphere was so negative and focused on cost and problems. It was very sad.
The easiest way to describe the difference in atmosphere at the events is that at the Xerocon event the discussions and networking was all about what we CAN DO to help clients, Sage Sessions was this is what we HAVE TO DO to comply with legislation.
Sage have re-branded their cloud accounting offering (and I would encourage anyone who wants Sage 50 in the cloud to have a look) but they can only do so much.
Even after HMRC told the audience that software companies were already using the API's and confirmed the date the pilot starts, there were people saying MTD for VAT is not going to happen.
MTD (VAT) is a superb opportunity to give businesses the opportunity to streamline their admin function, making it easier to organise their work, sending invoices out quickly, easily and getting paid quicker too. MTD compliance is purely a by product.