Softline was a South African

enterprise software Enterprise software, also known as enterprise application software (EAS), is computer software used to satisfy the needs of an organization rather than individual users. Such organizations include businesses, schools, interest-based user groups, ...

company that existed as an independent company between 1988 and 2003 when it was acquired by the UK-based multinational corporation

The Sage Group plc The Sage Group plc, commonly known as Sage, is a British multinational enterprise software company based in North Tyneside, England. As of 2017, it is the UK's second largest technology company, the world's third-largest supplier of enterpri ...

. Sage continued to use Softline as a brand name until 2013 when all of Softline's products were re-branded as Sage. Sage's South African business continues to provide Sage's global products as well as local South African solutions that cover

accounting Accounting, also known as accountancy, is the measurement, processing, and communication of financial and non financial information about economic entities such as businesses and corporations. Accounting, which has been called the "languag ...

, ERP,

Payroll A payroll is the list of employees of some company that is entitled to receive payments as well as other work benefits and the amounts that each should receive. Along with the amounts that each employee should receive for time worked or tasks pe ...

and HR, Business Intelligence,

customer relationship management Customer relationship management (CRM) is a process in which a business or other organization administers its interactions with customers, typically using data analysis to study large amounts of information. CRM systems compile data from a ra ...

and retail software solutions to small, medium and larger sized companies in South Africa.

History

Softline was founded by Ivan Epstein and Alan Osrin in 1988 during the formative years of the software industry with a mere R1,500 loan. The two founding members of Softline were soon joined by local entrepreneur Steven Cohen in 1990. By 1993, more than 20,000 South African businesses were utilising Softline's Brilliant Accounting products aimed primarily at medium-sized enterprises. In 1994, Ivan Epstein secured a long-term agreement with

Intuit Intuit Inc. is an American business software company that specializes in financial software. The company is headquartered in Mountain View, California, and the CEO is Sasan Goodarzi. Intuit's products include the tax preparation application Tu ...

, granting Softline exclusive distribution rights to the Intuit range of products in Southern Africa; Intuit acquired the South African business back from Softline in 2006. Softline experienced growth during the 1990s and by 1995 began to actively pursue the implementation of Softline's listing in the

Johannesburg Stock Exchange JSE Limited (previously the JSE Securities Exchange and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange) is the largest stock exchange in Africa. It is located in Sandton, Johannesburg, South Africa, after it moved from downtown Johannesburg in 2000. In 2003 ...

. During this time, Softline's reseller base extended into Africa. On 19 February 1997, Softline Limited listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange with a market capitalization of R250m (£20m). In October 1997, the black empowerment group Hosken Consolidated Investments (HCI) acquired 20% interest in Softline. In a back-to-back transaction, Softline acquired 60% of US-based SVI Holdings Inc., for R150 million. This transaction marked Softline's entry into international markets. At this time, SVI had operations based in the US and Australia. SVI Holdings Inc. had previously acquired Divergent Technologies Pty Ltd Propriety Limited in

Sydney, Australia Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and List of cities in Oceania by population, Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metro ...

in October 1996, Applied Retail Solutions in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

to enter the Point-Of Sale market in the USA in July 1998 and Island Pacific Systems in

Irvine, California Irvine () is a Planned community, master-planned city in South Orange County, California, United States, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Irvine Company started developing the area in the 1960s and the city was formally incorporated on ...

, a leading retail applications' software group in the USA candour in July 1999. In July 1998, SVI transferred its listing to the

American Stock Exchange NYSE American, formerly known as the American Stock Exchange (AMEX), and more recently as NYSE MKT, is an American stock exchange situated in New York City. AMEX was previously a mutual organization, owned by its members. Until 1953, it was known ...

(AMEX:SVI).

Sale to Sage

In 2003, Softline was delisted from the Johannesburg Stock Exchange to be acquired by

, one of the leading providers of business management software and services to SME's. In 1989, Alan Ware and Jeremy Waterman established LA Technology, the distributor for Accpac International throughout sub-Saharan Africa. LA Technology was later acquired by Accpac International in 2000 and became known as ACCPAC Africa. In 2004, ACCPAC Africa was acquired by the Sage Group plc from

Computer Associates CA Technologies, formerly known as CA, Inc. and Computer Associates International, Inc., is an American multinational corporation headquartered in New York City. It is primarily known for its business-to-business (B2B) software with a product po ...

and was renamed Softline Accpac. In May 2010, Softline announced the acquisition of

Netcash Opayo, formerly Sage Pay, is a payments processing service owned by Elavon. It operates in the UK and Ireland. The company provides online payments processing as well as products for face-to-face and telephone payments. It was known by the name ...

(Pty) Ltd, a company that provides transaction processing services that was founded in 2002. Softline integrated Netcash into their accounting and payroll products. In 2013, Netcash was rebranded as Sage Pay before being sold in a management buyout and again becoming Netcash in 2019. In 2013 Sage embarked on a programme of uniforming their product names and offerings and moved away from using the Softline brand name, branding the former Softline products as Sage.

Acquisitions

Softline's acquisitions included:

Products

Sage South Africa provide Sage's global products as well as local software including: * Softline Enterprise * Softline Accpac is a full service enterprise management software package that can be used across industries. *

Pastel Accounting Sage 50 is a set of accountancy and payroll products developed by Sage Group aimed at small and medium enterprises. Sage offer different products under the Sage 50 name in different regions. The product name originally derives from the UK and Ir ...

, now known as Sage 50, is an accounting software package that is used by over 200,000 companies in 52 countries across the globe. * Pastel Payroll is online payroll software product developed by Softline. * Softline VIP is a Payroll and HR software system for small, medium and large corporations. * Sage ERP Africa * Sage Alchemex

References

External links

Sage South Africa
{{Sage Group Software companies established in 1988 ERP software companies Customer relationship management software companies Software companies of South Africa Sage Group South African companies established in 1988