‘Sage software solutions does not require accounting expertise’
Magnus Mmonwu, regional director, Sage West Africa, spoke to FRANK ELEANYA at a conference held in Lagos recently on how Sage technology solutions can help small and medium companies deal with their accounting process.
Tell us about the event you just held?
The event is about potential customers of Sage who may or may not know about the company. The customers are the people in our mid-market level. We have brought them together to give them talking point as to how they can future-proof their business and how they can leapfrog the competition into the next five years. And one of the driving forces in getting that achieved is that they have to get on to certain technologies that will enable them grow their business.
What are the challenges you see with some of the businesses and what type of solutions are you providing these enterprises?
Majorly, the challenge is knowledge. Most customers either do not know what software they want or they do not have the ready information for them to make the right choice on the kind of software they need. I am bold to say that the Africa market Sage is better positioned because we are the market and technology leader for integrated accounting, HR and payroll and payment systems. Sage is about the only service provider that offers end-to-end business management software for users, be it in accounting or in payroll for small start-ups- all the way to enterprise businesses. So we do provide technologies that drive the organisations of these customers.
What are the specific technologies you have?
The technology we are providing is called Sage 300, Sage 50 Africa, Sage Evolution and Sage HR and Payroll solutions. Three of the software are for accounting – various versions, they cut across different stages of the company’s life and we have also got the Sage HR and Pro solutions.
How important are the software to the customers?
They are very important. You necessarily do not need to be in the office all the time to be able to get information needed to make certain decisions. If you get on to any of the Sage solutions you are able to have insights into how your businesses do. You are also able to take decisions that will power your business into the future. For instance, there is a mobile app that is empowered for every sage person on the field especially for those who are in the sales environment/organisation and run on one of the Sage’s solutions. If you are out there on the field and you need to place an order like 20,000 drums of a certain product, be it paint or anything, the salesperson is able to check the inventory on the spot and place an order or notify the office immediately that there is a need for the bulk in the office. As soon as he makes that order he is able to raise an invoice right from the field and send it to the customer electronically. If the customer pays immediately, he sees the note and the payment notification. The deal is done, that is what Sage offers you. So the time between when you close an order, raise an invoice, close a deal is shortened to minutes. Because of that shrink in time the salesperson is able to focus more on closing X number of deals. And because he spent just about two to three minutes to close a certain deal, he is able to move on to the next.
Where do small businesses fit?
For small business we have got a solution. Regardless of the size, the right stage, the life cycle of that company, be it a company that is starting today being run by a man and his wife from the comfort of their home, Sage has a solution that is suited for them. If that company grows today and moves into an office location and has X number of employees and they need certain additional functionality, Sage also has that solution. If that company also grows and becomes chains of various companies operating in two or three or five states for all of the states in Nigeria, Sage has got a solution for them as well. If the company goes out of the shores of Nigeria and has office in London reporting in pounds sterling, has office in the US reporting in US dollar, has office in Japan reporting in Japanese yen, Sage has got a solution that can enable that entrepreneur to be able to track his activities. In Nigeria it’s reporting in naira, in London reporting in pounds, in US reporting in dollars, and in Japanese, reporting in yen. So regardless of the currency, regardless of the functionality, regardless of the company life cycle, Sage has got a solution that is best suited for the functionality.
What is the entry level solution?
The entry level solution is not the solution that we are showcasing; it is the Sage 1 solution where you can have one user with one or two functionality that gives you visibility on how to run your business. Sage has made an improvement on that system. You do not need to be an accountant, you do not need to have an IT environment, and neither do you need a server. All you need is a smartphone with internet.
How do you deal with potential customers that still prefer software solutions from companies outside Nigeria?
Nigerians are widely travelled and we clearly cannot rule out the influx of foreign software into Africa. People tend to travel a lot; they could go to the United Kingdom, Canada and others. What typically happens when people travel is that they shop around; they see software on the shelf and they pick it – ‘plug and play’. But the reality is that when you come back to the country, yes you are able to run the software, use it for a couple of years but if there is a legislative change, how many of those software will be ready within days to accommodate those legislative changes? So the major thing for us at Sage is that we are well positioned. We have teams that monitor changes in all of the countries. If the tax law changes today in Nigeria we are quick to make the amendment. When the personal income Act changed in 2012 and was backdated to 2011, Sage was the first company to roll out software in a couple of days that was actually ready to respond to that legislative change. It is a major challenge that people travel and you cannot control what they bring back into the country but the reality is that the feature and the usage, the changes in the business is compelling people to actually make sure that when they spend they do so with a solution in mind, that it will stand the test of time. In any case, Sage is better positioned because solutions are produced and deployed for use in Africa.
What are the collaborations that are powering these solutions?
We are partnering with a couple of banks. One of them is in the SME space; we are deploying software for them. Our partnership is such that we get the opportunity to educate the customers on accounting solutions. We have a partnership with SMEDAN; we provide accounting education to their members also.