TECHNOLOGY
The future of payroll
This is the year for payroll transformation, says Helen Armstrong, chief executive officer of Silver CloudHR , who explains why this is great news both for payroll professionals and for employees too
W e’ve seen so many changes in human resources (HR) over the last couple of years, with digital transformation now dominating agenda. Yet from a payroll point of view it’s pretty much stayed the same. For many, payroll is still seen as a back-office process, whether managed in-house or outsourced to a bureau. It’s very manual and has low visibility within the business – preventing it from being recognised as the value-add it could be. Payroll simply hasn’t kept up with the rate of technological change and, whilst some notion of ‘there must be a better way to do this’ has always been there, people have very much been of the mindset that ‘if it works, don’t change it’. We’ve let businesses down somewhat, in terms of what we are able to offer in payroll and no-one has been brave enough to really change anything. The focus has generally always been on how we can make current systems more compliant, so the technology has certainly held everybody back. Thankfully, things are now evolving, and payroll is waking up to the digital revolution.
automate manual entry and payroll runs. RPA technology that can sit on top of existing systems in order to do this already exists and we are now seeing newer systems that have this technology built in. Alongside benefits such as reducing manual entry, increasing accuracy rates and minimising errors, RPA allows payroll managers to introduce cost savings that will ultimately make the business more competitive. RPA will also have a big impact on attracting new talent to the sector, something that is a real challenge. You don’t often find new people coming into payroll – it’s usually people who have ‘fallen into it’. Yet the introduction of automation and other new technology will make the sector more attractive and more exciting, bringing an entirely different type of person into the industry. Those currently working in payroll may have concerns that the introduction of automation will mean an end to their role, but while of course their roles will change, any fears of being ‘replaced by robots’ are unfounded. There will always ...on all payroll vendor roadmaps and is set to be a game changer
be aspects of payroll that we need people for. Look at HR where we now have whole teams of HR systems specialists. If you’re implementing a new payroll system, particularly one that is powered by RPA, who’s going to manage it? The knowledge and experience that payroll professionals offer is never going to be redundant. What’s more, the additional time and space gained thanks to automation technology will provide them with the opportunity to play a more strategic role and make a real difference to the business they are working for. What’s next for payroll? Automation in payroll is still very much in its infancy, but the next real advancement will be real-time pay. It’s something that is on all payroll vendor roadmaps and is set to be a game changer. Real-time pay is where a payroll manager or employee can log into the system and see the payroll output in real time – no more lengthy payroll processes or waiting until a set day of the month. With real-time pay, you no longer have to press a button to run payroll, it’s already running in the background. The core benefit of this lies in the visibility provided to payroll managers – enabling them to identify if they’ve got a problem before they start paying people. For finance directors and business owners
New technology, new opportunities
Payroll is an ideal candidate for robotic process automation (RPA), which can
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward | April 2020 | Issue 59 41
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