Entrepreneurship and the further development of small businesses are essential in ensuring South Africa’s economic growth and future success. Sage South Africa has always been passionate about assisting small businesses to be successful and operate efficiently, by providing software solutions to help businesses do just that. In keeping to this objective, Sage South Africa has announced that it will be launching Sage One on 4 August 2014. Sage One is a simple, secure and affordable online accounting and payroll solution, developed specifically for small South African businesses.

 

Sage has more than 5 years’ experience in the online accounting and payroll space, with Sage Pastel My Business having been launched in 2009. This was later complimented by a payroll component with the arrival of Sage VIP Liquid Payroll and Sage Pastel My Payroll Online. Sage’s online business software has been well received by the South African market, with both small business owners and accountants enjoying the benefits of a cloud based solution. Sage has built on this solid South African foundation, and applied global insights gleaned from the Sage One businesses in Europe and the US, to bring Sage One to South Africa.

 

Says Sage CEO of Africa, Australia, Middle East and Asia, Ivan Epstein: “Sage Pastel Accounting, Sage Pastel Payroll & HR and Sage VIP have enjoyed strong traction in the South African SME market with their cloud-based business solutions. As the next step in Sage South Africa’s continued investment in the cloud, we are now consolidating these offerings under the Sage One brand name.

 

We are proud to bring to market a simple, secure and flexible online accounting and payroll solution. For small businesses owners, financial knowledge is key, and having crucial business insights available at your fingertips gives you greater control and confidence to achieve business success.”

 

“Because Sage One Accounting is online, you can simply log in from wherever you are and start working,” says Steven Cohen, Managing Director of Sage Pastel Accounting. “You can access your data from the cloud, which means that your data is available online, anywhere, anytime and that you’re always working on the same data as your accountant or colleagues. This gives you a new level of flexibility in the way you run your business.”

 

The Sage One Accounting mobile apps put your customer and accounting information in the palm of your hands. Log on from wherever you are to view customer information, record notes, search for customers and contact them directly from your device. Find your way to your customer's offices using map links and process quotes and invoices – all on the go.

 

Many small South African businesses are employers and as such need to comply with the legal requirements regarding salary payments and SARS compliancy. “Sage One Payroll gives you the peace of mind that your employees will be paid in accordance with the requirements of legislation and statutory bodies such as SARS,” says Anton van Heerden, Managing Director for Sage VIP and Sage Pastel Payroll & HR. “With our solution, your payroll expands and shrinks as your business grows, enabling you to add as many employees or pay cycles as you like.”

 

Sage One Accounting and Sage One Payroll are purchased separately and used with separate log-ins. However, they are also closely integrated to save you the time and effort spent manually recording your payroll journals in your accounting application. This ensures ongoing compliance and increased accuracy.

 

In addition, your accountant can work online on the same data at the same time as the business owner. Any accounting based questions can be sent directly via the software to your accountant. This time-saving feature ensures ongoing communication between the business owner and accountant. 

 

Other benefits of the Sage One Accounting and Sage One Payroll for SMEs include:

• Ease of use: Templates and wizards make it easy to set up common tasks and processes. The interface is written in plain English for non-finance professionals, so no accounting or payroll experience required.
• Priced for SMEs: Flexible and affordable pricing that won’t break the bank.
• Secure: The software is hosted in a secure data centre, where your data is locked down, always backed-up, and secure from information security threats.
• Free support:  Telephone and email support mean that help is there when you need it.