The January meeting of the Sage CRM Business Partner Advisory Council (BPAC) brought together partners, ISVs, and Sage colleagues from across regions to review the current state of Sage CRM and look ahead to the rest of 2026.

BPAC meetings are designed to provide transparency, validate strategy, and create an open forum for discussion about roadmap priorities and partner needs. This session set an important context for the year ahead, particularly with Sage CRM 2026 R1 approaching.

For those who would like to watch the full session, the recording is available on the Sage Training and Support YouTube channel, which is linked at the end of this article.

Sage CRM remains a long term strategic product

A key message reinforced during the session is Sage’s continued commitment to Sage CRM. Sage CRM continues to be a profitable and strategically important product, with an active roadmap extending through to 2030 and beyond.

The product’s ability to integrate with Sage accounting solutions, support cloud, on premise, and hybrid deployments, and deliver a strong return on investment remains central to its value proposition for customers and partners.

What we learned from Sage CRM 2025 R2

The session reflected on the delivery of Sage CRM 2025 R2, including the completion of the Exchange Online migration using Microsoft Graph and the introduction of Sage CRM Labs features such as Quote Templates and Webhooks.

It also covered the follow up 2025 R2.1 patch, which resolved a Sage 300 integration issue. This experience has directly shaped how the team is approaching future releases, with a renewed emphasis on predictability, testing discipline, and stability.

Sage CRM 2026 R1: a stability and compatibility release

Sage CRM 2026 R1, scheduled for the end of March 2026, is firmly positioned as a security, stability, and compatibility release.

The focus for this release includes:

• Addressing reported customer issues and bugs

• Updating third party components such as SQL Server, Apache Tomcat, Apache FOP, and React

• Resolving identified security vulnerabilities, including items arising from penetration testing

• Establishing a strong baseline for future innovation

While this release will not introduce major new end user features, it is a critical step in ensuring Sage CRM remains secure, reliable, and supported across modern environments.

Returning to a predictable release cadence

A major theme of the discussion was the importance of returning to a consistent release rhythm. Sage CRM is committed to a March and September release cadence, allowing partners, ISVs, and integrators to plan upgrades, testing, and customer projects with greater confidence.

The release candidate for Sage CRM 2026 R1 will be made available to partners and integrators on 2 March 2026 through the Beta Programme.

Laying the groundwork for AI and modernisation

Although Sage CRM 2026 R1 is focused on stability, significant investigative work is underway behind the scenes. This includes:

• Exploration of AI enabling features, including an enriched semantic schema to help external tools better understand CRM data

• Investigation into single sign on and multi factor authentication options

• Continued planning for platform modernisation, including future architectural changes

These initiatives are intended to unlock more powerful reporting, automation, and integration capabilities in future releases, while remaining true to Sage CRM’s metadata driven design.

Training, community, and partner engagement

The session also highlighted the broader ecosystem activity around Sage CRM. A free, short format Security Administration Skills training series begins on 28 January, aimed at administrators and partners who want to strengthen their understanding of user and security management.

Partners were also reminded of the regular BPAC cadence, with meetings held in March, May, July, September, and November. ISVs who would like to showcase their solutions or share Sage CRM success stories are encouraged to get involved.

Watch the full session

This article summarises the key messages, but the full BPAC session includes deeper discussion and context. You can watch the complete recording on the Sage Training and Support YouTube channel, linked from the BPAC follow up communications.

As always, the BPAC continues to play an important role in shaping Sage CRM’s direction, ensuring partner voices are heard, and aligning strategy with real customer needs.