Demand for Sage 300 takes off, says Peresoft MD

Demand for Sage 300 (formerly Sage Accpac) cloud products is taking off. This new technology is provided by Sage 300 and its third-party products are proving popular owing to the seamless upgrade path to its cloud version. 

This is according to Peresoft founder and MD Bobby Perel, who was addressing a session on the State of Sage 300 at the Third Party Advantage Conference Southern Africa (TPACSA) – the South African Conference for Sage 300 stakeholders in Magaliesburg recently.

Perel said: “We have a long history of creating a product that is full of features and the cloud product takes these features straight to the cloud without having to change your Sage 300 system. It is unique in its implementation in that the client can run both on-premises (local) and across the internet (cloud) simultaneously. No extra training is required and stability is guaranteed.”

TPACSA (Third Party Advantage Conference) was the first reunion of South Africa’s Sage 300 community in several years and drew almost 100 delegates for networking, trend updates and product briefings. The attendees included representatives of 18 global ISVs (independent software vendors) who develop vertical solutions, specialised services and customisations for Sage 300, as well as dedicated service providers from across Africa and the Middle East.

The ISV community offers a range of vertical solutions to Sage 300 and is one of the largest communities in the world offering this service.

“TPACSA has been extremely successful and beyond our expectations, so much so that we are already making plans to stage another conference next year,” said Doug Ash, one of the main organisers of TPAC. “TPAC is normally only hosted in Canada, but we thought that with Sage 300 having such a large footprint in Africa, we should hold the same event in South Africa. And what a great success it was!”

Perel said the event reinvigorated the Sage 300 community: “Sage 300 is a well-established product. It has been around since 1983 and was first launched as IUS and then Accpac. This event highlighted that Sage 300 is very much alive. With a client list consisting of leading businesses across South Africa, Africa and the Middle East, it is clear that it is still a mainstay product and here to stay for many more years.”

He believes the key to its longevity is the fact that its stability can be transported to a true cloud solution quickly and easily owing to its true three-tier architecture. “Sage 300 has become one the most successful accounting solutions in the small and medium-size business market in South Africa and will continue to be a leader in the industry now that it has been developed for the web. Its cloud product integrates seamlessly and works together with its on-premises solution, giving the client the ultimate experience in accounting integration and user experience. There is nothing like this currently in the accounting market," says Perel.

Peresoft Software has been a leader in developing cash management solutions for Sage 300 since the early 1980s and celebrated 40 years in the industry at the conference.

Peresoft showcased its latest enhancements on automated bank feeds and reconciliation using Recxpess and Secure FTP. Also showcased was the latest encryption technology for their EFT product called EFTXpress. This session gave attendees a deeper understanding of these critical topics and provided valuable insights into how to maximise the efficiency and security of their Sage 300 systems using bank feeds and host-to-host solutions.

An awards ceremony was also hosted at the event, which recognised the outstanding efforts by ISVs and solution providers in growing the Sage 300 market. The winners of these awards were:

• Top Sales South Africa – 4Sight Information Technologies
• Top Sales by an Independent Dealer – IS Technology
• Top Sales Gauteng – Lorge Consulting Services
• Top Sales Africa – AM Consultancy
• Top Sales Southern Africa – Siyanda Namibia
• 35 Years of Service – ACSTRA
• Top Distributor of Peresoft Products Internationally – Sage Africa