- From the Editors Desk

Welcome to our April 2016 CIMSO Newsletter – written and compiled at our CIMSO Africa office in Somerset West, South Africa!

Here are a few market observations we have seen during the past few months:

Southern Africa and Africa: We see the Hospitality and Tourism market as one of the “favourable” markets within Africa for 2016. The exchange rate, as well as the relaxation of the visa requirements for South Africa, are factors that are positively impacting our tourism. We observe more confidence in the Southern African market, as our customers are expanding their operations and adding additional infrastructure and software services. We see this as a positive sign for 2016… as long as our South African Government corrects the course of their “kamikaze” actions from late 2015.

Namibia, in particular, is experiencing good investments and growth with respect to European and Chinese tourists, while Nigeria is as quiet as a hibernating bear, thanks to the low oil prices. Although we have received requests from other African countries, like Tanzania & Zanzibar, we have not experienced the same growth from the rest of Africa, as compared to Southern Africa.

We also found the need to apply CIMSO‘s INNkeeper as part of a mobile solution has increased, allowing owners and managers access to their respective properties through INNsync Mobile, meaning they can go anywhere in the world and know exactly what is taking place at their properties.

Additional mobility from CIMSO’s Point of Sale product, RESTaurateur is getting more and more popular with our customers as it allows Hotels and Lodges to serve guests at remote locations, like swimming pool areas. Through Windows Tablets, your staff can place orders while roaming in a properly wireless set-up environment, ensuring a greater “wallet-share” from your guest during their stay. CiMSO experienced a definite interest from larger Hospitality and Lodging groups, as exchange rates are having a detrimental impact on their bottom-line while realizing after seeing a demonstration, the CiMSO-suite features allow them more integrated functionality than their current solutions. (at a much better price)
Asia Pacific: CiMSO is attending the 20th International Exhibition of Food and Drinks, as part of the Singapore Expo from 12 – 15 April 2016. Being one of the world’s largest and most comprehensive food shows, CiMSO is looking forward to position the INNkeeper Suite as thousands of chefs, general managers and buyers visit the expo. More feedback during our
next Newsletter.

PSD logo retires: As announced at the end of 2015, the PSD logo at the bottom of the page has been replaced by CIMSO. Why? What is happening you might ask? PSD (Professional Systems Distribution) as a name has served us well for many years, but the name is not descriptive of what we do: the PSD companies implement CIMSO’s business solutions and the time has come to reflect this in our name. International PSD companies underwent a name change in December 2015 and are now known as “CIMSO Business Solutions”. The new name is an accurate description of what we do. It harmonises the CIMSO Group through a simple name structure and strengthens our CIMSO brand. Our product, our people and our values remain at the same high standards that our customers are used to.

As always, we appreciate your suggestions and feedback. Please send us your information, pictures, feedback to marketing@psd-africa.co.za

Thank you for being part of the CIMSO-INNkeeper family.

Johan Marais