Sage South Africa, the leading business software and services partner, has acquired SkillsMap to broaden its payroll & HR offering with a comprehensive recruitment solution.

SkillsMap is an online platform that connects employers in South Africa and the rest of the continent with quality talent. It is a cloud-based, end-to-end recruitment solution that offers organisations direct access to top talent in Africa and abroad for exclusive positions.

The solution will be branded as Sage SkillsMap and will eventually integrate to both Sage VIP and Sage Pastel’s Payroll & HR systems. In addition, Sage SkillsMap will enhance the offering Sage VIP Recruitment brings to the market. Sage VIP Recruitment is a fully-fledged recruitment agency, specialising in placing payroll, HR, IT and finance contract and permanent staff.

The Sage SkillsMap software allows employers to manage their own recruitment process – filtering candidates, consolidating data and tracking placements. For a monthly subscription fee, it gives companies access to an applicant tracking system, public talent community and customised client career portal.

The applicant tracking system allows recruiters to target as many candidates as they desire, while the system filters and screens applicants on their behalf. The Sage SkillsMap Talent Community provides a professional networking platform for candidates to map their current skill level and create a roadmap for their own career planning.

The self-managed client career portal, meanwhile, allows companies to promote opportunities to existing employees via an intranet job portal, advertise positions on the company website, and build an internal skills database.

Once Sage SkillsMap has been integrated with the Sage VIP and Sage Pastel Payroll & HR systems, users will be able to export job specifications from the HR systems to SkillsMap as well as import a successful job applicant’s details from SkillsMap to the payroll and HR software.

Says Heidi Duvenage, business manager at Sage SkillsMap: “Sage is an excellent fit for our business, and I am looking forward to working with the team in the months to come. Together with Sage, we are able to offer a complete recruitment solution for companies that need access to specialised, high-calibre talent.”

“The SkillsMap solution will complement Sage’s entire portfolio of HR, payroll and recruitment solutions, giving our clients more options to address their recruitment needs,” says Anton van Heerden, Managing Director at Sage VIP and Sage Pastel Payroll & HR.

“The acquisition of SkillsMap positions Sage as the only provider in the market that can offer payroll and HR, an applicant tracking system, and a job board in one solution. This will empower our customers to achieve significant efficiencies in their businesses.”