CloudPay - Building a Business Case for Global Payroll

CloudPay - Building a Business Case for Global Payroll

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  BUILDING A BUSINESSCASE FOR A GLOBAL PAYROLL SOLUTION BETTER PERFORMANCE DEMANDS A BETTER SOLUTION
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  ABOUT CLOUDPAY GLOBAL PAYROLL WITH PERSPECTIVE CloudPayprovides managed global payroll services to multinational organizations through a single, unified SaaS solution. By delivering end-to-end managed payroll services through an innovative platform, CloudPay ensures consistent and compliant payroll around the globe while reducing operating costs and minimizing manual processes. By standardizing the payroll function across geographies, CloudPay helps organizations increase efficiency, streamline compliance, and achieve greater visibility into payroll performance and costs. The CloudPay solution is backed by deep industry expertise earned over twenty-plus years delivering services to over 2,400 multinational entities. CloudPay’s solution guarantees accurate payroll processing across 120+ countries in more than twenty-five languages. To learn more, visit www.cloudpay.net
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  3 INTRODUCTION BETTER PERFORMANCE DEMANDSA BETTER SOLUTION Among multinational companies of all sizes, payroll and HR team members increasingly recognize the value and benefits that can be realized from utilizing a unified global payroll solution. As many payroll managers, HR directors, and their IT heads already know, switching from a legacy technology system to a single cloud-based solution can help organizations standardize their payroll processes, reduce errors, and achieve vastly higher productivity and efficiency levels over time. But no matter their job titles or level of seniority, Payroll and HR team members have bosses to answer to – and their superiors rarely see things the same way. When considering any enterprise technology switch, C-suite executives often find it difficult to see beyond the upfront costs of change management and implementation to the long-term benefits of change – and nowhere is that more true than in payroll. Why so? Because payroll is an area where consistency is key: Late payments, errors, and other issues can easily lead to lawsuits, legislative penalties, lowered employee morale, and worse. But when it comes to an organization’s reliance on outdated technology, “consistency” isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
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  INTRODUCTION 4 The most commonlyutilized legacy solutions in the global payroll space plague payroll teams with persistent issues, on a consistent basis, ranging from poor user experience to buggy functionality to frequent errors or worse. Beyond those baseline problems lies the inadequate and inaccurate data most legacy solutions produce: Because traditional global payroll systems operate as “aggregators” (whereby a vendor interfaces with a variety of in-country agents, all utilizing different technology solutions, and simply links them via a thin technology layer), multinational payroll teams typically lack access to standardized data sets or reliable analytics. Without those bases covered, it’s difficult for stakeholders to assess overall payroll performance or target areas for improvement. For all of those reasons, it’s crucial for payroll teams to be advocates for the kind of organization-wide improvement that a change in payroll can create. The only way to advocate effectively (and persuasively) for a permanent change in global payroll is to craft a compelling business case for the long-term benefits of a switch. This CloudPaper discusses how Payroll, HR, and IT teams can secure buy-in for a new payroll solution by: 1. Outlining the true costs of their existing system; 2. Detailing their requirements of a more modern solution; and 3. Exposing the benefits and value of a move to the cloud. BETTER PERFORMANCE DEMANDS A BETTER SOLUTION
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  HOW MUCH DOES YOUR CURRENTSYSTEM REALLY COST? The biggest obstacle to any enterprise software switch is combating decision-makers’ perception of the up-front expense. The calculation of a given payroll vendor’s costs is (or should be) much more nuanced than most C-suite leaders realize – and it’s up to Payroll and HR team leads to show their superiors how much the inefficiencies and errors of the current solution cost. Often, executives want to make an apples-to-apples, sticker-price comparison of their current monthly charges (with the provider they already utilize) against those of a prospective provider. Viewed from that vantage point, the add-on costs of onboarding and implementation seem like throw-away payments. The truth, however, is just the opposite. PART 1: 5
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  The expenses relatedto implementation, training, and onboarding with a cloud-based global payroll solution are an investment in a more efficient, compliant, and productive future for an organization. The monthly charges for an outdated, poorly functioning system that underserves your staff are the real throw-away payments. To show that to executives in a business case, payroll teams must take a holistic look at: 1. The known costs of their current solution; 2. The hidden costs of their current solution; and 3. Their current solution’s inherent risks and issues, and its ability to handle the organization’s needs – now, and in the future. Discussion of each area addressed on the right, and in the following pages should be shared up-front in your business case to help stakeholders understand their payroll costs in a comprehensive way. HOW MUCH DOES YOUR CURRENT SYSTEM REALLY COST? 1. KNOWN COSTS OF EXISTING SOLUTION Monthly payment: Note how much it is and what’s included. Are you paying solely for the use of software, or for managed services as well? If so, in how many countries? Service costs: Some providers upcharge for issue resolution, tech support, or employee training. How much do you pay for any ancillary services? How often do you need or utilize them (or avoid accessing them, due to the costs involved)? Upgrades/infrastructure: Were hardware purchases involved in your existing vendor’s implementation process? If so, how much were they? And what upgrade or replacement expenses are involved in maintaining the system? IT bandwidth: Does your existing system require you to maintain servers internally? How much strain does that place on your IT staff (and/or your IT budget)? 6 PART 1:
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  Shadow labor: Howmany individuals work on payroll activities but do not allocate their time to the payroll function? How much does their time add up to, in terms of hours and associated costs? Errors & consequences: How many errors is your payroll team incurring, and how regularly? How frequently do errors delay your processing schedules? Have past errors incurred any fines, penalties, legal actions, or other repercussions? Manual tasks: With an outdated technology solution, efforts such as data collection, report creation, and routine information updates can absorb a wealth of the payroll team’s time and effort. How many hours per week does your team spend on heavily manual tasks? Fraud & noncompliance: Have you incurred any documented incidents of fraud or noncompliance? If not, what is your confidence level that it isn’t happening and going unnoticed? Have you had to engage counsel or consultants to help you address any legal, legislative, or regulatory concerns? What costs have been involved? Payroll arrangement: In some instances, one business unit will pay another business unit’s employees in certain geographies – often due to the limitations of a given payroll provider within those geographies. From there, one unit invoices the other. Do you operate with a similar situation in any of your business arms? If so, are the costs and charges transparent? How much additional processing time or manual effort does the arrangement incur? PART 1: Payroll teams must take a holistic look at both the known and hidden costs of their current solution, as well as its inherent risks and ability to handle the organization’s needs – both now, and in the future. 7 2. HIDDEN COSTS OF EXISTING SOLUTION HOW MUCH DOES YOUR CURRENT SYSTEM REALLY COST?
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  8 3. RISKS/ISSUES OFCURRENT SOLUTION PART 1: HOW MUCH DOES YOUR CURRENT SYSTEM REALLY COST? Security: Over the course of several years, many legacy payroll solutions require multiple ‘patchwork’ security updates to adapt to new or emerging threats. But these ‘band-aid’ fixes can also create new security vulnerabilities within the system. How confident are you in the long-term security viability of your solution? Adaptability: To meet the needs of today’s innovative and rapidly evolving organizations, an effective payroll solution must have flexibility in its DNA. How easily and/or frequently are product enhancements deployed in your current system? As a customer, how often are your product development concerns solicited or met? How old or relevant is the programming language your software is built on? Expansion plans or staffing changes: As you grow or scale your business, your global payroll needs will grow and scale as well. How well is your existing system equipped to address the future of your enterprise, especially if new geographies are involved? Will your payroll provider need to leverage additional in-country partners (and their fragmented systems) to meet your needs? Access, visibility & control: Planning for expansion or other strategic changes requires a wealth of operational intelligence, much of which is housed in your payroll database. How much access and visibility do you have when it comes to your data? How much time and money do you regularly spend to control or monitor concerns related to compliance, performance tracking, and efficiency? Talent & culture compatibility: Poorly managed payroll practices and inefficient technology can lower staff morale, leading to turnover among your payroll employees (or even your larger global workforce). Misalignment among systems and processes can also create disjointed cultures across an organization’s footprint.
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  WHAT ARE YOUR NEEDS& GOALS IN GLOBAL PAYROLL? Once you understand what your current vendor is really costing you, it’s also important to consider what you need from a new solution. Avoid the impulse to jump straight to creating a checklist based on the features, form, and functions of a new solution. In the business-case phase, it’s more important to think holistically about your desired objectives before delving into the details. As you assessed the costs of your current solution, you also unearthed the problems it posed related to errors, service levels, functionality, and more. Moving forward in your transformation initiative, it’s important to set clear and specific goals for improvements in those underperforming areas. PART 2: 9
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  17 Processes and consolidatesall global payrolls. A scalable and fully compliant single-contract payroll solution, it is accessible anytime and anywhere, with industry leading features that improve labor distribution and visibility into your payroll costs. Goes beyond typical payroll reporting, helping uncover new insights that drive strategic value. CloudPay Analytics continues to expand its dashboard of predictive analytics that provide the underlying information needed to improve efficiencies, optimize costs and ensure continuous compliance. Automatically issues accurate and compliant payments, directly from CloudPay Payroll, to all of your employees and third parties. Manages secure communications for all process participants, including any local vendors. With a real-time “chat” function, questions, changes and requests are managed instantaneously through dedicated teams in our seven global service centers. Automates and standardizes all payroll and payments processes, regardless of the country, and provides key data that identifies opportunities for process improvement and performance measurement. Is a framework that standardizes how employee, demographic and payroll data is imported by CloudPay from a wide range of external sources, including HRM platforms such as Workday, Success Factors and PeopleSoft. REDUCE OPERATIONAL COSTS • Remove complexity and reliance on multiple platforms while optimizing how you staff payroll. • Increase operational efficiency by storing and analyzing all of your payroll data in a single solution. • Reduce overall payroll processing costs and errors to improve your business performance. THE CLOUDPAY SOLUTION THERE IS GREAT POTENTIAL IN PAYROLL. COME FIND IT. WHY CLOUDPAY? TRUST YOUR PAYROLL • Have confidence with our fully compliant, highly secure payroll solution and our skilled subject matter experts. • Minimize the risk of non-compliance with local and statutory regulations, and a fully integrated compliance interface. • Maintain greater internal governance. FOCUS ON YOUR BUSINESS • Gain the freedom to focus on your core business with the reliability, simplicity, and assurance you get with CloudPay’s integrated global payroll solution. • Harness more accurate global insights to improve your business performance with our interactive dashboards.