Panasonic
Integrated HR and payroll - Panasonic is one of the first customers to take delivery of NorthgateArinso’s latest integrated HR and payroll solutions platform, along with deciding to outsource payroll to NorthgateArinso.
ResourceLink Aurora provides HR and payroll ... just as Panasonic like it
Organisation description:
Panasonic UK was established in 1972 and has since become a leading supplier of consumer and business related electronics products. The company currently employs more than 500 staff and has an annual turnover in excess of £900m.
Challenge:
The HR management at Panasonic were eager to find a route to improved efficiency in HR and payroll processing, along with access to more extensive management information on a number of HR metrics. They also wanted to achieve cost savings in HR and payroll delivery through sourcing a solution that would not require investment in and reliance on IT infrastructure.
Solution:
Panasonic have enjoyed a relationship with NorthgateArinso for over six years. When Richard Mills joined Panasonic as Head of UK HR & Facilities and learnt about ResourceLink Aurora and its ‘HR as you like it’ promise he was keen to see the benefits that could be delivered to the business. This led to Panasonic becoming one of the first customers to take delivery of NorthgateArinso’s latest integrated HR and payroll solutions platform, along with deciding to outsource payroll to NorthgateArinso.
Benefits:
- All the required elements of an HR and payroll solution in a single platform.
- The option of a zero-footprint hosted implementation to minimise reliance on in-house IT resource.
- Quick access to HR management information to enable quick day-to-day decision making and informed long-term strategic decisions at board level.
- Faster HR transaction processing.
- The integration of flexible benefits into the HR and payroll platform.
Speed, efficiency and information from an HR and payroll platform
ResourceLink Aurora has delivered a new ability for the HR and payroll functions to share information with each other, thanks to the use of a single database covering both areas of data. For example, HR have access to employees’ payslips and pay calculations. The payroll team can also view any aspect of an employee’s record, within defined security and confidentiality criteria.
The creation of a single database is complemented by new processing functionality to enable Panasonic’s HR team to respond faster when undertaking transactional tasks. This includes workflow tools that prompt HR staff to take the right steps at the right time, such as when processing starters and leavers.
“We have greater efficiency through streamlining HR processes.” says Richard. “Many of the processes we were doing before will now be done more quickly. But also all of the processes are now joined up, with HR and payroll data integrated to give us more end-to-end functionality and treatment of our HR data. Things can be done with less duplication of keying in and less effort in general, which has contributed to a cost saving.”
A greater amount of reliable management information
A frustration voiced by many HR professionals is their inability to deliver the rich, real time information that senior management so often need. When looking at options for restructuring or assessing the organisation’s people resources to support new strategies, such information is vital but often unobtainable.
This was the case at Panasonic but ResourceLink Aurora has solved the problem, as Richard explains: “Previously we had very limited reporting capability but now we can access rich management information about a wide range of HR and payroll metrics. It has especially improved our ability to deliver to the board accurate, timely KPI reports.
“We can report on issues from training costs per headcount to salary changes on a month-by-month basis. Whenever we want to get into a restructure or reorganisation of the business we’ll have much better information against which we can do external benchmarking. This will properly empower the board to make sound decisions.
“The reporting tools will also enable us to do ‘what if?’ analyses, for example looking at the effect of certain structural or organisational options. It’s important to be able to show agility around restructuring and having rich information available to us adds to our ability to deliver successful change. It also adds to the credibility of HR as we can deliver highly valuable information to the business.”
Faster HR decision making
Richard continues: “The other advantage of the management information capability of ResourceLink Aurora is that we can access reliable data and share it with relevant parties within the business. This will enable us to make faster decisions around company-wide salary reviews, equal pay compliance and other high-level issues.
“The same applies for more day-to-day things. For example, when someone enquires about their role, salary, options for going part time or flexible working we have all the data to hand so we can produce the right report and make a decision more quickly.”
A zero-footprint solution
ResourceLink Aurora has the versatility to be deployed in various ways, from the client organisation hosting it themselves through to a zero-footprint option, which is what Panasonic chose. This means that the company has practically no need to dedicate its own IT resources to the HR and payroll solution. Instead, NorthgateArinso manage the hosting and make access available, both web-based and through Panasonic’s intranet.
Richard says: “Anything that reduces the number of touch points that a system has within an organisation has to be beneficial. It has helped us to keep the implementation costs to an absolute minimum, while the web-based functionality is perfect for our HR teams working in offices across the country, from home or on the move.”
Payroll outsourcing delivers more cost savings
The implementation of ResourceLink Aurora coincided with Panasonic’s decision to outsource its payroll function to NorthgateArinso. The cost savings from the outsourcing - around £120k per annum - mean that the implementation of ResourceLink Aurora has delivered greatly enhanced functionality at less than the cost of the previous arrangement.
For Richard, the outsourcing is about more than cost alone: “We want to outsource non core activities as it allows us to focus even more on developing the people side of our business. In today’s age of HR management, payroll isn’t value adding for a business so having someone else do it for us is very attractive.
“The integration of HR and payroll within ResourceLink Aurora also means that we don’t need to do any number crunching: NorthgateArinso’s payroll team simply access the data they need, when they need it.”
Moving on to integrated flexible benefits with MyChoice
With the main implementation now complete, NorthgateArinso have moved on to the next phase, which will see the addition of the MyChoice flexible benefits solution for Panasonic. When linked with ResourceLink Aurora, MyChoice is the UK’s only fully integrated HR, payroll and flexible benefits solution.
Richard explains why MyChoice is so important to Panasonic: “Our engagement surveys show that employees want the best possible transparency when it comes to their remuneration package. MyChoice is the answer as it will let us provide each employee with access to a total benefits statement in real time.
“The web-based access will enable employees to access their flexible benefits details at any time. It will provide them with all the information they need to decide whether to make changes to the package, in order to keep it relevant to them as their circumstances change. The fact that employees will make choices online will also take away any duplication of effort or need for HR resources.”
When the deployment of MyChoice is complete it will mean full integration with third party benefits providers. In addition NorthgateArinso’s benefits experts have re-brokered Panasonic’s benefits providers, generating more than £100k of savings each year by choosing new providers of pensions, insurance and other benefits, or negotiating better deals with existing ones.
Flexibility for the future
Richard believes that the way MyChoice will easily be integrated with ResourceLink Aurora is one indication of how Panasonic have options for the future: “The system is flexible enough for us as we continue to develop Panasonic’s people offering. We’ll be able to look ahead at our strategy with the confidence that we’ll have an HR and payroll solution that won’t constrain us, but will support us in whatever the future holds.”
