Sage VIP African Partner Conference a first

By Phumeza Tontsi for Sage VIP Payroll
Johannesburg, 19 Apr 2013

Gerhard Hartman

The Sage VIP African Partner Conference, held last week in Pretoria, was a resounding success and a first for the Africa Division. The business partners attending the conference represented 12 African countries. "At the conference, we built relationships, shared key product developments for the year ahead and provided business advice," says Gerhard Hartman, who heads up the Africa Division at Sage VIP, a leading HR and payroll software and services provider in South Africa and Africa at large.

In his opening address, Anton van Heerden, Managing Director of Sage VIP, thanked business partners for their contribution and support to growing the business in Africa. The group has experienced a 40% growth in its African operations the last year, and currently 22% of the company's new business is based in Africa.

Sandra Swanepoel, Sales Director, said in her keynote address: "Investing in technology and research is important for growing the business in Africa. Other contributing factors to our recent success in Africa are: quality of training, providing the right resources and a willingness to cater for localisation."

Ina du Plessis, Research and Development director, said legislation in the different African countries still remains a challenge for the customisation of solutions.

Karen Schmikl, Liquid Payroll Product manager, spoke about the road ahead for online solutions in Africa and the planned release of Liquid into Africa. Liquid is an online payroll software solution for the small to medium-sized business and is fully supported through telephone and e-mail.

Another highlight of the conference was the gala dinner - a true celebration of Sage VIP's success in Africa. The top three African business partners with the highest figures in software sales for 2012 were also announced. Omni Africa was the winner, and Quantum Solution and Infosys Consult came in second and third place, respectively. "Our client base into Africa has increased tremendously in the last year and these partners' contribution has been invaluable. The African partner conference will definitely become an annual event," concludes Hartman.

Sage VIP

Sage VIP is a leading supplier of payroll and human resource management solutions in South Africa and Africa, having a comprehensive African partner network that comprises 24 African countries. Sage VIP's extensive service offering and comprehensive range of products epitomises ease-of-use, stability and reliability. The flexibility that the Sage VIP service offering provides is uniquely catered to each client's company and legislative needs, whether it is an SME or a multinational corporation.

Sage VIP was voted as the Business and Professional Services Company of the Year for 2012 in the 'Deloitte Best Company to Work For Survey', for the third year running.

Sage

The Sage Group is a leading global provider of business management software to small and medium-sized companies, creating greater freedom for them to succeed. Sage understands how and why each business is unique. It provides products and services that suit varying needs, are a pleasure to use, and are secure and efficient. Formed in 1981, Sage was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1989 and entered the FTSE 100 in 1999. Sage has over six million customers and more than 13 500 employees in 24 countries covering the UK and Ireland, mainland Europe, North America, South Africa, Australia, Asia and Brazil.

For further information, please visit www.sagesouthafrica.co.za and www.sage.com.

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