It’s budgeting season, the time when many growing small to mid-sized companies are about to make an expensive mistake.

Many rapidly growing companies and SMEs approach us during this time of the year to consult with their HR plans on establishing a stronger presence in Asia. If you’re not careful, you may also fall for this trap disguised as an investment as well.

What is it you ask? It’s buying an HCM / HRIS payroll system in Asia, let us explain why.

Get Your HRIS / HCM for Free (And It’s Not One of Those Cheap Alternatives!)

Why waste money when you can get access to an HCM for free?!

As most up and coming firms don’t have as much budget flexibility as say a leading competitor, you want to get the most out of your money. Instead of blowing your budget purchasing an HCM/ HRIS, you can access it for free by adopting payroll outsourcing service.

As part of the payroll outsourcing service, most HR outsourcing partners will provide clients with an HCM from which to deliver their services on. Rather than having to take the full financial burden of the HCM, the cost of access is actually shared with other clients of your outsourcing vendor, making it much more accessible. 

On top of getting access to an HRIS system, you now have a professional team managing your payroll. By doing so, you’re likely a huge step ahead of other competing SMEs by effectively putting your budget to use.

Why SMEs Lose Out Settling for a Mediocre Payroll Solution in Asia

There are some big names in the market, Success Factors, Oracle, and Workday to name a few, but they all come with a high price tag. Unless you are willing to invest big bucks right off that bat, then most affordable options are pretty tragic for 2 key reasons.

• On this blog, we talk about HR Tech a lot, especially with the advances made in recent years. With HRIS where the market is saturated with leading providers who have skillfully refined their product, much of what you’ll find outside of tier 1 HCM in Asia are likely ancient legacy systems.
  Today, everyone is a trained user of intuitive design. By relying on an on-premise based HCM with terrible user experience we see overwhelmingly in Asia, you’re jeopardising your employee brand. How then do you expect to attract and retain top talent?!

• From a business expansion point of view, if you are looking to benefit from Asia’s continued rapid growth and expand quickly in Asia, then you might have a problem. Most Asia HCMs only support payroll calculations in one or two countries, and that’s if you’re lucky.
  What does this mean? These cheap Asia HCMs are temporary solutions at best, as you’ll need to continually purchase country-specific HCMs that probably won’t integrate with each other. A good payroll outsourcing partner, on the other hand, will be able to provide a regionally integrated HCM solution at a reasonable price on top of actually processing your payroll for you.

Still not convinced? Then at least check out this comprehensive guide (Simple Guide to Find & Compare HCM Solutions for APAC) on finding the right HCM solution before you dive in so you can have a leg up on your competition.

So what does this mean for mid-sized companies looking to build up their HR?

Know the returns
Purchasing an HCM / HRIS involves a significant amount of commitment and needs to generate you a demonstrable return over at least 3-5 years.  As a result, it’s less risky to adopt payroll outsourcing over purchasing and implementing an HCM system.

Partner with a reputable service provider
Payroll processing services like HCMs comes in various levels. If you do decide to partner with a payroll outsourcing vendor in Asia, make sure they have in-country service support. Here are 5 things to look for in a good payroll service for startups.

Consult with a professional before making a  purchase
Depending on the organisation you’re in, you may or may not want to have your own regional HCM. Don’t ignore the leverage you can get from having a professional opinion on the matter to see which solution is better for you.

Get in touch with one of our representatives today and learn how we can help you streamline your HR.

Related Articles:

• Top 4 Payroll Challenges for HR Professionals in MNC
• Top 5 Cases of Payroll Fraud and Why SMEs Are Most at Risk
• A New Wave of HR Leadership – No Time For Complacency
• Top 5 Payroll Processing Problems
• Top 5 Questions about Payroll in Singapore
• The Secret to a High Performing HR Function in Your Business

Links International is an industry leader in innovative HR outsourcing with services such as payroll outsourcing, visa application, Employer of Record (EOR), recruitment and more! Contact us for more information on how we can help leverage your HR function.