Essential software updates

Explaining some important changes to Sage Accounts Production, Sage Taxation and Corporation Tax on how licensing works on specific operating systems.

Sage is committed to keeping our customers secure. Making sure we reduce threats and take advantage of the latest technology. This means that from time to time we need to upgrade the underlying components of our products.

 

NOTE: We have a critical update that requires action from you to ensure you continue to receive a secure, uninterrupted service. The planned changes affect our Sage Licensing Service and Auto update Service, which use the TLS security protocol. 

What are the changes?

• TLS: is a security protocol required for services such as Sage Licensing Service and our Auto Update service, which enables products to communicate securely. Current versions of TLS: 1.0 / 1.1 are due to be deprecated from our product range and will be upgraded to TLS 1.2, providing greater security and simpler maintenance.  
• Sage Licensing Service:  Will be impacted by the move to TLS 1.2. Therefore, all customers on older versions will be impacted and must upgrade to a TLS 1.2 compliant version to ensure continued access to their software. 
• Auto update Service: Will be impacted by the move to TLS 1.2. Therefore, all customers on older versions must be upgraded to a TLS 1.2 compliant version to ensure continued access to auto update prompts within the software.
• Consider upgrading your operating system: Older operating systems are no longer supported and you’ll need to consider upgrading your OS to a newer version for your software to function normally. More >>

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What does this mean for my business and customers?

We appreciate that technology changes can be disruptive, but equally they’re important.  

You’ll need to update your software to the latest version as soon as possible following the release dates outlined below to ensure the software continues to work and services aren’t disrupted. The steps you need to take vary depending on how many versions you need to update through sequentially to be on the latest version.   

Many of our products are impacted in some way so it's important to review which products impact your practice to determine the next steps. To minimise the impact to our customers, we’re sharing this information with you simultaneously to allow you to plan your upgrades in advance. 

If you're on the latest Windows operating systems and have installed the latest version of your software, you will not have any problems with your software and licensing.

CAUTION: The operating systems that may currently have problems are Windows 7, Windows 2008 R2, Windows Small Business Server 2011 or any older OS. If you're currently using any of the listed OS, you’ll either need to consider upgrading your operating systems or speak to your local IT about the new changes with TLS 1.2. The Microsoft article below can be used as a workaround but this may affect other external products and we recommend you speak to your IT. If the workaround doesn’t help, then an upgrade of your operating system is required. If you have a Windows 10 computer available, making that the Server may resolve issues in the short term.

Updates for TLS

 

The switch-off date for the Sage Licensing and Auto update services is expected to be over the coming months, therefore you need to update to ensure continued access to your software. We’ll provide an update and advise the switch-off date once this is confirmed.

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What is Sage doing to support me?

There are various articles to support you through this process in our knowledgebase. We want to support and enable you to self-serve as much as possible and make the upgrade process seamless. Read more >

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Next steps

To ensure you always benefit from important product updates, enhancements and have continued access to the software, it's important to adopt the latest versions as and when they’re released and ensure you're on Microsoft supported operating systems. Failure to do so may cause future disruption to your service and support.