How the right payroll software can enhance the client experience

In an increasingly connected and demanding world, business needs are ever evolving, and accountants are having to find ways to change the way they service their clients to gain a competitive edge.

Payroll is a popular service for accountants for attracting and retaining clients, and diversifying their service offering. However as expectations change, merely transactional services are not enough. By embracing the right technology stack, accountants can ensure they are keeping the client experience top of mind and meeting needs of the client that go far beyond just payroll alone.

Ensure your practice stands out from the competition by adopting these 5 strategies to improve the client experience.

Communicate efficiently and transparently

When managing any project for a client, it’s important to provide as much visibility as possible and to consistently communicate on progress.

Cloud technology enables accountants to give their clients anytime, anywhere access to their data within just a few clicks. When managing payroll for clients, accountants don’t want to be having to email every update; wasting time and bogging down their clients with too much information. By using a cloud platform which allows accountants to restrict user access, they can provide their clients visibility of pay run progress without disruption.

Solve your clients’ problems before they know about them

Often we don’t know we have a problem until we find the solution. This can apply to clients who are seeking payroll services. A business may come to an accounting firm only looking for their payroll to be processed each month, but it is often the case that they’ll have some other operational or workforce processes connected to payroll that could be improved.

By thinking beyond the horizon of payroll, accountants can drive further value for clients with a comprehensive tech stack that can suit multiple client needs, such as rostering, time and attendance, expense management, or other HR functionality. Not only would this streamline processes for the client, but could also help to cut costs by consolidating their systems into one platform with one true source of data.

Enhance the employee experience

When accountants liaise with individual clients, it can be easy to forget about the lifeblood of their client’s business - the employees. 

Processing a pay run requires a lot of different types of employee data - timesheet data, leave taken, expenses, and super and bank details, to name a few. When relied on to send timesheets via email or manually input payroll data, this can be frustrating and burdensome for staff.

This is where accountants can create a point of difference for their practice. By offering Employee Self Service technology such as mobile apps, employee portals, or clock in tools for clients, the time employees spend inputting data can be completely eliminated.

By optimising these processes and improving the employee experience, accountants can help their clients by driving employee morale, productivity and retention. As an added-bonus, accountants will spend less time chasing timesheets, or worrying about inputting the data for payroll when it comes to payday. It’s a win-win.

Leverage data to optimise business costs

As clients become increasingly more demanding, accountants are being expected to shift from transactional work, to more value-adding services. 

Practices are using data and analytics to help businesses uncover valuable insights within their financials, identify process improvements that can increase efficiencies, and better manage risk. This type of service is common within auditing work and tax advisory, but less so in the payroll space. However if accountants optimise their payroll and accounting tech stack, they can gain powerful insights from payroll and employee data to support their clients.

Think of a retail or hospitality business with several venues. Advanced payroll technology can track payroll costs by location, which automatically feeds into a cloud accounting solution. This enables accountants to report and analyse labour costs in real time, to advise their clients on how to better allocate wage costs across their venues.

Tap into the full potential of automation

As technology becomes more advanced, accountants are able to automate more manual tasks, freeing up time to focus on the client experience.

It’s well known that automation is a powerful way to transform daily efficiencies. But there are always more things that can be automated in every process. Whilst automation is used in payroll, manual intervention is often necessary to check data, make approvals, or even click buttons to get to the next stage of the pay run. However, it is possible with some tools to automate the pay run entirely from end-to-end, including pay run calculations, tax deductions, and post-pay run reporting. This type of technology can help to resolve issues in relation to double handling of data and human error, and in the process, frees up more time for practices to spend on value-adding services for their clients. 

Create exceptional client experiences

An excellent client experience leads to stronger relationships, more business referrals, and sustainable business growth. Technology is an enabler for providing these great experiences, but accountants must make sure they’re tapping into the full potential of the technology they provide for their clients, whilst finding new and innovative ways to add value.

Wondering which payroll solutions can support these strategies for your firm? Reach out to the team at KeyPay to learn more and discuss your existing or potential payroll offering.

About KeyPay

KeyPay is a cloud-based workforce management and payroll solution designed specifically for accountants, bookkeepers and payroll service providers. Operating across Australia, New Zealand, UK, Singapore and Malaysia, KeyPay supports over 750 partners to service 200k+ businesses with payroll.

In a single, integrated platform, KeyPay automates the flow of data from employees across rosters, timesheets, leave management, and reporting, providing full client visibility over the pay run at all times.

As an automated payroll solution, KeyPay offers unparalleled time-saving benefits for partners and their clients. By reducing costs, manual processes and pressure on resources, KeyPay partners can streamline operations and offer greater service for their clients.