One consolation for multi-country payroll practitioners as they go through the stresses and strains of a transformation project is the knowledge that plenty of other companies are likely to be experiencing similar travails. Whether it's overcoming resistance from stakeholders, selecting vendors or managing the practicalities of project implementation, these projects bring plenty of challenges.  How many of the issues, though, are rooted in early decision-making? Could some of the problems you face be linked to the fact that your payroll strategy wasn't clearly defined and communicated from the outset - and could revisiting some of those essential building blocks help get things back on track?

Ray Porter, APJ and EMEA employee services director at Dell and vice chair of Webster Buchanan's Multi-country Payroll Forum, argues that without a considered strategy, multi-country initiatives can dissolve into "a list of confusing and incompatible projects that ultimately can take the organization in the wrong direction or nowhere at all". Porter - who will be a keynote speaker at Webster Buchanan's upcoming multi-country payroll events in Singapore and London* - challenged delegates at Webster Buchanan's recent Multi-country Payroll Seminar in London to take a step-by-step approach to their strategy definition and rollout, to take care to engage with the business at the right level, and to employ the expertise necessary to realize their vision.

First, said Porter, you need to identify a strategy for payroll that's aligned with your organization's overall business strategy. The latter might change during the course of a project, of course, if the company changes direction, expands into new territories or retrenches its operations along its existing country footprint - so your strategy will need to adapt to follow suit. "If you're expecting executive support and funding for your payroll strategy, you need to be able to articulate where and how it's aligned to the business strategy," said Porter.

Self-service - which enables employees to update their address and bank account details and view past pay histories - is a good example. If your business case for implementing self-service is based on improving the employee experience, that may not carry much weight in today's economic environment: if it's based on the significant administrative cost savings self-service can generate, however, it may be a different story.

Another key success factor is engaging with the business so that it buys into your strategy. "If you attempt to build your strategy in a silo, there is a high likelihood it will fail or at least take a long time to get implemented," said Porter. He pointed out that engagement occurs at multiple levels, from executive sponsorship through to business partners and local management teams, on to local payroll teams, and also incorporating works councils and trade unions.  

Once you've done the groundwork, Porter recommends a systematic approach to rolling out a multi-country payroll strategy. This includes a number of phases: 

• Determining the building blocks, such as delivering cost savings or achieving greater scalability
• Assessing your current capabilities, and the gap between where you are now and where you want to be
• Defining the reasons for change
• Weighing up your options, including current vendor relationships and outsourcing arrangements
• Defining your vision and objectives
• Preparing for future challenges, a consolidation phase that Porter said could prove vital
• Getting ready to implement - and "creating excitement"

One of Porter's key lessons was to get the right expertise on board to implement, particularly at a time when resources are scarce. With many projects stalling through lack of resources - or because resources that were initially made available to the project are subsequently taken away - how can you ensure the right expertise stays on hand? Porter's response is simple: if the strategy is clearly defined and the business engaged, there'll be less reason for it to be taken away.

Ray Porter will be a keynote presenter at Webster Buchanan's Multi-country Payroll Seminar and Workshop in Singapore on March 2nd 2010, and at Webster Buchanan's Multi-country Payroll Summit in London, UK on April 27th/28th 2010.