Fidelma McGuirk is CEO & Founder of Payslip, a Global Payroll Control Platform which she set up, having identified a need for standardised employee payroll software to cater for large-scale businesses operating across multiple countries. Such has been the success of Payslip that it remains on a continuing growth and expansion curve, with plans in place to increase staff numbers in its global teams and also in Payslip's Westport base.
Outlining the background to Payslip, Fidelma states: "The origin story for Payslip’s Global Payroll Control Platform came about from my hands-on experience in previous roles as CEO & Director of International Operations, where I led operations growth and management across 21 countries. We used different payroll service vendors in different countries. What I found was that there was no available technology in the market that you can license to automate, integrate and streamline your global payroll operations.
"The Payslip global payroll control platform uses automation & integration technology to deliver standardised global payroll management to multinationals to manage their global payroll operations with execution excellence, bigger picture reporting insights and scale -up control. Payslip delivers scale-up advantage for today’s global business leaders, harmonising global payroll operations to fuel growth efficiency. Future plans are to continue to acquire global clients and develop our platform features, boosting our automation and integration functionality. We will also continue to expand our Westport and global teams with recruitment activity in a number of technology and implementation roles."
Complex payroll landscape
"The global payroll landscape is implicitly complex. To manage payroll globally, payroll and data need to be standardised. Key challenges most companies have include a lack of standardisation across payroll countries, and over-reliance on excel spreadsheets, limited or no integrations to connected internal HR & Finance tech and poor quality or no reporting. Companies are unable to see what is happening with payroll across their countries and there is a strong need for digital transformation to manage everything.
"Progressive companies invest in smart tech like Workday or Sap to automate their HR and Finance Operations. Payslip is the first and only technology platform that enables multi-national companies to standardise and automate global payroll operations in a similar way. With Payslip, multinational companies around the world deliver and manage their global payroll in a faster, smarter and better way.
"Payslip is a digital platform that standardises the international payroll process and integrates all payroll data end-to-end internally and externally. We house and standardise the process, management, reporting and data, to give full independent control to global companies. With payroll management, we provide automation and integration digital technology to multinational companies seeking a better way to deliver and manage their multi-country payroll."
Lifestyle choice to move to Westport
It was a lifestyle choice that brought Fidelma to Westport, as she explains: "I came to Westport in search of a different lifestyle for myself and my family. The experience has been great, we love the West of Ireland and all that it has to offer. It is now the headquarters of our business and we have grown the company significantly over the last three years from our base here in Westport. In a post-Covid world, location is less of a factor, with remote and hybrid working the new normal - so we fully expect to continue expanding and growing our client base on a global level from Westport."
Payslip's experience at the Leeson Enterprise Centre has also been extremely positive, says Fidelma. "The LEC has proved to be a great base and place to work for people in Westport and the surrounding locality. The infrastructure and connectivity facilitate business, and all the amenities you would expect in a city business hub are here too. It is an important business hub for the West of Ireland and provides solid proof that with the right attitude and the right people, you can run a business from anywhere in this modern digital economy."
As an entrepreneur, Fidelma says she enjoys being in control of her own destiny - "And running a company where I passionately believe there is a strong and growing need for the technology we provide. Global Payroll has been crying out for digital change for years now - we deliver automation, scale-up control and bigger picture reporting like no other global payroll management solution in the market. Our customers are all multi-national category leading companies with >1,000 employees in > 5 countries – they don’t mind that we are based in Westport – they know we are the best global payroll tech in the market. Hence Westport and the West of Ireland can be a base for many technology companies where they carve out a unique solution for a big customer problem. Having the stability of the Leeson Enterprise Centre provided Payslip with a superb base from which to grow."
Be sure to research the market
For aspiring entrepreneurs, Fidelma offers the following tips: "Research the market and do your due diligence; develop your idea and get very clear on what separates you from the competition, as this is something you will need to articulate in a very clear and direct way to both potential clients and investors. Define what is different and better about your business. Surround yourself with qualified, experienced people and empower them to deliver creative solutions together. Be very specific on which customer segment you are targeting and what their minimum procurement requirements will be – that will help shorten the sales cycle."
