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A changing payroll landscape - the biggest game changer

By Sandra Swanepoel, sales director at Sage VIP.

Sandra Swanepoel, sales director at Sage VIP.
Sandra Swanepoel, sales director at Sage VIP.

The payroll landscape in South Africa and the rest of Africa is changing rapidly. There are many factors contributing to this new and exciting, technology-driven payroll environment and they are all important. Companies therefore need to invest in HR and payroll software that fits their unique business environments. Making a decision that suits your business will give you the maximum benefit from a changing landscape, says Sandra Swanepoel, sales director at Sage VIP.

Processing your HR and payroll in the cloud

HR and payroll software's move into the cloud has enabled companies to access a payroll system any time, anywhere, and there is no need for manual calculations. It makes the implementation of payroll less complex and is sometimes referred to as the 'do-it-yourself' option. Cloud solutions led to the creation of software as a service (SaaS), which essentially allows users to utilise HR and payroll software through the Web on a pay-per-use basis. Being able to benefit from a quick rollout of software and consistently up-to-date tax calculations significantly reduces the burden on businesses and assists them to focus on managing costs and running their operations.

Investing in new and sustainable technology is critical

We live in a fast-paced business environment where technology changes rapidly. It is important to ensure that your HR and payroll software is adaptable to new technology platforms that can develop as your business grows. The investment in time and resources will require that you are able to stay on the software for many years. The benefit of a structured query language (SQL) platform means businesses can easily access and process data. The drivers of an enterprise-size business that has well-established processes with a multinational HR and payroll office can be vastly different to a small or medium-size business in a growth phase.

The benefits of connected services

Implementing HR and payroll software with connected services as part of the solution will open up more possibilities than one could imagine. It will allow for companies to get the benefit of a multitude of applications surrounding their payroll software with direct benefits to the user. One of them is the validation and verification of bank accounts, improving the accuracy of bank accounts and reducing the risk of fraudulent transactions. Furthermore, connected services will allow for frictionless updates with no need to download updates manually. The benefit to users will be enormous in terms of efficiencies and speed of updating to the latest version.

The explosion of the mobile workforce

With the hype of mobility playing a large part across all applications, HR and payroll software is no exception. The benefits of mobile payslips and employee self-service, across mobile devices, will drive efficiencies while also giving employees easy access to their information.

Connectivity across Africa has empowered businesses to drive efficiencies across borders, across all parts of the business

Many South African companies with offices in Africa can standardise processes now for the first time, as connectivity has improved, making private cloud a viable option. For the first time, business analytics and consolidating data to manage costs more effectively is practical. This will improve workforce management, appointing and sharing of resources, and driving costs down with software being standardised.

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Sage VIP

Sage VIP is a leading supplier of payroll and human resource management solutions in South Africa and Africa, having a comprehensive African partner network that comprises 24 African countries. Sage VIP's extensive service offering and comprehensive range of products epitomises ease-of-use, stability and reliability. The flexibility that the Sage VIP service offering provides is uniquely catered to each client's company and legislative needs, whether it is an SME or a multinational corporation.

Sage VIP was voted as the Business and Professional Services Company of the Year for 2012 in the 'Deloitte Best Company to Work For Survey', for the third year running.

The Sage Group

Sage Group is a leading global provider of business management software to small and medium-sized companies, creating greater freedom for them to succeed. Sage understands how and why each business is unique. It provides products and services that suit varying needs, are a pleasure to use, and are secure and efficient. Formed in 1981, Sage was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1989 and entered the FTSE 100 in 1999. Sage has over six million customers and more than 13 380 employees in 24 countries covering the UK and Ireland, mainland Europe, North America, South Africa, Australia, Asia and Brazil. For further information, please visit www.sage.com.

Editorial contacts

Aloma Swanepoel
Watt Communications:
aloma@wattcommunications.co.za