Regulations and IT Issues Add To Costs for Businesses

Many businesses are wasting valuable resources by maintaining disparate IT systems or using manual processes to remain compliant with laws and regulations governing their workforces, according to a new study released by CFO Research and ADP, the international provider of payroll and human capital management (HCM) solutions.

To help address clients’ HCM-related compliance challenges, ADP has made enhancements to its ADP SmartCompliance system, a cloud-based platform of outsourced services that helps employers better manage key HCM-related compliance requirements. These challenges can include the Affordable Care Act (ACA), tax credits, employment tax, wage payments, wage garnishments, employment verification, unemployment claims and W2 management.

“The research clearly shows that many companies are wasting resources and increasing their risk by using time-intensive manual processes to manage disparate systems for HCM-related compliance activities,” said Doug Politi, President of ADP Added Value Services. “Our goal is to make ADP SmartCompliance simple to use, simple to implement and simple to integrate with organizations’ existing HCM and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems.”

Complex and evolving regulations are putting pressure on businesses that use in-house systems to address HCM-related compliance requirements. In fact, some companies may face a “compliance gap” as technology alone generally does not address all these requirements. ADP SmartCompliance can integrate with many leading enterprise resource planning systems—including payroll, HR and financial systems—to help companies remain compliant with key HCM-related laws, mitigate risk associated with noncompliance, improve efficiencies and drive growth.

ADP’s new enhancements improve functionality, increase usability and can help relieve some of the pressure clients face with HCM-related compliance. The enhanced ADP SmartCompliance platform now includes:

A re-imagined user experience, which offers a host of additional enhancements to make ADP SmartCompliance more efficient. For example, the process for onboarding new users has been greatly simplified to just three steps.

Data analytics in an action-oriented dashboard, which now gives users the information they need, when they need it, in areas such as employment tax, tax credits, and wage garnishments in a user-friendly, intuitive dashboard.

Flexibility through Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), which helps to enable companies to connect previously disconnected systems and synthesize key employment data by leveraging programming interfaces into an extended ecosystem of compatible programs and software.

“In working with ADP, our study tells us that a majority of respondents grade the ease by which they use their HCM-related compliance system as average or below average, and they feel the constant evolution of new regulatory requirements has increased the difficulty of staying compliant,” said Celina Rogers, Vice President and Editorial Director at CFO Publishing.

“Finance and HR leaders are eager to support innovation at their companies, and innovative companies want every activity they pursue—including compliance—to capitalize on data and analytics to help drive strategic, profitable growth. This research shows that finance and HR teams are increasingly looking for unified, secure compliance solutions to help them drive business efficiencies and create the conditions for sustained growth.”