It feels that the world is becoming more homogenous, economically, politically and culturally, every year. Indeed, I am grateful for the opportunity to have seen much of the world when it was more diverse and untainted, when it contained very different political systems, religions and traditions, unique lifestyles and regional cuisines and when not everybody seemed to speak English. Of course as a ‘westerner’, I am also pleased to have been able to afford to travel, aided as I have been by the inequality of wealth. Diversity remains, and is being rigorously defended, in many places and areas of life and yet the process that began more than a thousand years ago has steadily gained momentum over the last thirty years and continues apace.

It’s easy to focus on the information revolution as the cause. There is no doubt that the development of the World Wide Web, social media and ecommerce has played a large part in accelerating globalization, building on the momentum created by imperialism and the previous revolution in communications, radio and television. However, it is not just information that travels freely, money does likewise, and goods are transported readily and rapidly, economies of scale increase the size and dominance of manufacturing multinationals and no country can claim any particular company for itself. Non-financial services, for long a laggard and bucker of these trends, are now quickly following exactly the same route and it seems that the English language has prevailed as the world language.

Globalization promotes economic growth, creates employment, makes companies far more efficient, lowers consumer prices, increases consumption and the global standard of living, gradually overcoming inequalities of wealth.  However, globalization has its detractors. Progress and economic growth comes at a price.  Good or bad, it seems that the trend is to ever larger, ever more powerful and ever more dominant companies that act and think globally, that employ staff in ever more countries and that draw on an increasingly global supply chain to serve an increasingly international marketplace.

Managing these global organizations efficiently is of prime importance. All functions are called to account, to prove that global economies of scale are realized and, more importantly, that all measures are taken to draw from the functional process the business intelligence that highlights trends, provides insight, enables predictions of the future and better informs decision making, that exposes malpractice, theft and fraud and results in competitive advantage. All functions must operate globally, not just to be efficient but to make a strategic contribution, to help further, not just support, the interests of the enterprise they serve.

Payroll, previously a tactical and hidden function submerged under Finance or HR and only coming to prominence when functionally and locally it failed, is no exception. Automation of the complexities of global payroll management, for long too difficult a nettle to grasp owing to its highly regional and constantly changing nature, has been made possible by the advent of The Cloud and the pioneering development of truly global-capable SaaS applications by CloudPay. The use of CloudPay to centralize global payroll management within multinationals provides great efficiencies, and yet these efficiencies, whilst important, are not what is driving a revolution in payroll management. The revolution is being driven by the access that is provided by the new technology to large amounts of data, data previously denied corporate strategists and now demanded by the architects of Big Data initiatives being designed, developed and deployed by every multinational and used to derive information that is, in turn, the fuel of intelligence.

In previous blogs, I have talked about the strategic importance of payroll and how Big Data initiatives are driving a change of working practices, a change to the role of payroll managers and to the expectation the leaders of multinationals have of functional heads to provide strategic insight. I argue that payroll cannot remain submerged within HR or Finance but must emerge as a discipline on its own, with its own strategic contribution to make. This contribution is to be derived from its newly discovered ability to draw on vast amounts of data, chronological and geographic, demographic and functional from which can be, and should be, derived a wealth of business information, strategic insight and the trend analysis and predictive analytics that provide real competitive advantage, underwriting the best informed decisions.

The context for the shift in focus, the emphasis on Big Data, Business Intelligence and analysis is that organizations are becoming increasingly geographically dispersed and as their horizons expand, so too does the scale, complexity and strategic importance of payroll.

As economic globalization increases, a new breed of global payroll executive is emerging, willing to embrace the challenge and give voice to a long under-appreciated function. CloudPay is here to help them.

At the same time, procurement becomes less of a trial, and user participation in software selection, and subsequent buy-in, is increased. Risk is removed from the selection process as implementation and application proving is quick, vendors are attuned to the needs of users to ’try before they buy’ and the service can be easily and cheaply discarded should it fail to meet requirements. SaaS applications seem to offer great value, charged as they are by means of a monthly subscription fee, often low to start with and steadily more expensive as vendors charge extra for the additional features or further scale that customers will eventually require but can do without when getting started. There are no costly installation overheads and training of staff is usually online. Costs can be low and predictable, though caveat emptor applies, and enterprises that enter into standard contracts with vendors should be mindful not to end up with ‘shelf-ware.’ It’s all too easy to get locked into multi-year inflexible contracts, and SaaS customers should be pushing for contracts that accommodate changing user and capacity requirements at least once a year.

In addition, scalability, an inherent advantage of SaaS applications, should enable incremental expansion by small increments. Systems administration and maintenance are the problem of the vendor, so new features are immediately available, all users use the same version of the software, data is stored offsite, backups are automated and upgrades, and maintenance releases and patches are seamlessly installed. No longer are users limited to accessing their applications from their desk, as SaaS-based applications are accessible from laptops, tablets and phones, enabling staff access wherever internet is available, encouraging staff mobility and increasing availability and productivity.

A nascent market

No surprise then that IDC predicted in their August 2012 Worldwide SaaS and Cloud Software 2012–2016 Forecast and 2011 Vendor Shares report that enterprise cloud application revenues reached $22.9B in 2011 and are projected to reach $67.3B by 2016. Remarkably, IDC also predicts that SaaS delivery will significantly outpace traditional software product delivery, growing nearly five times faster than the software market as a whole and becoming the significant growth driver to all functional software markets. Moreover, it is predicted that by 2016, $1 of every $5 will be spent on cloud-based software and infrastructure.

Indeed, Louis Columbus last year contributed an article to Forbes entitled Cloud Computing and Enterprise Software Forecast Update, 2012 in which he cited Gartner in their September 2012 User Survey Analysis: Using Cloud Services for Mission-Critical Applications report as claiming the three most popular net-new SaaS solutions deployed are CRM (49%), Enterprise Content Management (ECM) (37%) and Digital Content Creation (35%).  The three most replaced on-premise applications are Supply Chain Management (SCM) (35%), Web Conferencing, teaming platforms and social software suites (34%) and Project & Portfolio Management (PPM (33%).

This might suggest that certain applications segments are more SaaS-worthy than others, perhaps because there is more commonality of application requirements from country to country, industry to industry or function to function. Maybe application development has been faster-paced in some application segments, lagging behind in others or perhaps there are obstacles, practical or emotional, to the adoption of SaaS for certain applications.

The advantages of SaaS applications to enterprises seem overwhelming, what’s not to like and what is hindering adoption across the board?

Arguments against Enterprise SaaS

Security is usually first out of the bag.  As data is stored in the cloud, security is often mooted as the major concern. While mobile working is an important attribute of SaaS, doing so implies sensitive data has to be stored online on third-party servers. This can be an issue for applications that require unquestioned security and confidentiality and consideration should also be given to the inherent risk of losing valuable data should a SaaS vendor go out of business. There are other concerns. Latency, it might be argued, dictates that the SaaS model is not suitable for applications that demand very rapid response times, data integration of application datasets is complicated and switching between SaaS vendors is difficult, as to do so may involve the painfully slow task of transferring very large data files over the Internet. Finally, service-level agreements are of the greatest importance and yet often don’t even exist. SLAs of close to 100% must be demanded and there should be clear recourse when failures occur and there should exist adequate disaster recovery, essential and yet often overlooked or assumed.

So, SaaS may not apply universally. High security applications and high or assured availability applications will remain the preserve of on-premise software, as will applications that do not, by their nature, lend themselves to the single instance, multi-tenant model; applications, for example, that require significant customization, especially the customization of logic.

Where does that leave payroll? SaaS-based HRM/HCM applications have developed momentum. Niche applications focused on learning and development, performance management, expense reporting, commission calculations, time and attendance and a variety of other tasks are ubiquitous. Also, SaaS-based integrated HCM suites have gained prominence with Workday, the best, but not only, example of the breed. Workday delivers HRM integrated with financial, talent management, time tracking, recruitment and payroll capabilities.

The payroll capabilities are, though, limited to the processing of payroll in the United States and Canada, which is typical. Third-party payroll connectors allow the integration capability for local, or in-country, payroll providers to upload the results of locally processed, often manually calculated, payrolls. For a multinational, a truly global enterprise, this often reflects the way in which they are used to working, whether they calculate payroll themselves or outsource to the large payroll service bureaus.  Remarkably, no company has, until recently, tackled the automation of payroll on a global scale and the reasons are multifarious.

An evolving view of Payroll

Traditionally, payroll has been seen as a tactical, not a strategic task. It requires lots of local domain expertise and, consequently, has been tackled country by country in an inconsistent way. Aggregation of results and business information has, at best, been at the highest level. Technology, where used at all, has been utilized only for the largest payrolls, and on-premise solutions have been dedicated to serve only the world’s major economies.

This is changing. Globalization means that multinationals are employing increasing proportions of their staff in countries in which employment costs are lowest. This is having the knock on effect of modernizing economies and increasing standards of living, and that then creates new markets as global disposable income becomes more equal. Big data initiatives are demanding access to data from which real business intelligence can be derived, and demanding a consistent and centralized approach to all business functions. Staff costs represent a huge proportion of corporate expenditure, and payroll is fast becoming a strategic, not just a tactical, function, no longer only visible when things go wrong but a contributor of data from which can be derived the information and intelligence to gain competitive advantage.

Payroll automation is, though, expensive to develop and maintain, so the development of truly global-capable systems has been shied away from by the HRM/HCM and ERP vendors. Moreover, as the development of such systems would be disruptive to the way in which the payroll service bureaus profitably service the status quo, they too have neglected the opportunity. It takes a specialist with vision, ambition and pedigree to tackle global payroll but it also required a platform revolution, a revolution that is now upon us – SaaS. Payroll automation requires SaaS as global payroll is not only complex but is continually changing as local legislatures exercise fiscal policies to economic and political ends.

SaaS will become ubiquitous, across all general enterprise business functions and yet the market remains nascent and we are only just witnessing the advent of SaaS technologies that enable wholesale change to business practices in some areas. Corporate functional heads are being required to do more than a good and efficient job; they are increasingly required to make a strategic contribution. The emergence of SaaS is driving business change, not just replicating what was previously on-premise, in The Cloud, and payroll, and the approach to payroll automation for multinationals pioneered by CloudPay, is a prime example. After all, cloud technologies, like all other enterprise software offerings, deliver the most value when they support and serve to accelerate a business to its strategic goals and objectives.

More recently, the shift of focus has been especially remarkable in the management of Human Resources. Suddenly HR is dedicating itself to attracting, recruiting, developing, managing and retaining talent, predicting skills shortages and developing and executing plans to address them. This represents a shift from the tactical management of a function to the development of insight and the consequent strategic contribution that can be made to the executive management of enterprises, especially multi-national enterprises. HCM systems allow HR professionals to remove the burden of departmental and functional management and procedural drudgery and gain their place at the top table.

As business trends shift and automation is developed and proven, new business areas come under scrutiny and are subsequently made accountable for the strategic value they impart, not just the efficiency of the tactical, functional and administrative exercise of their duties.

Is payroll next on the list?

Payroll remains a tactical function in nearly every company. Indeed, at CloudPay, we still refer to our clients as early adopters, those companies and individuals within companies possessing the foresight and vision to recognize that proper and comprehensive management of payroll enables a strategic as well as a tactical contribution.

Tactically, it is essential to pay employees accurately and on-time. Done well, the function becomes invisible and perhaps because of the professionalism and diligence of payroll managers and staff world-wide, payroll seldom comes to the attention of the executive and remains under-appreciated. And yet, payroll represents an enormous percentage and usually the greatest part of the total expenses of an organization. As such, it should be the source of a vast amount of data, chronological and geographic, demographic and functional, from which can be derived a wealth of business information, strategic insight and the trend analysis and predictive analytics that provide real competitive advantage, underwriting the best informed decisions.

To keep pace with myriad and continual changes to the rules, policies, procedures, models, allowances and rates that govern the management of payroll locally, in each separate legislature, companies have maintained payroll staff locally or outsourced the function to local payroll providers, sometimes at a regional level or more often at the country, even at the legislature, level. This spider’s web of suppliers is sometimes apparent but more usually disguised by the entire function being outsourced to an aggregator, a company that manages the network on behalf of its clients and runs the function but deliberately gives little or no thought to the strategic opportunity that is being missed.

The approach is antiquated and the companies that have grown fat maintaining the status quo are unlikely to want to dismantle their castle by automating the global payroll management process, assimilating complex data sets and providing the tools for multinationals to centrally manage and analyze their payroll while benefiting from significant efficiencies. It is in no way in the interests of the large aggregators and managed payroll outsourcers to enable or encourage payroll to become strategic. However, their resistance is futile. They are just writing themselves out of the future of payroll management by failing to evolve their business models and allowing those with greater vision to disrupt the market they have considered their own since the earliest days of data processing.

So what will enable payroll to become strategic? In an earlier blog, I wrote that there are two main contributory factors:

First of all, automation is needed. Until recently no company had tackled the complexity of global payroll, the calculation of algorithms that vary from legislature to legislature and the continual state of flux as taxation models are continually adjusted for fiscal advantage by treasury departments of governments worldwide. Even had they done so, until the emergence of the cloud and Software as a Service (SaaS) applications, the sheer administration of the application software given the rate of changes to the underlying algorithms involved proved an insurmountable obstacle, one with which even, maybe especially, the largest suppliers of enterprise software applications refused to grapple.

Secondly, and perhaps even more important is a change that is required to working practice within the departments that manage payroll in large organizations. The changes required might necessitate a change to the nature of functional management. After all, the skills to understand and manage the process will usually be different from those needed to analyze and extract business intelligence from raw data. Or are they?

In an article contributed by Keith Rodgers to ‘Payroll Professional,’ Maurice Cheng, Chief Executive of the Institute of Payroll Professionals, is cited as arguing that nothing beats the knowledge that comes from working with payroll data every day to give professionals the context and insight they need to fully understand it. He believes, it is said, that payroll professionals are better placed than anyone to provide this kind of information service. “There are a number of senior payrollers [sic] who do this quite effectively – you can’t generalize that all payrollers must be transaction-focused,” he is reported to have said. The executive expectation of the contribution that should be made by ‘payroll’ and the influence that global payroll managers have needs to be reviewed and a change of focus to recognize the strategic, not just the tactical, importance of payroll will result.

The former requirement was satisfied by the advent of the cloud and SaaS application pioneered by CloudPay. The latter is, right now, being driven by the need for global payroll data assimilation to Big Data initiatives and, of course, the professional and corporate successes being enjoyed by the early adopters. Payroll is often subjugated within HR, just as often within Finance. Yet, Payroll as a discipline, as a function and as a strategic contributor of information belongs to neither; it is a separate entity that is slowly developing its own voice and earning its place on the executive management committees of the world’s most far-sighted multinationals.

However, Big Data initiatives remain nascent and really do promise a revolution in capability that is already having a profound effect on every aspect of our lives, the way we are governed and of the way businesses are managed.

Big Data initiatives are demanding holistic enterprise management, ensuring that inter-dependencies between functions are considered, that incoherence and inconsistencies in organizational structures are addressed, that processes are standardized, centralized and automated and that there are no islands, no hiding places and no stones left unturned. Payroll has for long been an orphan in multi-national organizations, often ignored, cast between the estranged foster parents of HR and Finance, belonging to neither and left unguided, payroll has often been managed by as many different and inconsistent approaches as there are countries in which a multinational operates. With the emergence of Big Data initiatives, payroll is growing up, automation hand in hand with centralization and a strategically focused executive enables payroll to gain its voice and rapidly increase its contribution.

Before examining its affect on payroll, let’s look at Big Data itself.

So, what is Big Data? Leading IT analyst Gartner describes Big Data as high-volume, high-velocity and high-variety information assets that demand cost-effective, innovative forms of information processing for enhanced insight and decision making. In simpler terms, pulling together the vast amounts of data generated in many places in real time provides an unprecedented ability to cross reference and analyze data, providing information that for reasons of computer throughput and software sophistication had previously eluded organizations.

Big Data enables correlations and trends to be identified. This isn’t just reporting or the common application of business intelligence; this is the forensic use of data to derive critical information that can provide competitive advantage, predict opportunities and challenges and highlight malpractice.

According to Hilbert & López 2011, the world’s technological per-capita capacity to store information has roughly doubled every 40 months since the 1980s. As of 2012, limits on the size of data sets that are feasible to process in a reasonable amount of time were in the order of exabytes of data. Scientists that had regularly encountered limitations in their ability to manage extremely large data sets for research and analysis in the fields of meteorology, genomics, physics and biological and environmental research suddenly found that the storage of these datasets gave rise to the development of software and software models that utilized the incredible parallel advances in processing capability that were long predicted but previously theoretical. Suddenly it wasn’t just scientists taking notice. The data integration industry quickly turned its attention to the management of large datasets in the commercial world, especially for application to business informatics.

Big Data is big business, has extensive application and is a vital consideration for every multinational. Indeed, every global enterprise now has an active program focused on making the greatest use of the opportunities the new hardware, storage and analytical capabilities can deliver. If there are challenges deploying Big Data programs, the hold ups are often due to their sheer scale. Big Data projects, by their nature, bridge functions, departments and accountabilities. Big Data projects also highlight deficiencies in the operations of functions that fail to immediately contribute the aggregated data sets required.

In this respect, global payroll operations are being increasingly placed under a spotlight. Unfashionable, complicated and consequently under the radar, payroll in companies does, nevertheless, represent a very significant proportion of total expense. The data that can be collected and aggregated contains data elements vital to the predictive analytics and forensic analysis of workforce demography and geographic dispersal.

And yet despite its importance, payroll data is, surprisingly, too often not collected or consistently aggregated at the enterprise level. Why not? Payroll is all too often managed locally, region by region, country by country, legislature by legislature. Seldom is payroll managed globally or centralized and it is usual that only the most scant data is collected at the enterprise level. Payroll is either managed internally and locally or, more usually, outsourced to local payroll providers or companies that manage local payroll providers under a corporate umbrella. All other aspects of HR and Financial management have been automated at a global level by the world’s largest software companies, by IBM, Oracle, SAP and, latterly, by a myriad of new Cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS) enterprise software providers such as Workday, NetSuite and specialists such as Concur and Xactly. These companies have been able to define best practice at a global level across all aspects of HCM and ERP systems. None though have demonstrated the appetite to do likewise with payroll. The reason is the complexity of payroll, the calculation algorithms that vary from legislature to legislature (and there are many more legislatures than countries) and the continual state of flux as taxation methods and rates are continually adjusted for fiscal advantage by treasury departments of governments worldwide.

For payroll, one size does not fit all, and the cost of providing global payroll solutions has meant that until recently no company had attempted to tackle the problem.

The emergence of a solution required two things:

1. A change of technology platform across which a truly centralized service could be provided
2. A change of focus within corporations to begin to recognize the strategic, not just the tactical, importance of payroll.

The former requirement was satisfied by the advent of The Cloud and SaaS applications and the latter is right now being driven by the need for global payroll data assimilation to Big Data initiatives.

CloudPay, the pioneer of cloud based centralized management of payroll operations for multinationals, has suddenly discovered powerful allies; the leaders of the some of the most important, strategic and visionary initiatives being specified, developed and implemented by the world’s multinationals.

CloudPay is tackling the complexity of providing global payroll management workflows, payroll processing software and services, forging complex, comprehensive and consistent datasets and making possible the strategic data contribution demanded by Big Data initiatives. In turn, this helps ensure that corporate Big Data initiatives are accessing and cross referencing the most comprehensive Big Data assets possible.

Big Data is, indeed, driving the need for global payroll automation and CloudPay is servicing it.

While companies may lose their customer focus as they get larger, CloudPay is determined to maintain a level of customer service unrivaled by its competitors in the payroll space. What drives this determination is the long-standing company-wide promise made to all customers, whether large or small, no matter where in the world they are and whatever language they speak. That promise is to be honest, open and communicative; to constantly improve our offerings; and to demonstrate our care by being responsive and attentive to their need to compensate their employees accurately, on time and in full compliance with all national and local regulations.

CloudPay accomplishes this by delivering a revolutionary technology that takes the stress and burden out of administering global payroll and is designed to give customers a competitive advantage by enabling them to focus their efforts on more strategic initiatives. Offering a seamless blend of true SaaS-based technology and an extensive network of capable and experienced local payroll consultants, CloudPay’s solutions facilitate global payroll in a tremendous number of currencies and languages. In addition, as a cloud-based technology, CloudPay requires no investment in systems, software or maintenance, nor the need for system management or other resources for upgrades, as the service includes the provision of automatic software updates as they are made available. With access to real-time data, organizations gain the visibility that enables more informed strategic and financial decisions to further improve their business.

Integral to the delivery of CloudPay’s customer promise is having the right people in place throughout the organization. CloudPay strives to hire only those employees who adhere to and project the company values of being attentive to customer care, responsive to changing market needs and committed to maintaining CloudPay’s pioneering spirit and its culture of continuous innovation.

As employees of CloudPay, attaining alignment between our behavior and the promise we make to customers, particularly whilst enduring the stresses of a fast-paced, high-growth environment, is sometimes difficult. And yet we understand and constantly reiterate that alignment is key to our success and our success is dependent on that of our customers in a truly symbiotic relationship. As we recognize that all employees at every level of the organization play a role in shaping our identity and how we deliver our products and services, we have tried, and continue to focus much effort, to build a team of professionals who share our unique values and contribute to our mission to be not only the pioneer but also the foremost provider of multi-national payroll technologies and services.

Through our blend of continuous innovation, customer-centricity and the ongoing development of a highly accomplished team of payroll experts, we are intent on developing an organization and culture that has what it takes to make that happen.

Shared service centers, when staffed and managed appropriately, lend themselves to scalability and cost savings. Put simply, you can exercise economies of scale and do more with less. Were you able to discount time zones and languages as restrictions, the economies could be even greater. However, you need to have excellent methods for keeping shared service center resources current with local knowledge across the countries they support. This is by no means an easy task, but it is a worthwhile operation it if you are able to identify all of the right skillsets in exactly the right place and instill in your employees the values of service and customer-centricity you know differentiates your approach and is demanded by your clients.

The key to a successful shared service center strategy is to develop and maintain excellent education and documentation of current processes and ensuring an incredible attention to detail, a sense of urgency and, most importantly, thorough and persistent professionalism. When new processes are added or the rules change, it is imperative that training be provided and belt and braces over-communication occurs so that shared service staff have the knowledge they require to perform their roles effectively and implement changes immediately and without fuss. Our clients might see a swan serenely gliding across the river, but to the diver below the hard work is apparent.

Conversely, employees and customers are always more comfortable dealing with a local contact, wanting to enjoy a degree of familiarity and personal interaction. This is basic human nature. Familiarity, and the empathy that ensues, goes a long way toward providing customer satisfaction. This approach can, however, be expensive, especially in cases where staff are dedicated, available and waiting to answer questions. The alternative to dedicated resources locally is to double or triple up individuals with multiple roles. For smaller employee populations, this can be very possible, but larger ones will inevitably face slow response times or competition for expertise due to competing priorities.

In the end, you must evaluate your own organization’s needs and cultural tolerances and weigh up the cost with the level of service you demand. Shared service support for payroll can be done well. It can be economically compelling, but to be successful, it requires diligence and professionalism. CloudPay has worked with many companies that take a shared service approach, and we provide the systems and processes that can support their operations, no matter which direction they go. It is possible to pick and mix and run a hybrid environment; after all, there is no one-size-fits-all strategy and only a client can judge the priorities and weigh the balance. However, having a partner that is as flexible as you need and that will escort you on the journey, is a sure fire first step. We are here to help.

ERP systems are designed to automate the flow of data across multiple business functions (think finance, sales, CRM, manufacturing) via an integrated suite of business applications.

Time can be saved by simple processes, such as easy order and invoice matching, global reporting at a click of button (rather than having to manually merge reports from disparate systems) and auditing of the history of transactions. The integration of all major business processes is key to the adoption of ERP, but the most significant drivers were – and remain – streamlining and efficiency. In short, cost and time savings.

Most ERP systems have been implemented as on-premise applications. However, on premise applications are expensive. They call for systems that require temperature and humidity controlled secure computer rooms and dedicated networks as well as a whole load of application management and supervision, maintenance, upgrade management, support and service. SaaS applications, on the other hand, offer far greater ROI as they are centrally managed by the SaaS vendor themselves and require no systems and no premises. They utilize existing networks (the web), facilitate mobility and require no in-house maintenance and only user-centric support. Moreover they are not a capital expenditure, as their costs can be associated with operations.

If a key driver for ERP was cost, the shift to SaaS-based ERP is inevitable and it should be no surprise that the key on-premise ERP advocates, SAP and Oracle included, should now be evolving and promoting a shift to a disruptive, and far more sensible, means of serving software value.

CloudPay is seeing the shift. The pioneer of SaaS payroll management for multinationals, CloudPay integrates to and partners with NetSuite, the leading pure play SaaS ERP vendor, and is capable of integrating to SAP, Oracle and others to extend its capabilities.

ERP systems are not designed to accommodate full global payroll processing (i.e., no ERP can provide coverage for payroll processing in 160 countries around the world). Indeed, beyond a handful of major economies, sometimes limited to just the U.S., the ERP vendors have no capability for payroll processing at all. Payroll processing is highly complex, a domain where specialist experience and expertise is needed, subject knowledge is paramount and the parameters are always evolving as nations and states continue to make regulatory and legislative changes to employment taxation and benefit calculations. There is no one size fits all solution; rather there are as many different calculation algorithms as there are legislatures and there are many more legislatures than there are countries.

Inevitably, ERP vendors partner with the industry leading global payroll specialists and, naturally, this is a ‘cloud’ vendor like CloudPay. They work with us as CloudPay is identified as the pioneer, the industry leader and a visionary organization. CloudPay workflows have been designed to ensure that timely and accurate data is available for both payroll processing and strategic business planning via an extensive analytic al functionality that is increasingly critical in the age of Big Data. CloudPay’s solutions are fully integrated to ERP and HCM systems and are supported by customer service teams who really care about their customers, believing that our clients’ success is our own success.

In my role here at CloudPay, I’m constantly challenged to justify why we need to, and how we should, advance our own technology in the payroll space. This is not an immature industry; indeed, some of the first commercial computer programs were built specifically for solving payroll problems. As I’m often reminded, the problem is not a lack of technology, but rather the fragmentation of it all. Many of the people I speak to and articles I read have a similar message to give: the industry is seeking consistency, consolidation and visibility. These are the problems that CloudPay was built to solve and are the reason that so many of you come to explore and experience what we have to offer. It’s been almost 10 years now since we set out to solve this problem and, while the general message is the same, the expectations of the cloud marketplace have grown in both scope and maturity.

Cloud technologies, when deployed properly, can be put to immensely great use, and if there’s one place that could do with a boost from a great set of technologies, it’s the payroll space. As I look around at the tools and systems that I use every day to do my job, and run my life, it’s clear that the cloud is driving some of the most exciting and transformational changes. As a software developer, there are many great products out there that help me become a better developer, help our team schedule, communicate and share knowledge, and aid us in engaging with the rest of our company and beyond. All of these things, as I would expect, are right at the forefront of what technology is capable of today; there’s nothing better to prove the theory than eating our own dog food, after all. But how many of them have transferred out of our realm and into yours? As I look around I’m disappointed to say “not nearly enough.”

The cloud has given us a perfect excuse to change the way that we work, both as businesses and as people. No-longer should we feel constrained by technology in its traditional forms; as the consumer of a cloud service, you don’t have to worry about owning specific hardware, performing miracles when upgrading between versions or having a special team just to keep a specific behemoth application running 24/7. You’re now free to shake off that responsibility to others and simply consume the rewards. All of these things sound and feel great for any business – the less you have to do yourself, the more you can concentrate on what makes you money. Of course, there are many things that make the switch-over seem foreign and unintuitive – reliability, security and that sense of “not being in control” are just some of the common concerns voiced when anyone starts to look towards embracing the cloud. A number of years ago, I would have agreed, but today the world of cloud services and technologies is significantly more mature and better understood. Cloud is now the norm and as I watch the marketplace, even the largest of the traditional players are acknowledging and attempting to address the expectations of their tech-savvy users.

When I look at the way that purposefully built cloud experiences are constructed, at its heart, the cloud itself isn’t really about shedding responsibility or saving money. It’s key value is in enabling an entirely new, interconnected, collaborative way of doing things we are used to doing every day, whether that be as individuals, businesses or even between software systems. For me, our CloudPay platform is there to do just that – “enable your business to happen in a better way.” It enables you to focus less on the intricacies of day-to-day payroll and more on doing what makes your company money. It enables us to communicate with our clients, our provider and partner networks and even ourselves, to provide the payroll service that you need. It enables our partners, no matter where in the world, to work with us in the same way, consistently, no matter how much geography divides us. It is a great keystone towards delivering a truly global payroll implementation. By choosing to leverage the cloud as a core part of the CloudPay service, we can make the process of paying people smooth, consistent and controlled.

As we drive forward with various initiatives within CloudPay that help us understand how we can deliver a better overall service, we too are thinking about the future of the CloudPay platform and how it needs to evolve to continue to underpin the solutions we offer. Being a global, multi-tenanted application gives us access to an almost limitless community of requirements, opinions and wishes for all manner of payroll processing scenarios, which all need to be carefully balanced and considered into the application’s suite of features and functions. However it also gives us a great opportunity to explore and incorporate new experiences that embrace the collective, collaborative nature of the cloud to enable an evolutionary improvement to the way that payrolls are managed, information is exchanged and individuals interact for all members of the payroll ecosystem. There are a great number of opportunities to improve and enhance the value that CloudPay can offer all of its users, whether those be employers, service providers or technology partners, by embracing the best of what the cloud has to offer. I hope, as we continue to explore and incorporate the very best ideas into our platform in the coming months and years, that you’ll be able to see and experience things that will truly make you excited about doing payroll again.

Where things get more complicated is when governments seek to protect their national interests, adopt unique ways of doing things – and what is more central to the national interest than the levying of taxes?

The upshot is that there are as many different payroll algorithms as there are legislatures and there are far more legislatures than there are countries. Not complex enough? Well, to add to the complexity, the legislatures keep changing the rules, with every budget, with every political shift and in the face of changing economic circumstances. The only constant is change.

CloudPay has the capability to deliver payroll across 160 countries, and our job is to manage change and provide a glitch-free, largely invisible service to multinationals operating across the globe. This we do well. What can be more troubling are the many differences – beyond taxation – that you’ll find in different countries. I know it’s hard to believe that cultural nuances could have a major impact, but our experiences working with payroll teams throughout the world tell us differently. Consider some of the realities you may encounter with your global offices:

Summer Vacations in Europe – While you are working in your office all summer, payroll teams in European locations are likely away on vacation. Understanding that lengthy summer vacations are the norm in many parts of the continent, and working to minimize disruption to payroll during this time, is essential.

Football Season in Latin America – It might not come as a surprise to learn that football is a big deal to many in Latin America. What may surprise you, though, is how it can impact the workplace. As employees might not be completely focused on their jobs if a key match is going on, you may need to give Latin American teams gentle reminders to ensure work is completed in the height of football season.

Chinese New Year in APAC – Across China and other countries in the APAC region, businesses can be closed for anywhere from a couple of days to two weeks to celebrate Chinese New Year. This can be more complicated than you would think as the holiday falls on different dates each year, from late January to the middle of February. Knowing far in advance when the holiday will come can help keep payroll operations on schedule.

The above are real events that influence employee availability and productivity worldwide, and there are many more examples. The best advice is to clearly communicate what your intentions are and when you expect resources to be fully engaged around these times. If you make plans in a vacuum based on anything other than actual cultural availability and tendencies, success may be elusive. Global payroll business can be a challenge – and it’s not just local governments that make us earn our spurs each day!

As organizations increase their rate of international expansion, they seek ways to better capture data and utilize the information derived to gain competitive advantage. These ‘Big Data’ initiatives have lead many to explore the benefits of a centralized global payroll management solution and CloudPay is being evaluated by unprecedented numbers of multinationals. Our strong growth has been fueled by new business, and we are delighted to have added leading brands from the Global 2000 and Fortune 500 to our client list. However, I am even more pleased that we have enjoyed an exceedingly high rate of customer retention, and many of our customers continue to expand and utilize CloudPay to help them do so. Our international client base now spans the entire globe, and CloudPay is being used to manage in more than 100 countries.

High rates of growth require high rates of investment, and in 2012 we secured a significant round of Series B funding. We raised a total of $16 million, giving us the resources to aggressively pursue our ambition to become the standard solution for multi-national payroll management. We have also expanded our offices in Raleigh, London, Singapore, Shanghai and Paris, and opened a new office in Budapest, to ensure close proximity to our global clients. To further improve the high level of service our customers value, we plan to double the current CloudPay employee count by the end of 2013, with the majority of investment being made in transition and implementation consultancy, training and service delivery.

Industry analysts predict that the cloud software market will grow to $67.3 billion by 2016,and the multi-country payroll outsourcing services market is expected to double in size in 2013.With these market trends, and our designation last year as a Major Contender in multi-country payroll outsourcing by Everest Group, CloudPay is well positioned to achieve continued exceptional growth.

I’d personally like to thank our customers, our partners and each and every member of the CloudPay team for helping to make our record growth possible and ensuring that we are well set to sustain this momentum through 2013.