- Payce payroll software is meant for market like these because it can take care of a lot of local complexities and nuance which others may find it difficult.
- Payce is a modern technology platform to address some of the concerns of the payroll industry.
- Turnaround work is in progress but it is taking time, CEO says and adds that they expect stronger growth and improved results in coming quarters.
Middle East is the market where we want to be and it needs a lot of user-friendly software platforms, CEO of Ramco Systems said.
“Being one of the fastest growing markets, the Middle East is expected to be a key growth driver for Ramco in future and it is the second home away from home for us,” Sundar Subramanian said, in an interview with TechChannel News, after launching its modern payroll software Payce in the region.
He said that the region has a lot of big oil and gas industries and the employees come from different parts of the world.
“So we have compliance and taxes in two different places but our software is easy to configure it. Payce is meant for markets like these because we can take care of a lot of local complexities and nuance which others may find it difficult. UAE is a big market for us but we have big plans for Saudi Arabia.”
Biggest revenue generators
Ramco’s main focus is on payroll despite offering other suites of software such as ERP, aviation and logistics.
Rohit Mathur, Senior Vice President and Strategic Business Unit for Global Payroll and HR Solutions at Ramco Systems, said that HR and payroll are their biggest revenue generator.
“We just launched Payce in the Middle East. It is a modern technology platform to address some of the concerns of the payroll industry such as user-friendliness, simpler operations for payroll operators, much faster and simpler to implement and makes reporting simpler,” he said.
Organisations seek modern payroll solutions, as part of digital transformation with advanced technology and automation, that are cloud-based, scalable and offer self-service options for employees but payroll management is a complex domain and requires a lot of strategic planning and the right use of solutions to emphasise commitment to compliance, employee satisfaction and operational efficiency.
Bridging the complexities
Modern payroll software not only automates the entire payroll process but also reduces the probability of errors which can lead to employee dissatisfaction and legal issues and Payce is meant to bridge the complexities.
Payce capitalises on advanced technologies such as serverless in-memory, data analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning to help enterprises process payroll faster, effortlessly and accurately while being easy to use.
“Payce will not only streamline payroll operations but also provide organisations with strategic insights,” Subramanian said.
Moreover, he said that there are tremendous amounts of benefits for large enterprises as it flags out anomalies but for small enterprises, it helps in different ways.
Ramco has about 500 customers for its payroll solutions and generates annually around 36 million payslips.
According to Business Research Insights, the global payroll market size was $5435.88 million in 2021 and the market is projected to touch $12201.57 million by 2032 at an annual growth rate of 7.63% during the forecast period.
How AI will impact the industry?
When asked how AI is impacting the industry, Mathur said that while the industry is open to the fact that AI is here to stay and is impacting the payroll as well, all realise how AI will impact their business and help them streamline and optimise their operations much more.
“The only small constraint would be the change management. People are used to working in a certain way. The movement you involve technologies like AI and ML, there is always an adoption/change management that comes into the picture.”
Regarding integration with other software, Subramanian said that it is easy to integrate Payce with other software as there are adapters, certified by the respective software giants, to integrate and it has been done many times in the past.
“Payce offers integration with leading HCM providers offering an end-to-end digital payroll solution that can be deployed on-cloud or leveraged as a managed service,” he said.
At the same time, Mathur said that other big payroll giants are their partners.
“It is different from what we offer. Big players like Workday, Oracle SAP, etc., are more into strategic HR but we are present in the operational HR space. We would rather work with them rather than compete with them,” he said.
Regarding data security and AI compliance, Subramanian said that all the data is in their cloud and nothing goes out.
“AI got popular because of ChatGPT but ChatGPT is in public cloud. So, for us, the query is inside, the data is inside and the answer is also inside our cloud system. Nothing goes outside.”
Mathur said that they are not exposing data to the outside world and at the same time, security is ingrained into their software.
Encouraging developments taking place
Ramco offers payroll services to more than 65 countries on their platform while they have a partnership strategy in place where they partner with other in-country payroll providers and cover more than 150 countries.
“To approach new markets, we already have our feet on the ground. Partnering with Deloitte India and BDO India gives tremendous authenticity to the platform we are providing. Moreover, we can also reach out to our partners’ clients and vice versa. When we go out with partners, it makes our life easier,” Subramanian said.
Moreover, he said that the turnaround work is in progress but it is taking time and as it is a quiet period for the company, “I cannot speak more.”
Net Loss of Ramco Systems reported stood at Rs26.35 crore in the quarter ended December 2023 as against net loss of Rs50.27 crore during the previous quarter ended December 2022.
“A lot of encouraging developments are taking place but what we are seeing on the ground is very positive. We are getting a lot of positive feedback on Payce globally. As our turnaround strategy unfolds, we are expecting stronger growth and improved results in the coming quarters,” the CEO said.
