A Hertfordshire family business of just four people triumphed over software giants Sage, Iris and Intuit at the prestigious Software Satisfaction Awards, at a ceremony compered by Gyles Brandreth, at Harrods in London on 11 October. The multinational corporations were all shortlisted for best SME payroll software but, based on scores given by customers, The Payroll Site took the prize.
The awards were organised by Sift Media and Intellect, the tradeassociation for the UK technology sector, and the winners selected by analysing 10,691 completed surveys covering 18 software categories. These included 1700 businesses using products in the SME payroll software category. Most were traditional software packages, but The Payroll Site beat the competition with their innovative, online payroll system.
Users were asked to rate the products for functionality, reliability, ease of use, value for money and levels of support, giving each aspect a score from poor (1) to excellent (4). After eliminating any products used by under 5% of respondents, the prize was awarded to the package with the highest average score.
The Payroll Site won the award with an average score of 3.90, out of a maximum of 4.00. Sage 50 Payroll scored 3.76, with IRIS GP Payroll on 3.62 and QuickBooks Payroll (from Intuit UK) on 3.03.
Managing Director Steven Tucker explained that running a small business himself makes it easier to understand his customers, “Small businesses want to focus on what they do best, and not spend their whole time on administrative tasks, like payroll. What they need is something quick and easy that just works. And that’s exactly what we give them.”
The Payroll Site’s small team developed the award-winning system themselves, and continue to update it and support their customers from their office in Bushey, Hertfordshire. Steven said “We pride ourselves on offering excellent support, both by phone and email. Between the four of us, we are able to help our customers, keep the system updated, add new features and keep on finding new ways to make it even easier.”
Small businesses with up to 49 employees account for 99.2% of all private sector businesses and 47% of private sector employment, according to the 2012 Business Population Estimates from the Department for Business Innovation & Skills.
