GRUNDFOS CHOOSES KMD PAYROLL CLOUD AS PAYROLL SOLUTION

Grundfos takes a cloud first approach. For several of their business areas, they have migrated their solutions into the cloud. However, for several reasons, this principle did not apply to their payroll solution. At least not until recently.

After a thorough needs analysis, Grundfos chose KMD Payroll Cloud as the future payroll solution in Denmark. Those are the words of Michael Bendixen, Senior Manager and Global IT Manager for HR systems, and his colleague, Mikael Feilberg, Payroll Manager for Denmark and Europe.

'Our cloud first approach is about being evergreen. This means that when we use the cloud, we leave the responsibility for patching, upgrading and maintaining our solutions to an external supplier. The supplier is responsible for compliance with the ever-changing legislative requirements for the solutions. That strategy ensures that we are always up to date on the newest technology and legislation,' says Michael Bendixen.

'The supplier is responsible for compliance with the ever-changing legislative requirements for the solutions. That strategy ensures that we are always up to date on the newest technology and legislation.'

- Michael Bendixen, Senior Manager and Global IT Manager for systems, Grundfos

Tried and tested payroll engine

Grundfos is a global company with about 19,000 employees worldwide – of which about 4,500 are located at the head office in Bjerringbro and the rest of Denmark. Some of their considerations prior to the choice of KMD Payroll Cloud were whether the solution could handle the complexity that follows from being a manufacturing company with many people employed under different collective agreements. They also considered whether, in terms of system architecture, a cloud solution would fit into the rest of the system landscape – now and in the long term. KMD Payroll Cloud appeared to be a good match and will, according the plan, be implemented towards the end of 2018.

'Moreover, we chose KMD Payroll Cloud because the payroll engine in the system is a tried and tested solution. For several years, KMD's payroll engine has proven that it is a solution that can handle payroll for companies which resemble Grundfos in many ways. The fact that the engine is now moved to the cloud with all the advantages involved made the overall gut feeling really good,' says Mikael Feilberg.

Security is not a concern

Both gentlemen know that discussions are still going on as to whether security is okay in cloud-based solutions. However, the solution has been security assessed and approved by Grundfos.
'IT security will always be an issue. But that has nothing to do with whether the solution runs in the cloud or not. We are completely confident in KMD Payroll Cloud and that KMD will live up to their responsibility as supplier,' says Michael Bendixen.

'IT security will always be an issue. But that has nothing to do with whether the solution runs in the cloud or not. We are completely confident in KMD Payroll Cloud and that KMD will live up to their responsibility as supplier.'

- Michael Bendixen, Senior Manager and Global IT Manager for systems, Grundfos

Innovation from the market

Among Grundfos' clear expectations for KMD Payroll Cloud, are the advantages of leaving the responsibility for basic operation, maintenance and optimization to KMD. With the financial benefits that follows. However, Grundfos also expects to join a strong development environment where new functionality for their payroll solution will come with the next update.

'Now, we no longer have to spend time and resources on developing and testing new features. We will benefit from the development taking place around us and having the new tried and tested features automatically applied to our solutions,' says Mikael Feilberg.

Time for development

With KMD Payroll Cloud, Grundfos expects to be able to free up resources for development tasks instead of – as was often the case with their former, traditional payroll solution – being stuck doing quick fixes.

'For example, we use SAP SuccessFactors as our global HR solution. In this connection we would like to find out how we can better tie our payroll and HR processes together. That will give us much more flexibility. With the cloud solution, resources will be freed up for that task,' says Michael Bendixen and finishes by explaining that Grundfos also plans to use new and more user-friendly reporting tools in the cloud which may help increase insight into the business by means of e.g. KPI measurements, forecasting and other analytics disciplines.