Targeting Payroll BPO, Part I

Linda Merritt, HRO Research Analyst, NelsonHall

The NelsonHall Targeting Payroll BPO report has recently been released by my colleague, Gary Bragar. Payroll is such a well-accepted mainstay of HR outsourcing that it’s nice to see it still showing steady growth year after year.

Gary regularly produces the payroll market analysis, and profiles leading vendors in this space. Over time you can see how what seems like a basic service has grown, evolved and increased in strategic importance. What has not changed is that buyers are looking for savings by outsourcing payroll. The good news is that payroll BPO delivers: first-time payroll outsourcing can save from 15% to +40% depending on the degree of complexity and variables (like the number of locations, with everything from a single location to more than 100 countries).

The full report includes more on what buyers want from payroll outsourcing and what’s key in vendor selection; including where data needs vary between the mid-market and large market. Here are a few highlights of the report:

Why Outsource Payroll?

Cost saving remains the number-one reason to outsource payroll, and several nuances have been added including:

• Clients want a more variable cost structure and less fixed costs
• Savings now often include not having to refresh client technology (cost avoidance)
• Simplifying payroll after a series of M&As or restructurings reduces cost
• Reduction in payroll losses from ineligible and overpayments.

Centralization and standardization of process and technology has increased in importance, similar to what has been seen in other HRO areas. Where clients used to want customization, many are now seeing the benefits of standardization to improve efficiency, reduce cost, and to increase timely access to accurate payroll data across the enterprise.

With constantly-changing regulations and taxation across multiple jurisdictions, accuracy, compliance and risk management remain core payroll benefits.

Multi-Country Payroll

For MNCs, multi-country payroll remains a sought-after capability. MNCs want one vendor, one contract, and one payroll platform. Also wanted is visibility to aggregated costs and data reporting, in addition to the flexibility and scalability to add or change geographies.

Payroll BPO vendors have responded to the blended needs of clients for cost savings and global coverage by:

• Increasing nearshore and offshore service centers
• Partnering for coverage in some countries
• Offering multiple technology platforms from SaaS to ERPs.

Pricing Pressure

Given the focus on cost reduction, pricing pressure should be no surprise. This is a market with many mature and capable suppliers, which in itself adds competitive pricing pressure and the need for differentiation to focus on value as well as cost.

As an indicator of payroll service provider capabilities to compete, I earlier mentioned the steady year-over-year revenue growth. That growth has been achieved at the same time as the average price per-payslip has fallen significantly over the last three years!

There is so much more in the Targeting Payroll BPO market analysis, look for more highlights in a future blog.

Interested in reading the latest HRO news from NelsonHall? Subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here.

Explore posts in the same categories: Business Process Outsourcing, HR BPO, hr outsourcing, hr outsourcing research, hro, hro research, market analysis, Multi-Country Payroll, nelsonhall, payroll buyers, payroll outsourcing, payroll trends, Targeting Payroll BPO, Targeting Payroll BPO market analysis

Tags: bpo, Business, business process outsourcing, Gary Bragar, multi-country payroll, nelsonhall, Outsourcing, payroll, payroll benefits, payroll BPO, Payroll BPO vendors, payroll platform, payroll standardization, payroll technology, vendor profiles

You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.