Estée Lauder South Africa has improved productivity in its payroll environment and put its business on a sound footing for the future by adopting the People Payroll & HRIS solution as its new payroll and employee self-service (ESS) solution from Sage VIP, a division of Sage HR & Payroll.

The company upgraded to the People Payroll & HRIS solution from its Cobol-based legacy system, also from Sage VIP, with a modern platform. This has positioned the company to take advantage of the latest functionality and technology, including mobile access to the application as well as efficient ESS for its team.

Andrea Erasmus, Payroll Manager at Estée Lauder, says that the IT department at the company was becoming nervous about the future support it would get for the older system. In addition, the platform was not scalable or flexible enough to meet the needs of a growing and fast-changing business’s payroll. For that reason, Estée Lauder decided that it was the right time to adopt a new solution.

Given that Estée Lauder got 15 years-plus of use from its earlier investment into a Sage VIP solution, the company looked at the latest technology from Sage VIP as an agile, innovative solution for companies that need detailed and complex functionalities.

Erasmus says that the payroll department at Estée Lauder was initially nervous about the transition from a solution it used successfully for so many years. But it has found People Payroll & HRIS to be extremely user-friendly and the team has quickly learnt to be productive with the software.

“We have really embraced the change,” says Erasmus. “For example, I’m enjoying the fact that the online connectivity in the product allows me to log in and update the payroll, even if I’m 9,000 kilometers away. I also have hands-on reporting information and the ability to export any information from Sage VIP to MS Excel for sharing or analysis.”

Estée Lauder South Africa is also using the solution for ESS, allowing employees to file leave applications online. This is simplifying record-keeping and making life a bit easier for employees, line managers and the payroll department, says Erasmus. “We’re still learning, but the software is already delivering significant business benefit for us,” she adds.

Says Anton van Heerden, Managing Director, Sage HR & Payroll: “We’re seeing more and more companies relooking their payroll environments and freeing themselves from their legacy systems. Our software puts you in control of even the most detailed and complicated processes, and ensures that you are always compliant with the country’s tax requirements.

In addition to incorporating the latest HR and payroll legislative changes into our technology, we also stay ahead of the latest technology developments so that our clients can use advances such as mobility and the cloud to drive better outcomes for their businesses.”