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What Cloud Innovation Means For Payroll

26th Oct 2020
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Cloud computing has laid the groundwork for and facilitated technological innovations that have utterly transformed how we do everything from booking a taxi to selling products to booking holidays. However, it can baffle people who don’t have a thorough understanding of the internet and how the cloud works. In the simplest possible terms, “the cloud” is a metaphor for the internet and “cloud computing” refers to storing data, creating programs and managing tasks in the cloud.  

When most people think of the cloud, they think of storage. This is one of the most common and widely used applications of cloud computing. It has major security benefits, and is typically more convenient and accessible than traditional data storage methods. But the cloud can do so much more than store information.  

How Does It Apply To Payroll? 

Payroll is a great example of this innovation in practice. Long gone are the days when you had to pull out employee files from a dusty old filing cabinet in order to process their payroll, or print off payslips and hand them out to employees every pay period. Now, new cloud innovations offer significant benefits for both employers and payroll bureaus.  

Cloud innovations are developing all the time and payroll bureaus with an eye for modernisation are constantly finding new ways to use these innovations in their work. However, that doesn’t mean that the old-school ways are dead and gone. You may find that some or many of your clients are hesitant when it comes to trying new, cloud-based, methods, favouring what they know and understand over what they don’t.  

If so, you need to find ways to convince these clients that embracing cloud innovation in payroll is not only beneficial for you, the bureau, but also carries significant benefits for them, their employees and their business.  

What Are The Benefits For Your Clients 

BrightPay Connect is where the real benefits for your clients come into play. Connect is an add-on to the payroll software that offers a wide range of additional features for both payroll and human resources. Here’s some more specific information about these features.  

Employee Self-Service App 

BrightPay Connect comes with a free employee self-service app. The app can be downloaded onto any smartphone or tablet as it’s iOS and Android compatible. Your client’s employees will love the app because it allows them to: 

  • Receive payslips directly to their smartphone and download them if needed 
  • View all payslips historically in a payslip archive
  • Use the employee calendar which tells them any leave they have booked 
  • View their annual leave balance remaining and when it needs to be used by 
  • Request leave directly from their smartphone or tablet 
  • View and download documents that have been sent to them from their line manager or employer
  • View their personal data and request changes such as replacing an old phone number with a new one 

Your clients will also be excited to know that through the employee app, they can send out documents either to individuals, departments or everyone in the business. Those documents might include anything from next week’s shift roster to an updated company policy or handbook. Your clients will also be able to see who has opened and read each of these documents via a time-stamped log.  

Employer Payroll Dashboard  

Another major advantage of BrightPay Connect for employers is that they will have their own employer payroll dashboard which they can access anywhere. This dashboard acts as a central hub for them. It includes: 

  • The company calendar which is automatically updated any time a leave request is approved and also says who approved that request and when 
  • All payroll reports that have been created by your bureau in the payroll software 
  • All employee payslips and payroll documents 
  • Any outstanding amounts due to HMRC including automated reminder emails of the next payment date 
  • All employee contact information 
  • The ability to send payroll data to the bureau through a secure portal (more on this below) 

In short, the employer dashboard on BrightPay Connect is a one stop shop for everything your clients will need to know in relation to the payroll. 

Payroll Entry and Approval  

Finally, your clients will love the “payroll entry and approval” feature on BrightPay Connect. This feature allows you, the bureau, to send a draft version of the current payroll to your client before finalising it. Once sent, the client will receive an instant notification on their employer dashboard.  

From here, the client can review the draft version of the payroll and make the necessary changes. They can add notes for each employee (if, for example, one employee was off-sick and is due less pay than usual), they can add new employees that started working for them, and they can either approve or reject the payroll.  

What this means for your clients is that the payroll, while being run and managed by you, is still something that they have access to, giving them a sense of transparency and control. BrightPay Connect has a full audit trail which also protects you from potential issues down the line if the finalised payroll is incorrect.  

Book Your Free Payroll Demo 

Book a free BrightPay Connect demo and learn more about this cutting-edge add-on. Our team of Connect experts will be happy to show you the ropes, address any concerns you have, and even help you to sell it to your clients as the value-added service it is.  

BP

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