{"id":6263,"date":"2012-02-24T14:09:36","date_gmt":"2012-02-24T14:09:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=6263"},"modified":"2012-02-24T14:12:03","modified_gmt":"2012-02-24T14:12:03","slug":"softline-pastel-aims-for-15-growth-in-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/software\/6263\/softline-pastel-aims-for-15-growth-in-2012\/","title":{"rendered":"Softline Pastel aims for 15% growth in 2012"},"content":{"rendered":"

Steven Cohen, MD of accounting software provider, Softline<\/a> Pastel Accounting, says the group is aiming for 15% turnover growth in 2012.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we could grow turnover by 15% I would be very satisfied,\u201d he said in an interview with BusinessTech. \u201cOur operating margin is about 25%,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The company head says the group is targeting the online space. \u201cPastel\u2019s online products which will change the way people work \u2013 really! This isn\u2019t hype; we\u2019re developing technology that will make a compelling difference to how businesses operate.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2010 we launched SA\u2019s first online accounting package, My Business Online, which really offered a completely new way for SMEs to do their books. It\u2019s already available as an app for iPhones and iPads but this year we\u2019re looking to incorporate Android for all of our online products.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cohen says he is excited about the growth of mobile technology and cloud computing in general and particularly the increasing use of mobile devices to access the internet in Africa.<\/p>\n

He noted that a recent report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, confirms mobile devices as the main ICT tool used by SMEs to do business in low-income countries. \u201cThis opens up huge business opportunities for us across the continent as demand for online business solutions looks set to grow,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

According to Cohen, mobile\/web technologies will drive the sector in the near-to-mid future. \u201cImprovements in local connectivity rates and availability of bandwidth will further open up these opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n

The chief executive says that his company currently accounts for around 80% of the market. The Pastel brand employs around 630 people across the country.<\/p>\n

Looking ahead, Cohen doesn\u2019t see a disruptive technology in 2012. \u201cI think people are just starting to get their heads around the innovation of cloud computing and connected services. Depending on the uptake of cloud I think the main disruption will be towards the end of 2013 when this new technology becomes main-stream.\u201d<\/p>\n

He cautions, however, that there are still many people who are unsure of new cloud technologies; \u201cthis trepidation could hold us back,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Steven Cohen, MD of accounting software provider, Softline Pastel Accounting, says the group is aiming for 15% turnover growth in 2012.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":5154,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[345,26,1450,1580,1579],"class_list":["post-6263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-software","tag-cloud","tag-headline","tag-smes","tag-softline-pastel-accounting","tag-steven-cohen"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6263"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6263\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6381,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6263\/revisions\/6381"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}