Our recent interview with Vishwanathan Arunachalam, the newly appointed CEO of Mercans – Payroll & SaaS, has given us an insight into the company’s future growth plans.
Vish is a seasoned payroll business leader with exceptional expertise in all forms of payroll business delivery. He has been in the payroll software, and services industry for more than 27 years and shares with us his inspirational journey during the interview. Learn more about him below.
Vision To Solve Payroll Challenges Globally
What’s the idea behind Mercans? We asked.
“Mercans was founded in 2003 in London, United Kingdom, with a vision of helping global companies solve their greatest payroll challenges with a revolutionary and trusted global payroll technology solution. We are the world’s only native global payroll SaaS and a leader in payroll technology. Mercans’ revolutionary HR Blizz global payroll platform enables SMBs & Enterprise businesses to manage payrolls across 160 countries. With 20 years of global payroll expertise, Mercans is the only MCP provider that offers integrated global payroll, EOR, and SaaS solutions through a single, secure global platform.
We operate under a non-aggregator model. Our payrolls are run entirely on our own systems and resources, without the assistance of 3rd parties. Our payroll engine was developed in-house. This is what sets us apart from the competition.
Take this as an example – with the help of our proprietary dynamic parser, we are able to accept data from any HCM product without any limitations, and our product integrates seamlessly with industry-standard HCM systems.” replies Vish.
Creating A Payroll-led Ecosystem
We were also curious about how Vish started off his career. So we asked, “How did you begin your career journey?”
He replies, “In what feels like yesterday, I began my career as an entrepreneur and managed a payroll product company for five years before transitioning it to a large HRO business organization. I have been actively involved in the payroll software, services, and SaaS industry for more than 27 years now. To date, things have been going well (touches wood), and the growth has been phenomenal over the past 27 years, and I’m still learning new things every day.”
What’s the goal of Mercans? We further asked.
“It is our goal to make Mercans the first choice when it comes to payroll technology. Through our integrated service offering, we hope to create an ecosystem of payroll-led HR services for SMEs, global corporations, and HCM providers. The next development phase of our SaaS platform HR Blizz is to further increase the number of countries’ regulations that are embedded into our system to provide fully compliant statutory reporting and regulatory filings.
Further, we strive to provide white-labeled payroll solutions that can be seamlessly integrated with HCM solutions provided by all HCM providers around the world.” says Vish.
A Compelling Solution
What makes Mercans’ solution so compelling?
“It’s interesting how the answer to this question can be summed up in just four words: simplicity, affordability, experience, and knowledge. Not to mention, Mercans supports all service delivery models & technology infrastructure. We are the global payroll enabler for HCM providers, Managed payroll providers, MNCs, and Fortune Global 1000.” says Vish.
Standing Out From The Crowd
“How is Mercans different from the rest of the players in the market?” we further asked.
Vish continues, “We have a purpose-built and feature-rich product developed to meet the demands of the constantly evolving global payroll landscape. This allows us to provide clients with a world-class employee experience around the globe.
A few highlights that set us apart:
- Non-aggregator model & Single service provider
We never use subcontractors to process your payroll. We don’t have to because we have our own local presence, with in-country payroll processing and compliance teams, in over 160 countries.
- Last-mile support
A built-in global labor law compliance system that guides you through the process of accurately calculating your pay and taxes, regardless of where you are located.
- Powerful SaaS dashboard
We follow a UX-driven approach hence it is easily accessible across all devices, at any time, anywhere, regardless of the location.
- Intuitive interface and self-service feature
The software does not require you to be tech-savvy or a professional accountant to use it. Anyone can use it because it’s so simple.
- Scalable technology
We go beyond standard HRM and payroll services and provide you with value
throughout your entire project lifecycle, at each step along the way.
- You get the control
HR Blizz’s Administrator Console gives you full access and control over your payroll processing cycle, including payment services.
An Advanced Payroll Technology
We further asked, “What are the key benefits for a client who plans to use your technology?”
There are far too many benefits to list them all. The benefits of our payroll application include:
- Cost savings – We provide our clients with gross-to-net payroll calculations using our proprietary and purpose-built payroll application, saving them up to 40% on payroll costs. In-country teams provide complete last-mile support and ensure complete local compliance
- Scalable for Growth – Right fit for both SMBs and enterprises.
- Easily configured and deployed, Payroll Automation – A revolutionary technology that automates the entire payroll processing cycle from start to finish
- Flexible Model – Clients can choose the most appropriate service delivery model depending on their company’s size – SaaS, Managed Payroll, or Employer of Record – based on the needs of their business.
“They are all delivered through one single platform,” Vish explains.
Technology-driven Payroll Revolution
How do you think technology is leading to changes in businesses? Do you feel it’s helping Mercans grow?
“There is no doubt that building a Gross to Net payroll engine across 160 countries on a single platform is a revolution, and this was made possible by technology. Throughout our entire product range, we use micro-services that allow our product to be completely integrated into another system. Hence, our payroll engine can operate independently and transport data via API across a range of applications in order to process payroll accurately and efficiently.
The genesis of Mercans’ payroll application was born out of payroll concepts alone, and we are a pure-play payroll technology company on a mission to simplify global payroll. There are no platform overheads or any HCM or ERP overheads. Our application can coexist with any employee-facing application, and employee data can flow seamlessly between the HCM and employee-facing modules. Without the advancement of technology, none of this would have been possible.” Vish continues.
All-Round Uniqueness
Do you use innovative ideas to be unique? What are the services/products offered by Mercans at par with the current industry standards?
With that, he says, “We are unique in all perspectives. As an example, Mercans’ payroll engine HR Blizz delivers what others are dreaming of. It is purpose-built to meet the demands of international payroll needs and is packed with cutting-edge features:
Touchless Payroll – Automated integrations, combined with the power of robotics and Machine Learning, enable processing payrolls on-demand and without human interventions.
Real-time Integrations – Seamless and pre-configured inbound and outbound interfaces slash processing efforts and resources, guaranteeing payroll accuracy and timeliness.
On-demand Reporting – Clients can quickly build their own reports and access global payroll data in real-time from anywhere in the world.
Payroll Admin Console – Intuitive administrator console provides full visibility and control over all global payroll activities, reports, and audit logs.
Preconfigured Compliance – HR Blizz comes with built-in labor law and tax compliance.”
Major Upcoming Plans
We were also curious about the upcoming plans of Mercans and Vish, so our next question was, “Tell us something about your upcoming products or services.”
“It is no secret that we have a world-class payroll product in which we take utmost pride.
With the new features we’re adding here, we’ll be able to offer even more value to our existing clients. As part of improving data analytics and reporting, touchless payroll is set to bring more robustness to the entire data capture and statutory integration processes. In addition, employees can now manage their own payroll with recent features surrounding on-demand pay. It’s exciting, isn’t it?” continues Vish.
What are clients requesting when purchasing HR & Payroll technology? We further asked.
“With technology evolving as we speak, it is more convenient for clients to have one dashboard capable of handling all their payroll and HR management needs rather than different dashboards and reports that cause confusion. Because they are looking for one reliable and trustworthy partner, we’ve embraced the notion of being their only partner – for a lifetime,” he concluded.
Connect with Vishwanathan Arunachalam on LinkedIn.
