How are Sage and AWS Bringing Agentic AI to SMB Finance?

Sage and AWS have expanded their relationship to deliver agentic AI capabilities to small and mid-sized businesses.

The announcement was made at Sage Future in San Francisco.

The collaboration combines Sage's financial technology with AWS cloud infrastructure and AI services.

Four focus areas define the partnership: innovation and go-to-market initiatives for AI-powered financial software, introduction of Sage Developer Solutions on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore in AWS Marketplace, technology integration to reduce AI adoption barriers and accelerated migration of desktop franchises to AWS cloud.

Modernising finance systems

According to IDC, global AI spending could grow by 31.9% annually between 2025 and 2029 as organisations embed AI across core business operations.

Cost and complexity in modernising finance systems could represent barriers for many SMBs seeking to capture this 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 are built on Amazon Bedrock AgentCore.

The system enables businesses to deploy AI across core financial workflows including accounts payable, cash flow management, payroll processing and compliance reporting.

AI agents could reduce manual effort and help business owners make faster decisions.

Sage partners will build AI agents on AgentCore to create a catalogue of financial automation tools for purchase and deployment in AWS Marketplace.

The marketplace model provides SMB customers with a channel to discover and adopt AI-powered capabilities within existing financial systems.

Organisations can adopt the technology within existing infrastructure.

"This collaboration reflects a shared commitment to helping organisations put advanced technology to work in practical, meaningful ways," says 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

SMBs running desktop financial software have often found the path to AI-enabled finance difficult to achieve.

Sage and AWS are accelerating the migration of customers from desktop products to cloud solutions.

The collaboration combines Sage's product knowledge for SMBs with AWS cloud infrastructure and migration tooling.

The approach could make 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.

The collaboration creates a foundation for Sage's developers and independent software vendor partners.

By building on AWS cloud infrastructure and distributing solutions in AWS Marketplace, Sage partners could reduce integration complexity and focus on delivering industry capabilities for the businesses they serve.

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