Datacom seals payroll partnership with Humanforce

Datacom is partnering with workforce management company Humanforce to help businesses unify and streamline their workforce and payroll systems.

The partnership will enable Datacom to offer Australia and New Zealand (A/NZ) customers an integrated solution that brings together Datapay payroll with Humanforce's workforce management platform.

“In today’s battle for talent, employers want a seamless experience for each employee - from onboarding and scheduling to payroll and awards,” said Datapay director Tim Hogan.

“With Humanforce, we have a partner who agrees that the smoothest employee experience is also the path that improves compliance and reduces rework and overhead costs." 

Datacom pays one-in-six New Zealanders, with its cloud-native platform serving over 25,000 businesses and 400,000 employees across A/NZ.

"Our goal is to help customers streamline processes, increase efficiency and ultimately help deliver a better employee experience for businesses by streamlining the flow of information from employee onboarding to payday to leave management, in one single place," Hogan said.

UK-based Humanforce's solutions have been widely adopted by organisations operating in industries with complex workforce structures, such as aged care, childcare, hospitality, retail, events and local government, he said. The Datapay payroll integration would therefre be a great fit for local organisations that require specialised payroll.

The partnership also meant A/NZ organisations that needed specialised payroll solutions would have access to local support and services teams and the option to manage their payroll through Datacom payroll experts.

Clayton Pyne, Humanforce chief executive officer, said in selecting its technology partners, his team was looking for world-class technologies that enhanced the Humanforce cloud value proposition for frontline and flexible workforces.

"We are focused on delivering truly employee-centred, intelligent and compliant solutions that support frontline and flexible workforces,” Pyne said. 

“Humanforce's partner ecosystem facilitates our customers' success, so we look for partners who complement the three core pillars of our tech stack: integrated, best of breed and composable. 

“This means that we look for solutions that feature real depth of functionality and sophisticated APIs, and that's one of the strengths of this partnership with Datacom.”

Humanforce has more than 500,000 users in 18 countries and is a leading provider of solutions that simplify workforce management.

Despite growing revenue, Datacom last month reported a surprise $2 million net loss for the year to 31 March, 2023, driven by a $23 million impairment in its local government software unit as well as increased payroll and other costs.

“The local government CGU [cash generating unit] is developing the latest generation of SaaS ERP and digital applications solutions designed for local councils and agencies,” Datacom’s financial report said. 

“The recoverable amount of the CGU as of 31 March 2023 was estimated at $27 million. This was lower than
the carrying value of $50 million, resulting in $2 million goodwill write-off in relation to historical business acquisition and $21 million impairment of intangible assets.”

Datacom Group CEO Greg Davidson said that while net profit before tax was down, the business’ decision to focus on its long-term strategy to deliver customer value - which included continued investment in its software-as-a-service (SaaS) and infrastructure products - was highly strategic.

"Over the past year, the group invested $80 million in its SaaS product portfolio, technical and structural upgrades to its four New Zealand data centres, regional expansion initiatives and the opening of new state of the art warehouse facilities in Australia and New Zealand to support the IT asset management and logistics needs of customers in the region," Davidson said.