Sage X3 an engine for growth at Intercape

Intercape has simplified its financial reporting processes and improved its flexibility by implementing the Sage X3 business management solution from Sage, the market and technology leader for integrated accounting, payroll and payment systems. Parity Software was the consulting and implementation partner for the project.

Intercape is the largest intercity bus service in the Southern African Development Community (SADC), with coaches operating in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique. The company decided in 2014 to seek a new business management solution because its systems did not support multi-currencies and were not integrated.

The result was that the financial team needed to spend a lot of their time consolidating financial information from the seven countries where Intercape operates. What's more, a lack of integration between systems such as creditors, ticketing, purchasing and accounting meant data needed to be recaptured. This, in turn, introduced human error and the risk of fraud into Intercape's business process.

Says Anton Jagga, Chief Financial Officer at Intercape: "We made a list of our requirements for a best-practice financial system and only Sage X3 met them all. In addition to its strong functionality for an international business and excellent reporting capabilities, Sage also offers a good network of African business partners."

Intercape went live on Sage X3 for its general ledger, accounts receivable, accounts payable and cashbook in late 2014. Since then, the solution has helped the company to streamline financial reporting and consolidation, which used to be heavily manual processes. Because Sage X3 easily handles multiple currencies, capturing and reporting financials from all seven countries is a breeze.

In addition, Sage X3 provides rich and more flexible reporting, giving the business better visibility into business trends and supporting management decision-making. Sage X3 also easily integrates with Intercape's other systems - such as ticketing, agent bookings, creditors and invoicing - meaning it no longer needs to recapture data. Everything flows straight to the financial system, giving the company complete confidence in its numbers.

"With Sage X3, companies like Intercape can take complete control of their bottom line," says Riaan Wolvaardt, Head of Sage Consulting at Parity Software. The solution easily handles transfers from one country to another, and between subsidiaries and headquarters, making it perfect for companies with a global outlook. We continue to work with Intercape as it upgrades to the latest version of Sage X3, which will deliver even more benefits to the company."

Keith Fenner, VP Sage Enterprise Africa and VP Sage Middle East, says: "We are proud to have become an indispensable business partner to Intercape and to play a key role in helping them to grow their business. By changing something simple like the way Intercape tracks the movement of money through its business, they have positioned themselves for strong business performance well into the future."