Since the launch of Pastel Evolution, a business management software solution, in September 2003, the product has seen great penetration into a number of industries, including manufacturing, service and security, financial services, import and export, mining, administration and to date there are approximately 2 000 customers utilising the solution.
"One of the key reasons Pastel Evolution continues to gain momentum in the local market is that we have remained focused on ease-of-use and hassle-free implementations," says Steven Cohen, MD of Softline Pastel.
"Additionally, as Pastel Evolution has CRM functionality interwoven into the core accounting application, customers have witnessed how a business application for organisations from 1-250 users can be implemented in a more efficient manner than the traditional business solutions currently available. This means that our customer`s total cost of ownership and ability to empower employees with information is greatly enhanced over a much shorter time period.
"To ensure we continue to innovate and drive the South African market sector, we have released new functionality for Pastel Evolution. As we are a locally established and managed company, with over 16 years of experience, we are easily able to adapt and support the key driving business requirements for this market," adds Cohen.
"Therefore, the new modules developed for Pastel Evolution include aspects like multi-currency, automatic payments and processing of remittance advices for suppliers, the ability to import bank statements from the Internet directly into the accounting functionality, as well as catering for new VAT legislation, among others."
According to Cohen, all of the new additions to Pastel Evolution have come as a result of customer demand, channel feedback and the understanding that our solution needs to provide a cost-effective alternative to the very large ERP type solutions.
"Therefore, with these new additions we are able cater for at least 80% of local business and accounting priorities."
Pastel conducted and concluded in-depth customer research last year into the buying behaviour patterns of South African organisations around business management software. "Our results indicated that when the market reviews what solution is best for their organisation they consider the following factors: brand trust, functionality, pricing, stability of the platform and ease of use," says Cohen.
Pastel Evolution now offers the following functionality:
Automatic payments and remittance advice for suppliers. This creates a more streamlined process to viewing outstanding invoices or gaining the understanding of when to pay for goods. Additionally, the remittance advice will only reflect payments made and not the full history of the order.
Importing of bank statements. This means that customers can download bank statements from the Internet and directly import this into Pastel Evolution, whereby an automatic reconciliation will be created. This alleviates the manual time and administration traditionally associated with this task.
Multi-currency. Companies that handle foreign transactions now have the opportunity to set exchange rates and track market trends.
Automatic adherence to the new VAT legislation. The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has stated that all invoices of R3 000 or more, issued in SA, must include the issuer`s VAT number as well as the recipient`s number. This ruling also applies to any debit or credit note relating to that invoice.
"Pastel Evolution Business Partners have understood the demand for a solution that delivers a robust and flexible framework to address relevant and practical business pressures. We are confident that together, we will continue to grow. This year we expect to see a considerable increase in sales and customer demand," concludes Cohen.
Softline Pastel, a member of the Sage Group, is SA`s leading developer of accounting, payroll and related software applications. Pastel has over 160 000 users worldwide and is currently sold in 50 countries. The software is available in six different languages including English, Afrikaans, Dutch, Italian, Portuguese and French.
For more information, please visit the Softline Pastel Web site on www.pastel.co.za.
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