Interest levels among SME businesses in the Software as a Service (SaaS) model for payroll applications is rising but some management concerns are holding back a potentially high conversion rate.
“I have no doubt in my mind that SaaS presents opportunities for us to add further value to our customers. The demand for SaaS applications and service-based software is growing but adoption is likely to be gradual,” says Softline Pastel Payroll managing director Grant Lloyd.
“Different customers have different needs and the needs vary from sector to sector so it is likely that a 'hybrid' co-existent approach may be adopted towards business software and services via integration between desktop applications and SaaS.”
Lloyd adds that while SaaS can bring cost savings, scalability, simplification and streamlined administration it has to be considered that customers have already made significant investments in conventional software. “So our approach is to offer choices and enhance or supplement solutions rather than replace them in their entirety.”
Opportunities lie in integration, collaboration, compliance and mobility, typically the integration of desktop software with supplementary business services delivered as SaaS applications, greater sharing of information with partners and customers, ensuring customer compliance and enhancing the exchange of information between offices and their mobile or distributed workforces.
Lloyd adds that while SaaS has many potential benefits such as reduced upfront capital expenditure, reduced IT resource and infrastructure management, any where any time availability, rapid deployment and automatic updating and subscription pricing, there are also adoption barriers.
“A downside could be giving control of critical business systems and data to a third party.
There could also be issues around vendor dependency, control, data ownership, access and security. The long term total cost of ownership, including licence or subscription costs, training, customisation and business disruption costs needs to be established.”
Other areas for caution include the extent of the real customisation of current SaaS applications and it should be borne in mind that there are invariably costs attached to writing off investments in existing business software systems.
“Our approach has always been to provide the software and services our customers need to minimise their problems and operate successfully,” says Lloyd. “Inherent in this is an objective to deliver the software and services they require via the technology best suited to their business needs and circumstances. If the best solution is a SaaS solution instead of a desktop solution, then we offer the applicable software solution.”
He adds that payroll outsourcing is gathering momentum and SaaS applications are ideal for this. Costs are curtailed by streamlining and simplifying the processes. There is great potential for providing payroll solutions via SaaS because the application is well suited to Internet deployment, particularly in companies that have head office and decentralised environments. “It is easy for sales representatives to submit travel reimbursement applications or leave applications online without delaying the payroll process, from anywhere in the world.”
An example is that from 1 March 2010 taxpayers claiming a deduction for business travel must keep, and produce on request, a detailed logbook. An employee self-service (ESS) module within the Pastel Payroll SaaS offering contains an electronic logbook facility that fully records business travel claims for staff and makes it easy for them to submit to SARS at the end of the tax year in a format that meets SARS requirements.
Share
Softline Pastel Payroll
Softline Pastel Payroll, a member of the Softline group, is the leading developer of payroll and HR software solutions and services in South Africa. Skills, experience and innovation in this field accumulated over more than 20 years in business, confirm Pastel Payroll's leading position in the SME market. Pastel Payroll provides a wide range of software solutions from start-up to medium as well as large sized enterprises. Easy-to-use, feature-rich and flexible payroll and HR software ensures businesses are kept up-to-date and fully compliant with changing legislative requirements -- taking them beyond payroll.
Editorial contacts