Grant Thornton improves payroll management for its clients with APSAL
In Luxembourg, Grant Thornton assists more than 500 companies with payroll calculations and the preparation of their employees’ pay slips. In order to meet its clients’ expectations, the HR service provider has decided to rely on APSAL, the market-leading payroll software in Luxembourg.
Payroll management is a key issue for businesses. In Luxembourg, it must meet specific requirements in order to comply with local regulations, but also to secure costs while avoiding the risk of errors. With this in mind, Grant Thornton, a leading player in consulting and auditing, as well as a provider of financial and accounting services, supports more than 500 Luxembourg organizations in calculating their teams’ salaries and preparing pay slips.
New requirements
In light of changing customer expectations and with a view to supporting the growth of organizations, Grant Thornton has decided to adopt APSAL, the market-leading solution in Luxembourg, to support its payroll services.
“The solution we had been using until now was designed in a different context and no longer fully met our changing needs,” explains Jean-Philippe Franssen, Partner, Payroll Management and HR Consulting at Grant Thornton Luxembourg. “With the increase in client volume and regulatory requirements, issues related to security, risk management, maintenance, and the smooth exchange of information with our clients have gradually become more pressing. It was becoming essential to rely on a solution capable of supporting this evolution in the long term.”
Proximity and robustness
Grant Thornton then turned to Proximus NXT, whose APSAL solution emerged as the best option for carrying out this migration. “We wanted to be able to rely on a software publisher close to us, who is familiar with the challenges in Luxembourg and the regulatory and tax framework in which we and our clients operate,” continues Jean-Philippe Franssen.
“With APSAL, we were assured of local support, but also of a robust, long-term, and reliable partner.” Through its features, particularly those related to data import and export, the APSAL solution offered Grant Thornton greater flexibility, greatly facilitating the exchange of information with clients.
A progressive and controlled migration
Once the new solution had been chosen, the real challenge was to ensure the secure migration of more than 500 clients, some of which have several hundred employees. In order to successfully complete this delicate operation, a three-year migration plan was drawn up.
“We opted for a gradual transfer, client by client, starting with the smallest players, for whom there were few exceptions to integrate,” explains Jean-Philippe Franssen.
“This step- by-step adoption also enabled us to train a team specialized in using the solution internally, as well as our 25 employees working on payroll management. Change management at the team level was one of the keys to the success of this project.”
Responsive and ongoing support
At the heart of this migration, the specific characteristics of each client, related to particular working hours, a cross-border professional environment, or various collective agreements, were integrated as we went along, ensuring that there were no errors.
Throughout this project, the proximity of the teams in charge of APSAL was a real asset. “For every need, every question, we got a quick response. We had a developer at our side to support us throughout this migration phase. We were really well supported,” he says. By the end of the third year, with the ongoing support of the Proximus NXT teams, we had integrated the most sophisticated customers.”
An enhanced experience
The solution has been operational at Grant Thornton for several years. The payroll management service provider has therefore been able to appreciate its benefits. “APSAL’s ability to interface directly with our clients’ systems to facilitate data import eliminates the need for manual encoding. This saves a lot of time and reduces the risk of errors,“ adds the Grant Thornton manager. ”It also allows us to be more responsive and faster in serving our clients.
” New features have improved the experience for clients and their employees, with more modern layouts and easier access to information and pay slips.
A scalable solution
Furthermore, APSAL is constantly evolving in line with market needs, while offering strong guarantees in terms of security and availability. “This robustness now enables us to meet the needs of larger clients who wish to outsource their payroll management to our teams.
This solution allows us to explore new opportunities and supports our development,” adds Jean-Philippe Franssen. Satisfied with the solution and its collaboration with APSAL, Grant Thornton is now eagerly awaiting the new version of the tool, which promises improvements in security, language use, and salary recalculation.
Discover their story
“We wanted to be able to rely on a publisher close to us, who is familiar with the challenges facing Luxembourg and the regulatory and tax environment in which we and our clients operate. With APSAL, we were assured of local support, but also of a robust, long-standing, and reliable partner.”
Jean-Philippe Franssen, Partner, Payroll Management and HR Consulting, Grant Thornton Luxembourg.
