Johannesburg, 03 Jun 2014
Microsoft and Sage Pastel Accounting and Sage Pastel Payroll & HR today announced a partnership to provide a Microsoft Azure cloud platform solution that will enable Sage Pastel to build, deploy and manage Sage Pastel applications across a global network of Microsoft-managed data centres.
Microsoft Azure enables companies to easily and quickly build and run applications without having to be distracted from this task by focusing on the infrastructure. It provides automatic built-in network load balancing and resiliency to hardware failure. Azure also supports a deployment model that enables companies to upgrade applications without any downtime of the service to users.
Says Pieter Bosman, Chief Technology Officer at Sage AAMEA (Africa, Australia, Middle East and Asia): "The partnership with Microsoft is part of our strategy to enhance the solutions we provide to our customers. Sage already hosts solutions with Microsoft Azure in a number of countries around the world."
According to Stephen Cakebread, Marketing Manager for Azure at Microsoft: "We have been collaborating with Sage Pastel to provision its software on our Azure platform over the past three months and look forward to bringing this to South African customers soon."
"Sage Pastel expanded our desktop portfolio of products by introducing an online solution, including Accounting and Payroll software, to the South African market three years ago," says Steven Cohen, Managing Director at Sage Pastel Accounting. "Currently we have more than 18 000 companies on this online platform in a totally secure environment. Sage Pastel Online is a great alternative for clients who prefer a pure cloud experience."
Cohen concludes: "Although the majority of our customers are successfully using our desktop solutions, Sage Pastel now offers a suite of cloud-based solutions ranging from pure cloud to hosted solutions on Microsoft Azure."
As a proven leader in innovation, Sage Pastel now enables clients to migrate to more technologically advanced solutions while still offering well-established desktop solutions that have been trusted over the past 25 years.