Cloud-based software is used very successfully in many areas of commerce these days. It also has a significant role to play in the payroll functions of numerous businesses these days, both large and small. Very few enterprises rely entirely on a paper-based system for conducting their payroll nowadays and software is the norm. However, stand-alone payroll software – or modules of a pre-existing accounts package – rarely offer the flexibility and functionality that a cloud-based payroll software system can provide. If you are a business leader, such as a CEO or a CFO, then you should take a closer look at the sort of advantages a high-quality cloud-based payroll software package can afford growing enterprises. The same goes for payroll managers who want to rationalise their current approach, of course.
At Snow, we have a superb track record in helping managers in numerous sectors – such as retail, construction and manufacturing, to name but three – to improve their payroll efficiency with digital systems. Our fast, simple and secure cloud-based software makes running a payroll more straightforward whether you need to do this weekly or every month. Read on to find out what benefits you can expect to derive from investing in cloud-based payroll software for your business.
Improved Productivity
All businesses derive a benefit when they improve their productivity. By streamlining your current payroll processes, you can do the same for your business. Of course, if payroll takes fewer man-hours to complete, then your payroll staff can get on with other, perhaps more important tasks. In SMEs, it is typical for payroll work to be handled by the financial clerks who might be better off dealing with purchase invoice queries and ledger work than becoming swamped every few weeks with the onerous task of ensuring all employees are paid correctly. By making it easier to process payroll, you won’t have to rely on such well-trained staff either because many of the technical aspects of it – such as calculating tax deductions, for example – are dealt with by the software.
Secure Storage of Personal Information
IT managers and data officers should take the issue of secure payroll-related information seriously. If you keep your employee data on a server in your office, then you will be responsible if there is a data breach. All information relating to employees’ salaries, their bank account numbers and even their ages and home addresses must be held in a sufficiently secure manner to meet GDPR guidelines. Remember that hacks can occur from outside, bypassing your firewall over your network, or by someone accessing this information directly. Either way, the fallout from such a data breach is likely to be much more severe than a few disgruntled employees. Fines and reputational damage can both hit businesses hard when hacks of this nature occur. However, when the information is held on a secure data server, you can expect industry-compliant encryption and security protocols in place that mean your firm’s data can only ever be accessed by authorised personnel.
Automate Pay-Related Tax Issues
There are all sorts of calculations that need to be made when a payroll function is dealt with manually. For example, you might need to deduct a sum from one employee’s pay because they received an advance. Others might have a pension that is deducted at source. There again, all employees will be expected to pay their tax. With a cloud-based payroll software system, all of these matters will be automated. Not only does this make things faster but it removes the potential for human error, as well.
Shift to a Paperless System
Cloud-based human resources systems are becoming increasingly popular. One of the reasons for this is that they do away with the need for papers, forms and files of all kinds. If an employee books a day off from their annual leave entitlement, then they can do so within the cloud from any location they like without having to hand in a form or permission request that might get lost. In other words, a cloud-based approach offers more consistency and better accuracy. The same goes for payroll software in the cloud. Employees will be able to access all their past payslips easily, for example. They’ll also be able to see if they have a bonus coming or any other changes to their pay as they occur. Even better, they can print off their payslips if they want to maintain a paper record but they don’t have to. With this sort of approach, employees can also change their name themselves, for instance, if they have recently married, or alter their banking details of their own accord. These sorts of jobs are therefore taken out of the hands of payroll clerks, helping to make the whole process simpler with no reliance on antiquated paper trails.
A Service That Grows as You Do
Some financial software that is capable of running basic payroll functions is adequate while a business is small, with just a few employees, but it soon fails to deliver when the numbers in the workforce grow. As a result, you either need to switch finance software or buy an additional license. Both of these approaches create unnecessary problems. However, a good cloud-based payroll solution will not set any upper limits on how many employees you can add. This means that you get the scalability you need to cope with growth as and when it occurs. This is ideal if, for instance, your company is thinking about acquiring another firm with its own payroll system because you can integrate them both into one cloud-based service.
Remote Accessibility
In the modern world, people want to be able to do business wherever they are and at a time that suits them. If you can only run your payroll system when you are in the office and logged on securely, then you simply won’t be able to enjoy this degree of flexibility. However, with well-designed cloud-based payroll software, you can connect to your service anywhere there happens to be an internet connection. This means being able to run your payroll securely even if you are on an overseas business trip. What’s more, the intuitive design should mean you can perform every function you need whether you are using a desktop computer or a mobile device.
Save Money
The bottom line is that cloud-based software of all kinds tends to win out because it offers an economy of scale. Because the hardware infrastructure of the server(s) used is shared, though secure, you won’t have to fork out so much as an enterprise as you would if you used your own. Equally, all of the investment in the security of the service will be shared among all the clients who use it, thereby saving thousands and thousands in the longer term. Equally, intuitive design along with automated processes mean that you don’t need highly trained payroll staff to process your payrolls anymore. In turn, this constitutes a saving that you can make year on year by no longer needing to recruit the same degree of expertise among your financial team.
To Conclude
To sum up, cloud-based payroll software like Quantum Cloud is designed for the way modern companies do business. By providing the functionality and versatility that today’s generation of business decision-makers are after, payroll should become a simplified and less costly part of your normal operations. With its own ISO 27001 certified data centre in Ireland that backs everything up and keeps all of your important financial data secure, why would you consider sticking with your current payroll system?