Sage partners with Augusta Labs to speed applied AI push

Sage has signed a global partnership with Augusta Labs and plans to embed Augusta's applied AI engineering teams into Sage's product organisation as it expands its AI Centre of Excellence.

Sage said the arrangement increases its AI and data engineering capacity. The company also linked the partnership to its move towards an AI-first operating model across its software portfolio.

Augusta Labs describes itself as an applied AI lab. It works with large organisations on building and scaling AI programmes. It operates from Lisbon and serves clients internationally.

Embedded teams

Sage said Augusta's multidisciplinary engineering teams will work directly inside its product organisation. Sage positioned the approach as a way to increase throughput from design to engineering and then deployment across customer workflows.

The partnership centres on Sage's AI Centre of Excellence. Sage described the collaboration as an expansion of the teams involved in delivering AI-related work across product lines.

The company framed the deal against rising expectations for business software, including faster insights and more automation. Sage cited research from McKinsey on companies that move AI from experimentation to production at speed and that scale it across products.

Sage said the embedded model will operate across several global workstreams. It named Sage Payroll, Sage Active, and Sage 300 as areas in scope for the partnership.

Product workstreams

Sage set out three categories of work it expects to deliver through the partnership. These include "Agentic workflows that automate end-to-end tasks", "High-performance data pipelines for real-time insight", and "Production-ready AI features delivered at pace".

Sage linked part of the delivery model to Portugal's startup ecosystem. It said the location provides access to a pool of talent and a faster engineering cadence. The company also stressed that it still expects reliability and governance standards consistent with its existing customer base.

Sage sells accounting, finance, HR and payroll software and has a large customer base of small and mid-sized businesses. It also works with accountants and partners that support those customers.

In the statement, Sage described the partnership as part of its internal build-out of applied AI engineering capacity. It also presented the approach as a move towards faster iteration and a quicker path from prototype to production.

Manav Thiara, SVP, Technical Fellow, Data Digital Services and Engineering, Sage, said the company wanted a development approach associated with smaller firms while building internal skills.

"This partnership gives Sage the startup speed we need while strengthening our internal AI and data engineering capabilities," said Manav Thiara, SVP, Technical Fellow, Data Digital Services and Engineering, Sage. "With Augusta Labs fully embedded into our product organization, everything we build together aligns with the Sage Platform, our AI roadmap, and the needs of our customers. This approach accelerates delivery for our AI Centre of Excellence and supports our transformation into an AI-first company."

Execution focus

Augusta Labs said the market has shifted from pilots to deployment. It positioned Sage as having broad distribution and significant data resources across its installed base.

Rodrigo Fernandes, Co-Founder, Augusta Labs, described the partnership as a combination of Sage's product direction and data with Augusta's engineering expertise.

"AI is entering its execution era, and Sage is one of the few companies positioned to realize its full value at scale, thanks to the depth of its data and the reach of its global distribution," said Rodrigo Fernandes, Co-Founder, Augusta Labs. "By combining Sage's platform vision and unique data assets with our applied AI expertise, we are helping create a new generation of intelligent, adaptive software for businesses everywhere. It's an exciting step for both organizations and for the future of work."

Sage said it plans to apply the same delivery approach across its portfolio. It also said it expects consistent alignment with the Sage Platform and its AI roadmap as work moves through different product groups.

The companies described the operating model as an extension of Sage's internal engineering organisation. Sage said it will keep its existing expectations for scale and governance as the joint teams work across its payroll, HR and finance products.

Augusta Labs said it was founded in January 2024 and works with organisations including large enterprises and government agencies. It said its focus sits on design, development and deployment of production-ready AI solutions within weeks rather than years.

Sage said it expects the partnership to continue to expand its AI Centre of Excellence as the embedded teams progress across the named product workstreams, including Sage Payroll, Sage Active and Sage 300.