PayPartners: BACS-approved Bureau futureproofs payroll
When it comes to processing payroll, Stephen Moreton has seen it all.
The business manager at PayPartners, a Greater Manchester-based payroll management service, has worked in the profession since 1988.
“Back then payroll was a huge, huge operation – it took so much time. Every week the workers would line up behind the foreman with their clock card. I would take their card, stamp it as paid, then hand over a pay packet containing a wad of cash – which they needed to check there and then.” Stephen Moreton, Business Manager
Digital transformation in PayPartners payroll
A lot has changed in the past 30 years to modernise the Payroll function. Today, companies like PayPartners help employers securely pay their staff on time. As a Bacs Approved Bureau, PayPartners handle payroll transactions on behalf of hundreds of SMEs, including a number of care providers.
But these employers can have differing requirements, which aren’t standardized across the sector. With the typical SME only employing one or two finance staff at a time, its no small undertaking for PayPartners to process payroll for 300 of these clients, especially on a 4 week payroll.
In the past, this created a laborious workload for the team, but as technology has advanced, the sensible decision is now to automate payment file processing as much as possible.
PayPartners answer is AccessPay
In 2019, PayPartners decided to invest in a software solution to help streamline their client’s payroll processing further. Instead of running one Bacs file per client, they needed the multi-file functionality required to process several clients on the same payment run, which led them to AccessPay.
Our cloud-based BACS-approved Bureau solution helps BABs like PayPartners deliver a more effective service to their clients through time-saving automation and establishing secure payment processes.
“In order to migrate our Bacs clients we needed a software product which could take a multi-file. It was one of the final pieces of the jigsaw for us. We really liked the ease-of-use of this product from AccessPay, so we decided to add all our SME clients onto the platform.” Stephen Moreton, Business Manager
A quick fix… for the long-haul
AccessPay is able to deliver rapid speed to value for companies looking to transform their processing capabilities without missing a payroll deadline. And this is exactly what we did for PayPartners.
“It was very quick because we needed a fast fix on this. For years we’d been supporting the inefficiencies of our old software product – with external spreadsheets, workbooks and processes that were taking too long.” Stephen Moreton, Business Manager
We were able to implement an integrated Bacs processing service for PayPartners in under 12 weeks. For Stephen and his team, it meant the days of manually patching up their previous software provider’s shortcomings were long gone.
“PayPartners needed a Bacs Bureau platform that could reliably read their client data and further enhance their payment processes. With AccessPay’s file-agnostic approach, PayPartners knew they were in safe hands. Our Bacs Approved Bureau software solution is used by global accountancy firms, international audit, tax and advisory businesses as well as HCM software providers amongst others. These clients benefit from saving vast amounts of time with automation, as well as increasing security around the payments process with the latest multi-factor authentication technology.” Ryan Harris, Corporate Account Manager at AccessPay
Giving the gift of time
PayPartners now reap the benefits of a much more efficient workflow to run the core function of their business.
“Using AccessPay means that we come back the following morning and all the payrolls are complete, all the reports are ready”
Not only can they now focus on creating more business thanks to their newly streamlined payments process, but industry experts like Stephen are able to put their knowledge to better use.
Although after 30+ years in payroll he’s keen to stress the longevity of the role. The payroll person is never going away and there will always be a necessity towards providing a human touch when it comes to dealing with clients. Who depends on their staff getting paid on time every time.
It’s that same human touch that first attracted PayPartners to AccessPay. While we’re an internationally-backed fintech company with clients across the globe, our North West roots in Manchester played a big part in their decision-making.
“I wanted to keep it local and work with a dynamic company who could still pop down and see us on the tram.”