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The mobile phone has changed the way in which Kenyans manage their money, thanks to the runaway success of mobile money solutions such as M-Pesa. Now, it’s about to transform the way that Kenyan businesses of all sizes operate by giving workers access to their business applications and data wherever they are.
That’s according to Mohammed Mosam, Divisional Director for Sage Evolution. He says that growing penetration of smartphones in the Kenya market, paired with cheaper, more reliable and faster mobile connectivity, means that companies of all sizes can enable on-the-go productivity for their workforces.
Says Mosam: “According to Safaricom, 67% of new mobile phones sold in Kenya are smartphones and 100 000 new smartphones are shipped to customers each month. Our customers want to use these smart devices to transact and work anywhere and anytime. We have built our Sage Evolution ERP and HR solutions for this new mobile world.”
Sage’s mobile applications allow users to access a real time bird’s-eye view of the business’s financial status, including sales and purchases. Employees can see customer and inventory information in real-time, allowing them to be more productive and responsive, says Mosam. “Imagine the flexibility it will give you if you are able to log on to your accounting software from your smartphone to view a dashboard to see how your company is performing, view customer information, record notes and create quotes or invoices, wherever you are,” says Mosam.
Sales teams can create on-the-spot quotes and take instant orders. They’re always working with the latest information so it’s virtually impossible to promise the customer something that can’t be delivered. Plus, because orders are received so quickly, delivery is faster. And in the human resources space, employees could be empowered to make applications for leave, salary advances, loans, bursaries or other financial assistance, online or via their smartphone, no matter where they are in the world.
Adds Nikki Summers, Sage Pastel’s East Africa Regional Manager: “Kenya has pioneered mobile technologies such as mobile payments, and we’re expecting the market to be as excited about the possibilities of mobile business software.
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A stricter focus on regulatory compliance and corporate governance throughout Africa – including Kenya – is driving demand for enterprise resource planning, human resources, and payroll software across the continent.
So says Nikki Summers, Sage Pastel’s East Africa Regional Manager, who adds that lawmakers and regulators in Kenya and other parts of the continent are seeking to make their economies more competitive by aligning them with international accounting, labour and corporate governance standards.
“Kenyan businesses of all sizes are being put under significant pressure to improve financial controls and regulatory compliance,” says Summers. “As a result, we’re seeing demand grow for business software among start-ups as well as for existing companies that have not yet automated their processes or whose technology is outdated.”
There is an especially large move towards automation of the HR and payroll functions, adds Gerhard Hartman, Head of Sage HR Africa. Organisations in the private and public sector recognise that they can no longer rely on manual payroll and taxation systems to keep up with regulatory demands and the growing complexity of their payrolls. “Moving to automated payroll software helps them to ensure accurate calculations and keeps them up to date with the latest legislative changes.
By automating payroll and HR processes, Kenyan companies can save time, work more efficiently and focus on growing their businesses rather than on doing manual paperwork,” Hartman says.
Without robust payroll systems and processes, companies cannot meet regulatory requirements such as remitting various payroll taxes and levies in a timely manner. And as the workforce and the business grows, so does the legislative and regulatory burden as well as the amount of administration associated with the payroll and HR function.
Sage HR Africa is committed to providing business solutions that are tailored to the needs of the Kenyan market, adds Hartman. The company is at the forefront of HR and payroll legislative changes in the country and will continue to update its solutions for the latest laws and regulations in conjunction with government and local authorities. Regular software updates ensure users always process on the latest software and legislative version.
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Article credit: Sage Pastel
South African businesses of all sizes have a great opportunity to help address the country’s growing youth unemployment crisis while benefiting from a tax incentive by taking advantage of the Employment Tax Incentive (ETI).
That’s the word from Rob Cooper, at tax expert and Director of Legislation Updates and Proposed Legislation at Sage VIP Payroll & HR, speaking at the Tax Indaba 2014 held in Sandton from 9 to 13 June. He says that South Africa’s unemployment rate of around 50% among people under 25 poses a threat to the country’s future sustainability and prosperity. By helping youngsters to join the workforce, companies can develop their workforce of the future as well as help alleviate the social instability that arises when there are too many young people without work.
Says Cooper: “This crisis is weighing very heavily on the government’s mind, hence the fast-tracking of the ETI into law during 2013. Now that it is in place, the ETI offers employers some generous incentives for helping to bring the young into the workplace and helping them to develop skills that will make them employable into the future.”
The ETI encourages employers to hire young people by reducing the PAYE that the employer is liable to pay to SARS based on the number of young people employed. This reduces the cost of employment to the employer while leaving the employee’s earnings unaffected.
The Employment Tax Incentive legislation will be in effect for an initial three-year period from January 2014 to December 2016. During this time, all employers in the private sector who are registered for PAYE and have their tax affairs in order can take advantage of the scheme, says Cooper.
Companies can claim the ETI for people they directly employed after 1 October 2013 who meet the following criteria:
- Are between 18 and 29 years of age.
- Work mainly in a special economic zone where the employer has a fixed place of business, or are employed in an industry specified by the minister of labour, finance or trade and industry.
- Have a RSA ID document or an Asylum Seeker permit.
- Earn more than the minimum wage or R2,000 per month (if no minimum wage) but less than R6,000 per month.
The tax benefits of the ETI can be generous for employers who use it strategically, says Cooper. For the first 12 (qualifying) months, the monthly value of the ETI is per qualifying employee is:
- 50% of monthly remuneration if less than R2,000.
- R1,000 for monthly remuneration between R2,000 and R4,000.
- R1 000 – (0,5 x (monthly remuneration – R4 000)) from R4 000 upwards.
For the second 12 months, the monthly value of the ETI is:
- 25% of monthly remuneration if less than R2,000 • R500 for monthly remuneration from R2,000 up to R4,000
- R500 – (0,25 x (monthly remuneration – R4,000)) from R4,000 upwards.
“These incentives mean employees have a perfect opportunity to start putting young people into unfilled jobs that they did not urgently need to fill, “says Cooper. “They can bring youngsters on board and start training them up and make them productive while they benefit from the subsidy. They can also benefit by bringing in casuals to boost their productivity.” Companies that employ a qualifying casual for R200 per day for 10 days per month will get a reduction of R1 000 from monthly PAYE for the first 12 months, for example.
“If you are an eligible employer with at least one qualifying employee, a good payroll software package should be able to automatically calculate your ETI amount in respect of all the qualifying employees,” says Cooper. “You then need to declare the total ETI for the month on the new EMP201 form.”
The ETI is just one of the many pieces of legislation and regulation that make it imperative for businesses of all sizes to have an automated payroll solution in place, says Cooper. An automated solution will take care of calculating the complex formulas, generating the relevant compliance reports, and keeping accurate records, sparing the person responsible for the payroll reams of manual paperwork.
Adds Steven Cohen, managing director of Sage Pastel: “It’s also essential to have a robust accounting package that is tightly integrated with your payroll software to keep ahead of SARS regulations and other compliance requirements. The right software will help you to stay up to date with SARS’ ever-changing requirements.”
About Kiteview
Kiteview Technologies (Pty) Ltd was founded in May 2010 to provide the Sage Evolution Business Management solution to the SME market. The management team of Kiteview have combined +30 years of experience in the delivery of small to mid-market Financial & Business Management solutions. This experience, combined with a sound project implementation methodology has helped in Kiteview’s growth, becoming a Super Platinum status partner for SAGE Pastel within just 1 year.
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Sage Pastel Accounting has launched Sage Evolution 7, bringing customers a new version of the enterprise resource planning (ERP) suite that delivers the efficiency and productivity gains offered by the latest mobile and cloud technologies.
With Sage Evolution 7, Sage Pastel Accounting has moved onto a new Delphi XE5 technology platform to ensure that your investment in the software will be safe for many years into the future. Drawing extensively on customer feedback, Sage Pastel Accounting has built the new version of the software to help you increase productivity, reduce the margin of error, and eliminate unnecessary duplication of work.
Sage Pastel Accounting’s managing director Steven Cohen says : “Our product team looked closely at the latest industry trends as well as customer feedback and business requirements to design a new platform that will evolve alongside your business well into the future. We have especially taken note of how many of our clients rely on cloud services and mobile devices in their day to day operations. Our new ERP solution has been designed to make it easy for your end-users to be productive wherever they are, while providing a smooth road into an increasingly mobile and cloud-driven future.”
One of the key enhancements available in the new version of Sage Evolution is a Mobile Module that allows the sales force to capture sales orders on tablet devices. The data syncs with the ERP solution, eliminating the need to recapture data and reducing the margin of human error. A cloud-based Sage Inventory Advisor module, meanwhile, gives visibility into critical inventory information wherever you might be.
Recognising that mobile and cloud access to the applications opens new security risks, Sage Pastel Accounting has further tightened the security features of the software in the new version. You can now use more complex passwords or biometric identification (thumb or fingerprints) to protect your accounts. In addition, Document Profiles allow you to control which data and information different users in the organisation may access.
“Featuring an all-new technology platform and including a range of enhancements to the user experience, this is a key release for us,” says Mohammed Mosam, Sage Pastel’s Product Manager for Sage Evolution. “With Sage Evolution, you can focus on running your business according to your business rules and accounting, while knowing that our software helps you to minimise errors and duplication of effort while maximising productivity and efficiency.”
Sage Evolution 7 also boasts a wealth of new usability features to help you work faster and more accurately. Sage Evolution has taken the opportunity to give the software a new look and feel by changing the icons to create a more user friendly interface. The icons were selected to represent the different modules more effectively and assist users to easily navigate their way around the software.
Some of other features and functions in Sage Evolution 7 that will help you enhance productivity and save time include:
- An Auto Text feature, similar to predictive text in smartphones, which saves time spent typing in common phrases and words.
- A Global Search feature that makes it fast and easy to find transactions by value, category and date.
- The Utilities function, which allows you to make quick changes to selected transactional data such as invoices. All changes are recorded in a log file to be viewed and reviewed again.
- Key Performance Indicators Dashboards that present transactional information in a graphical format.
- Support for an unlimited number of financial years so that you can keep your financial records for as long as you want to.
- Visual reports – this amazing new feature is a pivot table allowing you to mix and match information to display the results as you would like to see it visually with full drill down functionality.
About Kiteview
Kiteview Technologies (Pty) Ltd was founded in May 2010 to provide the Sage Evolution Business Management solution to the SME market. The management team of Kiteview have combined +30 years of experience in the delivery of small to mid-market Financial & Business Management solutions. This experience, combined with a sound project implementation methodology has helped in Kiteview’s growth, becoming a Super Platinum status partner for SAGE Pastel within just 1 year.
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Over the past 30 years, accounting software has evolved from the static, text-based interfaces of the first DOS-based programs like Lotus 1-2-3 into today’s highly automated applications with their rich functionality and graphical interfaces. Now, the accounting software world is in the midst of a move as significant as the shift from DOS to Windows.
We’re starting to see small businesses around the world enthusiastically embrace cloud-based accounting solutions such as Sage Pastel’s My Business Online in an effort to become more efficient and flexible in the way they do business. My Business Online is a fully-featured online accounting software solution with dashboards, graphs and drill-downs to any transaction that you and your accountant can access, 24/7 via the internet.
Cloud-based services such as My Business Online turn software into a service that you access via the internet rather than an application you install on a computer’s hard drive. The principle is the same as DropBox, Google Mail, and a range of other applications you depend on every day.
This approach brings many advantages for SMEs. Firstly, you no longer need to dip into your cash reserves to buy a licence for a software package. Instead, you pay a small fee per user each month, turning your software purchase into a modest operational expense. What’s more, opting for a cloud service frees you of many of the technical headaches of owning software installed on a computer. That means you can focus on your job and growing your business rather than on wrestling with technology-especially helpful if you don’t have a dedicated IT guy.
Your data is securely stored in the cloud – in this case, a world-class data centre in South Africa – rather than on your own hard drive. That means you don’t need to constantly worry about whether you’ve backed your data up and whether you’ll be able to recover your financial information if your hard drive crashes or your office is robbed or burns down.
You’ll also know that you’re always running the latest version of the software, so you can be sure that you’re up to date with the latest laws and regulations issued by bodies like SARS. And you won’t need to keep patching and updating the software yourself every time there’s a bug fix, security patch or new piece of functionality added to the software.
The biggest benefit of the cloud, however, lies in the flexibility and efficiency it introduces into your working life. You can suddenly access your accounting system wherever you are and at any time of the day or night – you’re no longer restricted a single computer. If you’re an accountant and your clients use a cloud solution, they could provide you with a user name for the system. That means you could access the same live system on which clients work. They can capture transactions and you can log in to do checks and adjustments. This makes everyone’s lives much easier while ensuring that you’re all working off the same accurate and up-to-date financial data.
In addition to accessing your accounting package from any internet-connected desktop or notebook, you can also access it from your tablet or smartphone. Imagine the flexibility it will give you if you are able to log on to view a dashboard to see how your company is performing, view customer information, record notes and create quotes or invoices, wherever you are. You can view and edit customer notes from wherever you are and create quotes or invoices and email these directly to your customer.
You’re shopping and banking online. Is there any reason why using your accounting software online shouldn’t be as easy and convenient. Put your customer information in the palm of your hand, be a part of the online trend and watch your business grow from anywhere in the world, with My Business Online from Sage Pastel.
