Phil Bernie, co-founder of KeyPay, please tell us a bit about yourself
I co-founded KeyPay, a cloud-based payroll and workforce management tool in Australia in 2012 and set up shop in the UK in 2018. KeyPay now serves over 75,000 Australian businesses and processes over $17 billion a year in employee payments. I head up the UK developer team and focus on transforming bureau businesses through payroll automation and simplification
KeyPay started out in Australia and has now come to the UK. What does KeyPay do?
We are different to most payroll software companies. KeyPay is all about simplifying the complex world of payroll. We don’t just speak about the cloud, we live and breathe it.
We launched KeyPay with a focus on simplifying payroll by building a system that took all the spreadsheets, convoluted processes and disconnected systems and combined them in a single, automated platform in the cloud. In the UK, we’ve brought automation, compliance and technology to bureau businesses.
Why did you decide to expand to the UK?
The UK, like Australia, has one of the most complicated payroll processes in the world. 60% of UK businesses outsource their payroll, yet there were no platforms in the market that catered specifically to bureau businesses and their needs. Instead, payroll managers would have to use separate systems for expenses, leave management, timesheets etc. We wanted to change the way bureaux worked by developing an all-in-one solution and remove any manual data entry.
What are the biggest challenges you have faced with international expansion?
The biggest challenges we’ve faced were learning about an entirely new set of pain points and frustrations experienced by payroll managers. Each country is unique, so it was interesting seeing new challenges and ensuring we built a product that would alleviate these.
What would you say are the biggest pain points for payroll managers and bureaux in the UK today?
As mentioned before, multiple systems for timesheets, rota management and payroll cause extra work with the payroll processor and also adds significant costs for managing each separate system. Another challenge is complying with regulations surrounding RTI, HMRC and pension auto-enrolment communications.
The payroll process is complicated across several systems and it’s difficult to keep track of what has been done and when. And now there’s GDPR - the process of using email for communicating with clients may no longer secure enough to meet regulations, and payroll software has to adapt to keep up. Never mind the fact that bureaux spend unnecessary time on email to clients for payslips and manually changing details using outdated software.
How does KeyPay tackle these problems?
KeyPay is the only cloud-based payroll software in the UK that is specifically designed for the modern payroll bureau. Our online cloud-based system allows bureaux to access information anywhere, anytime and have full visibility of the pay-run.
With rota management, time and attendance, and workforce management apps all-in-one, there’s no need to switch between systems, meaning the need for manually checking data and errors are eliminated.
KeyPay’s employee self service functionality empowers employees to manage their own data through an employee portal or mobile app that removes all email communication, ensuring GDPR compliance and saving unnecessary work for bureaux. We automate all compliance meaning peace of mind and no manual work for payroll processors. We just make payroll easy.
Phil Bernie, co-founder of KeyPay, please tell us a bit about yourself
I co-founded KeyPay, a cloud-based payroll and workforce management tool in Australia in 2012 and set up shop in the UK in 2018. KeyPay now serves over 75,000 Australian businesses and processes over $17 billion a year in employee payments. I head up the UK developer team and focus on transforming bureau businesses through payroll automation and simplification
KeyPay started out in Australia and has now come to the UK. What does KeyPay do?
We are different to most payroll software companies. KeyPay is all about simplifying the complex world of payroll. We don’t just speak about the cloud, we live and breathe it.
We launched KeyPay with a focus on simplifying payroll by building a system that took all the spreadsheets, convoluted processes and disconnected systems and combined them in a single, automated platform in the cloud. In the UK, we’ve brought automation, compliance and technology to bureau businesses.
Why did you decide to expand to the UK?
The UK, like Australia, has one of the most complicated payroll processes in the world. 60% of UK businesses outsource their payroll, yet there were no platforms in the market that catered specifically to bureau businesses and their needs. Instead, payroll managers would have to use separate systems for expenses, leave management, timesheets etc. We wanted to change the way bureaux worked by developing an all-in-one solution and remove any manual data entry.
What are the biggest challenges you have faced with international expansion?
The biggest challenges we’ve faced were learning about an entirely new set of pain points and frustrations experienced by payroll managers. Each country is unique, so it was interesting seeing new challenges and ensuring we built a product that would alleviate these.
What would you say are the biggest pain points for payroll managers and bureaux in the UK today?
As mentioned before, multiple systems for timesheets, rota management and payroll cause extra work with the payroll processor and also adds significant costs for managing each separate system. Another challenge is complying with regulations surrounding RTI, HMRC and pension auto-enrolment communications.
The payroll process is complicated across several systems and it’s difficult to keep track of what has been done and when. And now there’s GDPR - the process of using email for communicating with clients may no longer secure enough to meet regulations, and payroll software has to adapt to keep up. Never mind the fact that bureaux spend unnecessary time on email to clients for payslips and manually changing details using outdated software.
How does KeyPay tackle these problems?
KeyPay is the only cloud-based payroll software in the UK that is specifically designed for the modern payroll bureau. Our online cloud-based system allows bureaux to access information anywhere, anytime and have full visibility of the pay-run.
With rota management, time and attendance, and workforce management apps all-in-one, there’s no need to switch between systems, meaning the need for manually checking data and errors are eliminated.
KeyPay’s employee self service functionality empowers employees to manage their own data through an employee portal or mobile app that removes all email communication, ensuring GDPR compliance and saving unnecessary work for bureaux. We automate all compliance meaning peace of mind and no manual work for payroll processors. We just make payroll easy.
