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Out with spreadsheets, in with the cloud

By Bruce van Wyk, director, PaySpace


Johannesburg, 20 Apr 2017

The world is full of companies that still manage their business processes via spreadsheets. When you consider the advanced technological age we work in, relying on this old-fashioned legacy infrastructure is completely unnecessary and very inefficient, says Bruce van Wyk, director of PaySpace.

Think about how much time you currently spend on administrative tasks. This repetitive 'paperwork' must be done, but it's not exactly business-critical work.

The less time you have to focus on the bigger business strategy, the easier it is for the competition to take market share away from you. To stay abreast of all development and opportunities, you need to stay agile.

Here are five reasons why it's time to move your business to the cloud:

1. Automation

An on-site system requires a dedicated IT team to perform regular manual updates. A cloud-based payroll software system, however, updates itself automatically. The reporting process is now much easier to manage and takes far less time to do. No more manually generated spreadsheets, no more human errors, no more checking and double-checking information. This immediately frees up your resources to work on more complex tasks that are geared towards business growth.

Some payroll systems can even go so far as to automatically update the latest legislative information for each country your company operates in. Regardless of your actual business size, this built-in functionality will help maintain your multinational operations or enable your future expansion plans.

2. Data stays safe

Information saved in spreadsheets on old legacy servers needs to be backed up regularly. This takes a lot of time and, in the process, systems can crash, people can make mistakes and data can get lost.

Any loss of valuable information for whatever reason can put your business and reputation at risk. If your company and customer data is stored on the cloud, though, no backups are necessary. As soon as it's uploaded, all information is stored safely in real-time.

3. Easy access

If you need to access information via legacy software, you invariably have to be on-site to do so. Or, if you're travelling for work and don't have the document you need with you, you have to ask a colleague to e-mail it to you, which isn't very secure.

With cloud-based software, all data is correct and present at all times, and is easily accessible for all authorised employees. They can access whatever information they need at anytime, from anywhere in the world and from any device.

As a payroll or HR manager, this means that you can oversee your team's training schedules, leave requests and payslips, regardless of your actual location. You can also access your staff's workflow statuses and review their productivity and progress. Essentially, you have much more insight into the entire organisation.

4. Seamless integration

Cloud-based software systems are generally able to integrate easily with other programs based on the cloud. In practical terms, this means, for example, you can integrate your payroll system with your accounting software and reduce the amount of time your team spends manually updating account numbers and financial data. It also removes the room for human error.

ERP software can also integrate with your cloud-based payroll software. This will help you save more time by eradicating any risk of duplicate work.

5. Reporting made easy

Pulling information from a spreadsheet to generate a report takes more time than you'd ideally like to spend on such a tedious task. The more laborious the admin, the easier it is for mistakes to happen. With analytical software applied to your cloud-based payroll system, you can pull real-time data from any field and get immediate results. This access to consistently correct results, help you produce and share legally required reports as and when necessary. This helps you stay legislatively compliant at all times.

Companies stuck using outdated legacy systems lack the necessary business agility to keep up with opportunities in the market. Move your business to the cloud and your team will be able to focus on company growth rather than administration. You'll stay legislatively compliant in whatever country you operate in and reap the rewards of having more time to do better business.

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