Partners boost Softline Pastel

At its annual channel awards in Hyde Park, Gauteng, Softline Pastel acknowledged the role its more than 3 500 business partners play in the company's continued 35% year-on-year growth.

MD Steven Cohen said the impressive growth during the past year was, in large measure, due to the good performance of Pastel's channel overall.

"Every month, more than 2 000 accounting and 500 payroll Pastel products are sold."

"Wherever they find themselves on the SME spectrum, our customers are realising their accounting package is a repository of information, not only about their own business but also about their customers and suppliers.

"They know that if they can mine that information effectively, they can improve customer service as well as internal performance across the board," he explained.

"In the extremely dynamic SME sector today, any competitive-edge is crucial to survival - especially as the economic boom slows and profit gets harder to chase.

"So, our customers are looking for resellers who understand the dynamics of business in SA today and, specifically, the ways in which technology can best address the needs of SMEs. Our business partners have come to that party in a big way - and we congratulate them and thank them."

Pastel channel award-winners are determined for each region to ensure achievers in smaller markets are not overshadowed by those in larger commercial hubs such as Gauteng and Cape Town, explained Cohen.

Winners in the various categories are determined by means of a points system based on the rand value of sales, the number of customers signed up for Pastel Cover (an offering that includes online and telephone support as well as automatic upgrades of products), years of loyalty to Pastel, and attendance at Pastel roadshows, he said.

"We are especially pleased, this year, to see how many of our business partners are using our online systems - particularly the Reseller Zone on our Web site. When we launched the zone in 2004, we had about 1 000 logins per month. We now have around 12 000 per month."

* Gauteng: About IT
* KZN: Debbie Payne & Associates
* Western Cape: Preferred Solutions
* Outlying Areas: HH Accounting Services

* Gauteng: Creative Solution Providers
* KZN: PKF Durban
* Western Cape: Eusa Computer Accounting
* Outlying Areas: PricewaterhouseCoopers Kimberley

* Highest growth value-added reseller: End 2 End Business Solutions
* Highest growth forum member: PricewaterhouseCoopers Kimberley
* Best new value-added reseller: Circle Consult
* Best new forum member: ATS Financial

* Gauteng: About IT
* KZN: Debbie Payne & Associates
* Western Cape: EBM Technologies

* Highest growth: Harvest Software
* Beyond Accounting: Brilliant Link

Related releases:
Softline turns 19, celebrates another strong year as part of The Sage Group
Pastel makes online backup available to customers
Pastel makes performance management easy for SMEs