Pastel

Comments: Automation has resulted in our business processes becoming seamless, the reduction and reliance on paper for reconciliation and reporting has been heavily reduced. In time you see that it has a huge cost bearing on stationery and time wasted having to do it manually. Reports are now available at the click of a button and because they are pre-defined its just a matter of updating amounts and the system will auto generate the rest. This even enhances our service to our customers as invoices are sent on time and correctly, there is no need to keep on capturing data that can otherwise be static data captured and saved just once. Our customers making queries with their accounts are able to get a detailed statement and any outstanding invoices immediately which can then be integrated with emails. The efficiency Pastel offers cannot be taken lightly and it has integrated all departments on that one solution, making all business processes gel in that one solution. Sales can generate quotes, Admin can pay suppliers, Techs can log jobs and print bill of quantities of what is required for a job and accounts sends invoices for payment and reconciles payments received. All this is possible on one platform and this value is immense.

Pros: 1) The system is highly secure and uses most of the security features found in high security software's like banking softwares.
2 It connects easily with bank account ledger which allows for real time update on the flow of cash and funds.
3) The automation of the software provides for efficient accounting even for a beginner and this reduces reliance on an accountant or having to look for someone to manage your books.
4) The software allows for backups and encryption of data which is key in Data retention and security in most IT policies for corporates.
5) Data storage and retention can stretch upto 5 years without hanging when running the current processes.
6) You can sync and create a seamless flow of quotations, invoices and purchase orders which are easily available at your fingertip by just filtering and searching.
7) The solution allows for customer relationship management as it retains data of customers, suppliers created.
8) The ability to add extra functions and modules as per request.
9) Multi user licensing with different profile levels which allows for segregation of duties and limiting of users roles for junior level users.
10) Now offers a cloud based version which increases the efficiency of being able access the solution securely anywhere.

Cons: 1) The software is not highly customizable and this reduces the ability for it to be a custom fit software for any business environment.
2) Lacks a report writer that allows a customer to generate or design a report they might need.
3) Highly reliant on external and consultant support to resolve issues, which makes it costly in terms of the support fees to be paid by a corporate or individual using the system.
4) Implementation and setup of the system tend to be long and you will need a lot of help setting it up which also goes back to the cost factor.
5) The need to customize the software is of huge importance and this does not come easy with Pastel.
6) The application based solution is highly dependant on a good network connection and this can be a hindrance to organizations with average network connectivity as it tends to freeze, stick or hang.
7) The training is long and intensive and during this period the solution is prone to so many errors as compared to doing it manually and doing what you are used to.

Comments: Overall Pastel is great, its easy to use, its reasonably priced. It makes you cover work efficiently, and its spreading like wildfire in all organisations.

Pros: it works for almost any accounting issues, from doing the normal daily receipting, to doing my month end reconciliations, my balance sheets, payroll, to maintain and keep a safe soft record of transactions and for audit checks . Its easy to use, just a little training and you are good to go, it accommodates huge data, and its compatible with almost any laptop or desktop machine.

Cons: There is so much on pastel, if you dont really take time to learn, you might never completely utilize the software effectively.
Software setup is not something you can really do on your own, however there is always an active pastel team that makes sure you get all you need setup until you are good to go.

Comments: Overall, I have been very pleased and impressed with Pastel. I use it every day and it has saved me hours on our website revision process. The Support team has been stellar as well, always willing to make a change or update if needed. I would definitely recommend Pastel to anyone looking to streamline their revision or mark up process.

Pros: I really like that you are able to comment directly on the live site. With our previous revision process, we had to keep Google Docs explaining each revision from the client but with Pastel, the clients can leave their revisions right on the site itself so it is much easier for our team to understand and make the revisions.

Cons: Whenever we embed a Google Maps iframe, it never shows up in Pastel and certain fonts are missing as well. This something causes confusion with our clients about whether or not something was completed.

Comments: The software however works perfectly well given the various reports forms that are available that can be customized to meet individual needs

Pros: I have used Pastel for quite a long time and it has so and i have seen it has become a big brand in Zimbabwe . I have seen that almost all state Universities are using pastel.

Cons: however it has the disadvantage that we can still not fully the multi currency system using the software

Comments: Pastel's team is extremely responsive. Our clients jumped on Pastel immediately when we sent them the tool. No downloads, no installations. Other tools confused our clients with trying to download and install the program. You just jump on Pastel and start clicking - and it starts working. Saves our team probably hundreds of hours of work per month!

Pros: I spent weeks looking for the easiest tool that my clients can use to get feedback. Our clients are often in their 50s and 60s, and not super tech savvy. Plus, our clients our business owners, so they have limited time. Ease of use was top priority. After looking at over 10 other options, Pastel was clearly the most simple and easy to use.

Cons: The features are pretty limited, but this can be a good thing because we don't want our clients to get overwhelmed. I think a couple extra features such as marking tasks "In Progress" as well as allowing our clients to see that edits are "In Progress" would be a huge benefit. Clients get confused on which tasks were done and which are still being worked on, so that leads to a lot of confusion right now.