Should I use a payroll outsourcing service or a payroll software?

Two key questions to be considered when deciding between payroll software or outsourcing service are:

1. What are the pros and cons of using a payroll outsourcing service vis-à-vis a payroll software?

2. Which solution works better for my business?

Organisations can choose to outsource their payroll operations to third-party services that are willing to manage all elements and aspects of payroll processing. The third party ensures all workforce finances are in order and everyone is paid on time. A lot of organisations also utilise payroll software packages that automate the payroll process. This software makes it easier and efficient to calculate wages, accumulate data for any benefits and file tax.

Before considering which solution works better, it is important to first understand the respective merits of both solutions.

Payroll outsourcing service advantages

By outsourcing the time-consuming payroll process, managers can concentrate on other important aspects of their business. Setting up in-house payroll processing can also be a costly affair, so managers working with tight budgets may prefer to save money by outsourcing. Additionally, third-party service providers often assist with other functions. For example, they can help with the annual task of tax filing which can be a tedious and complicated process.

Payroll outsourcing service challenges

By outsourcing, managers are effectively relinquishing control of their data and its accessibility, but not eliminating their organisation’s liability in any way. It thus becomes important to understand how the vendor will process and keep your data secure and confidential, and if a data leak incident were to occur, who the responsibility falls on. Additionally, more often than not, it can be difficult to coordinate with an external party to get an ad-hoc job done and might also result in paycheck delivery delays. And in the case of emergency services required for urgent tasks, extra costs may be rendered.

Payroll software advantages

Besides allaying major security concerns by keeping your business’ data in-house and having full control, correcting or updating information efficiently is one of the biggest advantages of using payroll software. Simply because of the ability to access data from anywhere, at any time. Editing or processing changes can be made instantly, rather than having to wait for a third party to do so. Similarly, accommodating special requests such as custom reports or performing your own payroll functions like one-time deductions become much easier and cost effective.

Organisations using payroll software can also enjoy the benefits of long-term vendor relationships. These benefits can come in the form of automatic software updates, the capacity to tap on the vendor’s expertise when it comes to troubleshooting, alongside the ability to add specific modules customised to the business needs.

Payroll software challenges

Besides requiring significant financial investment, the process of adopting payroll software for your business can take quite some time as well. This is down to the fact that almost all payroll software packages require the organisation’s staff to be trained comprehensively to perform the tasks optimally. Organisations thus need to consider the overall cost and viability of such an exercise.

Furthermore, choosing the right payroll solution for your organisation can be a complex process, as it depends on many factors such as the needs of your business, existing business systems and processes, available budget and staff skills. A careful evaluation of your business needs, available skill set and resources needs to be carried out before making such a commitment.

There is no right or wrong decision when it comes to choosing between payroll outsourcing or in-house payroll processing. It ultimately depends on the needs of your organisation and which option best serves them.

The comprehensive payroll software

Access EasyPay is an award-winning payroll and human resource management software trusted by over 18,000 businesses, including SMEs and MNCs in the region for over 30 years. It is compliant with the latest legislation, caters for every stage of business growth and gives you one-click access to employer and employee details.

Go with the market-leading payroll management system

Business landscapes are constantly changing. HR practitioners today want a system that is not just reliable and efficient. But also compliant to the local regulatory standards, configurable, intuitive to use and able to handle ad-hoc or unexpected requests. Access EasyPay does all that and more.

We are compliant

Compliant and up to date with local legislation in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines and Brunei.

We are IRAS compliant

EasyPay complies with IRAS' technical file format and specifications, to ensure that the format of the files and records generated from the payroll software can be accepted by IRAS.

We ensure security

Payroll data security is crucial. And the multi-layer security protection for EasyPay is upheld to the highest standards to ensure that your payroll data is safe and remains confidential.

We integrate easily

With easy add-ons, EasyPay can be integrated with other employee management modules such as Time Management (EasyTime) or Employee Self Service (ESS) modules.

We are reliable, intuitive and easy to use

EasyPay is an intelligent, intuitive and user-friendly software solution. What’s more, our support team is locally-based, ensuring timely support when needed.

We can be accessed remotely and securely

Process your payroll and HR operations securely, at anytime and anywhere, with the cloud-hosted EasyPay Online.