CloudPay is proud of leading the charge in payroll innovation and driving a tech and efficiency-led future for the profession. It’s a key reason why we’re partners with the Global Payroll Association, which acts as a central hub for payroll departments with advice, training, country-specific resources and networking opportunities. As part of this collaboration, CloudPay has sponsored the Global Payroll Awards every year and has picked up a number of GPA awards for our own work.

Recently, Roland Folz, CloudPay’s CEO, met up with his counterpart at the GPA, Melanie Pizzey, in a special interview exploring CloudPay innovation, and the future of both CloudPay and payroll more widely. Roland’s three decades of experience in FinTech and finance, alongside a background in automotive and telecoms, gives him valuable insights into the increasing role tech has to play for payroll teams all over the world.

The 3 A’s of payroll technology

Roland joined CloudPay in 2023 and one of his initial observations was the lack of standardized payroll data definitions across the industry. This has led to fragmentation from one country to another, not only in how payroll is delivered, but in the different ways of working and the different interfaces that are used.

In order to reduce the risk of delays and inaccuracies that this can generate, Roland has emphasized the importance of leveraging the “three A’s” in CloudPay’s ongoing strategy: “We’re in the field of processing data efficiently,” he says. “So CloudPay is continuing to innovate in payroll technology, including integrating AI, enhancing automation and developing seamless API solutions:”

Artificial Intelligence: as Roland describes it: “AI can be helpful in automating data validation, reducing transformation errors and streamlining the end-to-end payroll cycle.” AI technology will also be useful in developing stronger data-vetting tools, and in helping to enhance data analytics tools in order to improve customer outcomes, quality and efficiency.

Advanced API solutions: increasing global connectivity via the latest API technology can ease the process of integrating payroll and payments within Human Capital Management (HCM) systems. CloudPay is also enhancing its real-time API interfaces to work alongside AI data vetting tools, supporting wider HCM integration and stronger real-time transparency.

Automation: both AI and APIs will work alongside automation technology to further simplify payroll functions, reduce many time-consuming and human error-prone manual tasks, and support enhanced phone service capabilities and flexible integration.

The future of payroll

Advancements in automation and AI will be the driving force behind payroll management in the months and years ahead – and will make payroll more fun for those working in it at the same time.

“Payroll can evolve into a business advantage – and not all CEO’s understand this,” Roland explains. “They are only focused on their own customers, products and value proposition, so they often forget the opportunity within their own employees.” 

When payroll is more flexible, more engaging and better performing, it moves beyond being an operational necessity and becomes an enabler of employee experience, financial planning, and talent retention and acquisition. And for organizations who don’t have the resources or in-house skill sets to achieve that alone, this is where working with a third-party payroll partner will be instrumental.

Roland says: “Particularly for multinational business, there is significant value-add with a leading global payroll provider, not just from a compliance perspective, but also by revealing insights into broader business issues. For example, if we identify general ledger discrepancies during the payroll process and the root causes lay outside of payroll, uncovering these compliance issues provides security, improves quality, and drives better decision making across the business.”

The future of CloudPay 

Looking at CloudPay more specifically, we’re striving to be at the forefront of new standards in transparency, compliance, operational efficiency, automation and innovation – which as Roland highlights, means these are exciting times for us.

“The strength of our 280 customer relationships, where CloudPay is managing the multi-national payroll responsibility across more than 130 countries, is amazing,” he says. “In the past 4 years CloudPay has invested over $100m to further strengthen our global payroll and payments products, which resulted in solid growth and a very robust franchise. From an operational perspective, we’ve been upgrading and fine-tuning our comprehensive service offering.”

This investment and focus on technology will continue into the future, with a range of developments that will optimize outcomes for employee satisfaction, payroll teams and organizations alike. We will be:

• Enhancing our technology stack with AI, streamlined data entry and management and automation of repetitive tasks, helping to improve quality, productivity and the payroll experience
• Further improving our products and services to better serve existing customers, with a best-in-class global payroll and payment solution that’s ideal for a wider range of businesses
• Most importantly, delivering opportunities to grow and develop our employees. As Roland says: “Being part of a winning team is always fun and is the foundation for an exciting workplace, where employees can thrive and contribute to the company’s continued success.”
  
  

People make payroll

CloudPay is not only high-tech, we are also high-touch. This means that these ‘three A’s’ will not only complement personalized service, but will be supported by human expertise and know-how that payroll professionals can connect with. At a time when technology is shaping payroll’s future more than ever before, the value of people should never be underestimated.