> Staffology wasn't necessarily designed with bureaus in mind, although I'm sure Duane would disagree.
To some extent.
It certainly wasn't originally designed for bureaus, but an extensive amount of work has been done to build some very nice bureau-specic features. This was done becuase IRIS wanted to use it as their in-house solution for their very large Managed Payroll (ie: bureau). This is now the case - it powers thier in-house bureaus.
I'd be very surprised to see it binned off as I've seen first-hand the significant investment being put in to it.
The issue is Iris takeover and its poor reputation on pricing. After all, Iris is owned by venture capitalists.
What is your view on Iris pricing going forward? You have not addressed this key issue in your comment.
You understandably sold out to make a buck.
Hi, check my history - I've really no need to sell out to make a buck : )
I've had multiple multi-million pound exists in the past. Anything additional is what the wealth managers call "excess cash".
I've written about why I sold to IRIS - in short, I'd rather build this in that structure than as a startup. It's not PR fluff, again - check my history - I don't do PR fluff.
IRIS is owned by PE, not VC. There is a subtle difference - but as a customer I'd rather be tied in with a PE backed business (sustainable growth) than a VC backed one (Moonshot)
My personal views on pricing are irrelevant. I don't control that now. I can tell you that there's no plan in IRIS to adjust the Staffology pricing.
I know I'm a bit biased, but there really isn't anything else out there in the cloud that comes anywhere close to Staffology in terms of functionality and being built in a modern fashion with a nice UI.
I built it because the older cloud products that had been around since my KashFlow days hasn't innovated at all and the desktop vendors just weren't making any real moves to the cloud.
Interesting to hear the comments on pricing - some saying it's affordable, others that it's expensive, others that its very cheap. To me that confirms it's about right.
It's *always* going to be more expensive than desktop software.
Back then KashFlow, Xero and FreeAgent were all deemed as "expensive compared to the one-off cost of Sage 50". There were stop-gaps and halfway houses of "cloud-hosted" stuff (remember the original Sage Live?) before the industry finally came around
Who's putting in desktop accounting software these days?
As I mentioned above, Time and Attendance systems and HR systems ca automatically push data to us. The emphasis here is on _automatic_. Somewhere else on this thread someone commented on "a single click" to send data to the payroll software. That's one click too many as far as I am concerned.
I'm sure that in time BP will have their own full cloud offering. Their Connect stuff is a huge step in that direction.
When all's said and done, I guess all that matters is that you're using the system that works best for you right now. There are lots of people using Xero now that in 2009 wouldn't have seen any reason to move from Sage 50.
I think you're mixing up "API" and "Integrations".
An API (Application Programming Interface) is an interface for other software to talk to the system.
Similar to a UI (User Interface) that you as a user makes use for to interact with the system.
So when you say BP have *APIs* with pension providers and accounting software, you actually mean they have *integrations* with pension providers and accounging software. These are typically facilitated by BP making use of the pension/accounting providers API.
"Proper" cloud applications can surface an API so other systems can interact with them. For example, time an attendance systems can push data into a payroll system that has an API. For a desktop system this isn't possible.
I think Brightpay is far and away the best desktop payroll. But they didn't seem to be moving to the cloud very quickly.
So I developed staffology.co.uk. Originally taking a lot of inspiration from the Brightpay approach but adding lots more over the past couple of years. Especially around automation, collaboration and integrations.
I don't think there is a way it has to be done. So purely down to your own preference.
I'd argue it would make sense to have it as two seperate lines on the assumption that you'd want it posted to seperate codes when the payroll software speaks to your accounting software and/or for calculating the claim
Brightpay is a great system and I'm not embarrassed to say we took a fair amount of inspiration from their desktop product when building Staffology.
As well as calculating and reporting pension deductions at no extra cost there are a load of other automation features (autopilot payroll, accounting integration, automatic processing of P6/P9/SL1 etc) that will save you a lot of time.
My answers
> Staffology wasn't necessarily designed with bureaus in mind, although I'm sure Duane would disagree.
To some extent.
It certainly wasn't originally designed for bureaus, but an extensive amount of work has been done to build some very nice bureau-specic features. This was done becuase IRIS wanted to use it as their in-house solution for their very large Managed Payroll (ie: bureau). This is now the case - it powers thier in-house bureaus.
I'd be very surprised to see it binned off as I've seen first-hand the significant investment being put in to it.
Hi, check my history - I've really no need to sell out to make a buck : )
I've had multiple multi-million pound exists in the past. Anything additional is what the wealth managers call "excess cash".
I've written about why I sold to IRIS - in short, I'd rather build this in that structure than as a startup. It's not PR fluff, again - check my history - I don't do PR fluff.
IRIS is owned by PE, not VC. There is a subtle difference - but as a customer I'd rather be tied in with a PE backed business (sustainable growth) than a VC backed one (Moonshot)
My personal views on pricing are irrelevant. I don't control that now. I can tell you that there's no plan in IRIS to adjust the Staffology pricing.
I know I'm a bit biased, but there really isn't anything else out there in the cloud that comes anywhere close to Staffology in terms of functionality and being built in a modern fashion with a nice UI.
I built it because the older cloud products that had been around since my KashFlow days hasn't innovated at all and the desktop vendors just weren't making any real moves to the cloud.
Interesting to hear the comments on pricing - some saying it's affordable, others that it's expensive, others that its very cheap. To me that confirms it's about right.
It's *always* going to be more expensive than desktop software.
As I wrote when I launched Staffology - the payroll market now is very similar to accounting software 10 years ago. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/accounting-software-2007-payroll-2019-dua...
Back then KashFlow, Xero and FreeAgent were all deemed as "expensive compared to the one-off cost of Sage 50". There were stop-gaps and halfway houses of "cloud-hosted" stuff (remember the original Sage Live?) before the industry finally came around
Who's putting in desktop accounting software these days?
People were askign the same question years back with regards to accounting software. I wrote about it here
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6517022048655548416
There are lots of reasons for having the API.
As I mentioned above, Time and Attendance systems and HR systems ca automatically push data to us. The emphasis here is on _automatic_. Somewhere else on this thread someone commented on "a single click" to send data to the payroll software. That's one click too many as far as I am concerned.
A proper web-based application is always on. You can't have features like these in a desktop product: https://www.staffology.co.uk/features/automation
I'm sure that in time BP will have their own full cloud offering. Their Connect stuff is a huge step in that direction.
When all's said and done, I guess all that matters is that you're using the system that works best for you right now. There are lots of people using Xero now that in 2009 wouldn't have seen any reason to move from Sage 50.
These are all great examples of BP consuming an API that the other providers make available.
Not BP making an API available themselves. Which is the point being made.
I think you're mixing up "API" and "Integrations".
An API (Application Programming Interface) is an interface for other software to talk to the system.
Similar to a UI (User Interface) that you as a user makes use for to interact with the system.
So when you say BP have *APIs* with pension providers and accounting software, you actually mean they have *integrations* with pension providers and accounging software. These are typically facilitated by BP making use of the pension/accounting providers API.
"Proper" cloud applications can surface an API so other systems can interact with them. For example, time an attendance systems can push data into a payroll system that has an API. For a desktop system this isn't possible.
I hope that helps clarify the teminology!
I think Brightpay is far and away the best desktop payroll. But they didn't seem to be moving to the cloud very quickly.
So I developed staffology.co.uk. Originally taking a lot of inspiration from the Brightpay approach but adding lots more over the past couple of years. Especially around automation, collaboration and integrations.
We're now processing payroll for thousands of companies. By all means look at a demo company: https://www.staffology.co.uk/get-a-demo
By way of some background, I founded KashFlow years before Xero even existed. It was the first cloud-based accounting software.
I can't comment on or take any responsibility for what KashFlow is now, I've not been involved there for 7 years.
Take a look at Staffology if you get a chance. I'm sure you'll like what you see.
I don't think there is a way it has to be done. So purely down to your own preference.
I'd argue it would make sense to have it as two seperate lines on the assumption that you'd want it posted to seperate codes when the payroll software speaks to your accounting software and/or for calculating the claim
Based on the replies, I suspect there's not an opportunity here then.
Just because we can doesn't mean we should!
Thanks for the responses.
If you want to consider a cloud-based system, take a look at https://www.staffology.co.uk
Brightpay is a great system and I'm not embarrassed to say we took a fair amount of inspiration from their desktop product when building Staffology.
As well as calculating and reporting pension deductions at no extra cost there are a load of other automation features (autopilot payroll, accounting integration, automatic processing of P6/P9/SL1 etc) that will save you a lot of time.