Boss Accountancy manages payroll from anywhere with Staffology Payroll

Elaine Trotman has been an IRIS customer for around 10 years, starting her journey with IRIS Payroll Bureau. With over 30 years of experience in the accountancy sector, Elaine runs Boss Accountancy, where she provides bookkeeping, final accounts, tax returns, and payroll services to her clients. Last year, the self-employed accountant embraced change and migrated to Staffology Payroll, now enjoying the benefits of increased efficiency.

From manual payroll to cloud-based freedom

Elaine has been managing payroll “from the days when it was absolutely manual.” Before migrating, she used another accounting software provider alongside IRIS Payroll Bureau. In June 2024, Elaine chose to transition to Staffology Payroll, with the key factor being its cloud-based solution. “I’m self-employed and work for myself, which means that if I’m away for a couple of days, I can take my laptop, log into the cloud-based system, and run payroll from anywhere. I think that’s great.”

Overcoming initial concerns and learning the system

While Elaine was excited about the move, it came with some apprehension: “The only concern was me and having to learn a new system!” There were moments where she felt overwhelmed by the move, but found comfort in exploring the Staffology Payroll demonstration videos and training to better understand the system and even tested it with a client who had a simple, consistent monthly payroll. “I took a client that I knew was easy, very similar each month, and I did it with them first to see how they worked and just went from there,” shares Elaine.

A smooth transition and support that speaks your language

Elaine found the migration process “very quick,” especially when using the migration tool to transfer data from IRIS Payroll Bureau. “Setting up the migration tool was very easy and it brought each payroll over, with very little work needed from me. It was all very easy and  simple.” Thanks to her prior knowledge, she was pretty much up and running before the official transition was complete.

Elaine also appreciates the straightforward, non-technical support she received from the Staffology support team: “What I like about Staffology is that when I ask a question, I can ask it in my language, not technical terms.” Whenever she had a question, she could reach out to her trainers, who would quickly respond with clear guidance: “I did three two-hour sessions with different people. They were all really great and very helpful. If there was something I didn’t quite understand, I could reach out to the person who did my last training and say, ‘Please, can you help?’ And they always did.”

Maximising time savings with automation features

Migrating from IRIS Payroll Bureau to Staffology provided Elaine with a lot of new benefits that optimised her work processes. One of the standout features is Staffology’s ability to send reports to HMRC and post payslips, which relieved her of these time-consuming tasks. “For me, the biggest benefit is the time savings. Staffology automatically sends the reports to HMRC and posts the payslips, so I don’t have to worry about that. For many of my clients, I still print payslips so they have a little package, as that’s what they’re used to. But the fact that it handles everything for me is fantastic,” says Elaine.

This automation not only saves time but also gives her peace of mind that everything is handled properly. Instead of waiting around and manually checking for confirmation, Elaine can now simply verify later to ensure everything has gone through smoothly: “I can come back later and check for it, and if it hasn’t gone through or hasn't been accepted, it tells you when you can resubmit.”

User-friendly design and long-term benefits

Elaine found the migration to Staffology easier than expected and recommends it to others, saying, “It’s simpler and easier to do than you think.” She suggests starting with the training platform to get a feel for how it works and encourages users to not be afraid to make changes: “If something doesn’t work for you, ask someone for help or review the payslips to see how it looks visually. I'm a very physical person; I like to see things.” She highlights that Staffology allows for easy adjustments, adding, “If you get it wrong, it’s not the end of the world; it can be put right easily enough!”

The accountant advises users to ensure their links are set up correctly and explore all the available options. “Find what works for you, and if something doesn’t, talk to others, look at the Q&As or check the demos.” She sees the long-term benefits, noting that in a few years, when she retires, she’ll be able to step back while clients take over: “Probably within a couple of years, I’ll be retiring, and I won’t have to worry about handing each company their Staffology setup and saying, ‘Here you go, carry on from here.’ I’ll be able to step back and let them try it for themselves, which I think is great.”

Elaine also highlights Staffology’s support team and user-friendly design: “I just like the fact that the team are very down to earth and that I’m dealing with people that talk the same language that I talk. I’m really pleased with it and I’m typically someone who doesn’t like change, but once I tried it, I realised how well it works. The fact that I can take my computer anywhere and manage payroll is brilliant.”

Read the full story here.