Why payrolls are going Cloud

How can cloud based solutions attract and improve staff retention, improve business output, encourage better resource usage and at the same time increase the bottom line? WARREN VAN WYK, Director of PaySpace, answers these questions.

Five years ago, industry leaders questioned whether payroll, accounting or any other business software service could be delivered in the Cloud. Questions raised at the time were around security and efficacy benefits. Based on an article by Louis Columbus on Forbes.com however, PwC is predicting that by 2016, investment in SaaS (Software as a Service) solutions will more than double to around the $78B while traditional HCM (Human Capital Management) systems will decline over 30% to less than $15B. So what does a Cloud based HCM solution look like vs the traditional HCM model?

Let’s first take a look at what an effective HCM business solution can do – among other things, it needs to run your monthly Payroll and Human Capital Management, including Leave Applications, Succession and Talent Planning, Training and Skills Management, Business Process Workflow and Performance Management. The resource efforts, time and financial support required to manage this function without the correct solutions in place, are often the reason a business may not run efficiently.

Delivering a HCM solution that offers all of these features and more is one thing; being able to deliver this in a real time, cloud based, operationally efficient solution, is genius and will become the status quo of the future.

As the education around Cloud technology continues to revolutionise, it is important to understand some key differences between Cloud and Web Enabled HCM solutions.