All organisations like to get something for free, particularly when allocating budget to a new system. Our latest blog from Bond Payroll Services looks at why you should avoid those companies offering free implementation.
Signed, sealed and ready to deliver
After months of meetings and researching payroll providers you have finally found an organisation that you want to work with. A price has been agreed and you feel that they have given you a good deal – much improved by the fact that they have offered free implementation, something which really ramped up the costs of the competitors that you researched. The problem is, is anything really for free?
The implementation process is critical to your payroll department being able to work efficiently and understand exactly how the payroll process will work. If done badly the road ahead could be fraught with problems for your organisation. A question to ask yourself is, ‘if this is free, will it be done properly?’ Surely, the last thing you need is for the implementation to mess up!
Of course, providers of all kinds of software always to try to outdo competitors by under cutting price and offering various bolt-ons for free. But in our experience, in the background lurks hidden charges – a higher monthly fee, costly upgrades, the odd additional cost here and there – suddenly what was once a ‘good deal’ has become much more expensive than the other provider charging a small fee for implementation.
What do I look for?
Changing any provider can be difficult – knowing what you need and what to look for are two different things! It is critical to get a provider who understands your requirements, knows your business area and can work as an extension of your organisation, and can provide excellent support and training for your staff.
Ask the questions – you are more than within your rights to ask to see client testimonials; take part in a site visit to another one of the provider’s customers and see the system in use; and ask for feedback face-to-face. Investing time, effort and money into a system that may fall over six months down the road is worthy of getting true feedback!
Does the provider have ISO accreditation? This should come as standard and is a pretty important accreditation to have, demonstrating that the organisation is committed to professional accreditation and development.
Before rolling out the system fully, it is important that you test thoroughly all aspects of the new system: make sure that the implementation has been done properly, and be certain that all of the data contained is accurate and therefore payroll will run with success. Through testing the software you can make sure that any issues which may arise can be fixed before the roll-out and staff are also happy that they are confident in using the system.
Don’t cut corners
The payroll system is one of the key systems that your business will have – for the sake of a little extra spend it is worth it to ensure that implementation is undertaken correctly and you have a system that will work efficiently and well in the future.
