Sage SA acquires talent connection portal SkillsMap

Software and services company Sage South Africa has acquired SkillsMap, an online platform that connects employers in South Africa and the rest of the continent with potential candidates.

According to Sage, the cloud-based, end-to-end recruitment solution was acquired in order to broaden its payroll and HR offering. In line with this, the product has been rebranded Sage SkillsMap and will eventually integrate to both Sage VIP and Sage Pastel’s Payroll & HR systems.

In addition, the company says, 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 claims to be capable of filtering and screening applicants on their behalf.

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.

It’s unclear exactly how much the acquisition is worth or if SkillsMap’s offerings will be included in Sage’s international products but it is refreshing to see an acquisition outside of the agency space.

“Sage is an excellent fit for our business, and I am looking forward to working with the team in the months to come,” says Heidi Duvenage, Business Manager at Sage SkillsMap. “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.”