Sage introduces AI tools in African and Middle Eastern markets

Technology provider embeds generative assistant and specialized agents natively within accounting and payroll platforms to automate workflows amidst regional regulatory complexity.

Jordaan Burger, Managing Director for Sage Africa and Middle East. 

Sage, a company providing technology for accounting, finance, human resources, and payroll, announced the deployment of Sage Ai across its solutions in South Africa, specific pan-African markets, and the Middle East. The rollout includes generative AI capabilities such as the assistant Sage Copilot alongside specialized AI agents. The embedded technology is designed to automate everyday accounting, finance, HR, and payroll processes.

This introduction comes as small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) in these regions face increasing administrative and compliance demands. While Sage research indicates that 73% of South African SMBs have invested in artificial intelligence, only 47% currently utilize it for revenue growth. The data suggests that concerns regarding privacy, security, and compliance remain significant factors impacting wider adoption by SMBs.

Jordaan Burger, Managing Director for Sage Africa and Middle East, stated that regional businesses require tools that reflect their specific regulatory and economic environments.

“African businesses are ambitious and digitally progressive, but they are rightly sceptical of tools that fail to reflect the regulatory and economic complexity in which they operate,” Burger said. “Sage Ai is built on five core commitments: user control, reliable results, transparent explanations, responsible and ethical implementation, and accessible human support. We call this ‘Authentic Intelligence’ because it represents a more thoughtful approach to innovation, one that puts people at the centre, embeds trust by design, and applies advanced technology in ways that solve real business challenges rather than simply introducing new complexity.”

Sophia Adhami, Senior Director Product Office and Product Performance Execution, noted that the AI is natively integrated across the portfolio and trained on actual workflows.

“At a group level, our Sage Ai strategy is underpinned by significant, sustained investment in technology, data science and platform innovation,” said Adhami. “We embed AI natively across our portfolio, building proprietary capabilities trained on real world workflows, and strengthening the infrastructure that supports secure, scalable deployment. Authentic Intelligence at this level means combining cutting edge innovation with rigorous governance, so data remains protected, decisions are explainabland customers can adopt AI with absolute confidence.”

The specialized AI agents included in the rollout offer various automated capabilities. These include functionality to reduce month-end close cycles, continuously flag unusual journal entries in real-time, detect payroll anomalies before processing, provide real-time alerts to protect revenue, generate timesheet entries based on activity, automate vendor invoice processing with varying degrees of accuracy and availability by market, and provide insights from payslip data.

The launch aligns with increasing priorities by regional governments regarding digital infrastructure and data governance for economic development. In South Africa, secure and responsible AI adoption is viewed as central to SME resilience. Burger concluded regarding the company’s regional objective, that they intend to “eliminate admin, strengthen compliance confidence, and build the most trusted AI-powered business network across Africa and the UAE. We are freeing businesses from complexity, embedding trusted intelligence into everyday workflows, and enabling SMBs to grow with clarity, control and confidence in a digital first economy.”