Concept of moving to cloud based payroll solutions is a fairly accepted norm among the HR and Payroll professionals. Over the span of last few years, we have been hearing all about the advantages of cloud based Human Resource Management software and their superiority over manual processes. But has this torrent movement from on premise to cloud-based HR software able to overcome the transitional concerns of the organizations?
HR professionals think that although manual computing is tedious and causes glitches but is replacing it with cloud payroll software’s really worth?
We need to analyze to what extent are these concerns valid. Manual payroll has its own issues, like inaccuracy, delay in payroll, off cycle processing, most of the work done by employees etc. Despite these issues, organizations are hesitating before moving to cloud human capital management solutions.
What’s actually holding back the organizations?
- Difficulty of setting up new Payroll system?
- Concern of data in the old payroll system?
- Adopting to new processes & training the team?
- Cost – new software investment, new infrastructure, training?
According to a study conducted by IHS Technology 2016, the global market for payroll solutions has grown nearly $7 billion. With 120 million more employees entering the global workforce, adoption of simplified automated cloud based payroll solutions has become paramount. When even the Indian payroll solutions market is growing by almost 50%, the demand for hybrid payroll solutions, incorporating SaaS HR software and outsourcing of services has grown remarkably. Still the ongoing concerns with cloud payroll software are impacting not just psychologically but operationally as well.
So how can cloud based payroll solution help in being operationally efficient?
- Give a makeover to your payroll
In the manual system of payroll processing, dated payroll is configured in the organization which continues to be used without any changes or upgradation. If any subsequent migration to a new system is planned, it becomes a task for the payroll manager to dig out data and employee records of the company. The new age payroll solutions offer not just in-build intelligence but also self-configuration of rules and compliances. With simplified data view and pre-configured report generation, payroll processing becomes a speedy process and the time and effort spent by payroll managers in managing and validating data becomes vastly reduced.
The functioning of any organization is heavily dependent on data. Thus maintenance and preservation of this data is the paramount concern for any payroll manager. Cloud based payroll solutions offer sophisticated data migration tools which easily maps the previous data into the new system. It not only reviews the old data for any correction before migration, but also enables payroll data health check with zero error tolerance policy. The new age services also offer qualified team in the payroll domain providing anytime anywhere access to data.
- Awareness and adoption go hand in hand
Adoption of cloud payroll solutions is very important as it helps in maintaining trust and confidence among the workers over the extended period of time. One should start running internal communication campaigns about the benefits of new Payroll solution, have road shows about the solution in order to drive more engagement. With an effective payroll software, training of the employees becomes easier due to the ability of the software to seamlessly integrate into the current system. Moreover, partnering payroll functions enables the organizations to implement a seamless transition from on premise to cloud technology.
When it comes to cost, most organizations concern over the investment made in adopting a new system. Although manual payroll processing has on the surface a lower cost, but the additional multiple investments be it on bulk processing, office space, employees or even the additional costs incurred on amending errors and mitigating compliance risks attribute to higher percentage to the organization than the one time investment of cloud solutions. Cloud payroll solutions offers pay-per-use alternative which reduces financial burden on the company even more as they are able to customize and pay according to their requirements.
Having considered these factors, we can definitely compute that the concerns with cloud payroll software are overshadowed by the high overall benefits it offers. With its multi-faceted benefits, the best part of cloud payroll solutions is that the service provider works closely with the customer itself assuring guaranteed services-thus ensuring a smooth and successful payroll processing. This value for money association ensures organizations better transparency and employee satisfaction working towards a better performance ensuring the HR to be free from everyday issues to focus on productivity related areas and uphold the company’s reputation.
