Case Study: Sage achieves rapid UI modernization and 20% faster payroll processing with OpenText

AcuToWeb delivers familiar functionality and mobile accessibility in a modern interface, opening up new market opportunities

Sage, a global leader in accounting and payroll software, faced a major modernization challenge with its South African ACUCOBOL-based payroll application used by over 22,000 customers. The 30‑year codebase included 3,500 screens, 800+ programs and five million lines of code; customers liked the functionality but the user interface was outdated, ACUCOBOL couldn’t meet strict corporate design guidelines, and a full rewrite would have taken years when only months were available.

Sage implemented Micro Focus AcuToWeb to transform the existing COBOL screens into HTML5 web pages, delivering a design‑compliant, multi‑device web application from the same code base in under three months. The update simplified maintenance with CSS-driven global changes, enabled remote tablet access (reducing on‑site support and file corruption), delivered at least a 20% batch performance boost, and drove business gains—new sales 13% ahead of target and customer upgrades nearly 60% ahead.

Sage

Annette Viljoen

Director Product Engineering