An interview with Tina Baldwin, Payroll Manager for the Edmund Trust
The Edmund Trust, a Cambridgeshire charity which supports people with learning disabilities, has been using BrightPay for several years and recently made the transition from Desktop to Cloud.
Simple and cost-effective
“During my ten years at the Trust, we’ve used two other payroll providers but moved to BrightPay three years ago”, says Tina. “It delivered a number of key benefits: the system could support our workforce of 300, was simple and easy to use, offered all the features we needed and was also more cost-effective which as a charity was an important factor.”
Once the decision had been made, the Bright support team helped the Trust get up and running, working closely with them to transfer their records onto the new system and importing all the data for both salaried staff and those on hourly contracts.
Tina recalls that they received some excellent early training and it was easy to get further help whenever they needed it. This was especially useful when further down the line they heard that Desktop was being discontinued and were offered the opportunity to migrate to BrightPay Cloud.
Reassuring
“Although the idea of transitioning was initially a little daunting, when Claire Manners, our Accounts Manager and I spoke to the Bright team, they were able to reassure us that it would be fine for our number of staff and we started to prepare to make the change at the end of the year,” says Tina.
“The team were so good in helping us and took time to go through everything together, so I didn’t feel I was doing this alone. We covered where everything was on the system and walked through different scenarios we might need.”
Handling confidential information
One of the key concerns was the Charity’s reports which can be accessed not only by the payroll team but also HR and other staff members, enabling them to see notifications of staff changes and emergency contact details.
As this is personal information, great care has to be taken with what people can see and what they can’t, but the Bright team showed Tina what she needed to do to get this right.
Flexible and easy to use
BrightPay Cloud offers all the features previously available on Desktop but comes with the additional advantages of Cloud software too: remote working, instant updates, automated back-up and multi-user login.
“Now I am using BrightPay Cloud, I am definitely seeing further benefits. As I work from home and from different locations, it’s really helpful that I can log in securely from anywhere with my details”, Tina explains.
Internal engagement has also been good and moving everyone from the BrightPay Connect self-service ‘blue’ app to the new ‘orange’ one has generally been a positive experience. Overall people have found the new app easier to use and have connected to it.
Great support
Tina concludes: “The product is also backed up by a great team who are straight on it if we can’t complete an action or are having difficulty knowing what to do. This support is so reassuring when you are dealing with payroll and employees’ money and need to complete accurate transactions in a given timeframe. Now I love BrightPay Cloud and that’s why I sent a letter to the CEO telling him how great his people are.”
