Big data is an important tool to utilize in this global era. It’s estimated that the world generates 2.5 billion gigabytes of data each day – now that’s some big data. Many multinational companies have big data initiatives in place that have profound effects on every facet of business, from leadership to the way products or services are sold.

In global payroll, companies look at big data in several capacities, including the many sources where data is collected, such as by country or region. Without a global payroll solution, big data usually comes in a wide variety of formats, which makes synthesizing data manual and time-consuming. With each hire, each pay increase, termination, leave of absence and other factors, data compounds constantly at a rapid pace.

In a recent Forbes article titled “How Much Data Do We Create Every Day?,” we discover some fascinating statistics about the volumes of data that drive today’s society:

• Over the last two years, 90 percent of the data in the world was generated. 
• On average, Google processes more than 40,000 searches every second (3.5 billion searches per day).
• The Weather Channel receives 18 million forecast requests every minute.
• Uber riders book 45,788 trips on their devices every minute.
• More than 15.2 million text messages are sent every minute.
• More than 120 professionals add themselves to LinkedIn every minute.

These metrics are a reflection of how people consume data, where they look for information, the footprint they leave behind and how they engage. Big data, by its very nature, requires a holistic look at your business. Our employees want data at their fingertips with easy access. Employers are driven to accommodate employees and better yet, create their own big data when leveraging technology. Interdependencies, inconsistencies in structure, standardized processes, automation, centralization and more need to be considered when building out your own big data initiative.

If we shift to big data for Payroll, this area lags in priority among many companies. Often the considerations for automation, standardization and centralization haven’t quite reached the potential that global payroll solutions allow. Payroll has a lot of data to contribute to your business analytics and now is this time to invest to drive more efficiency and harness what your data tells you.

What Exactly Is Big Data?

To put it simply, big data involves pulling vast amounts of data from a variety of sources to compare and analyze the data for business intelligence. Ideally, this data is real time, which means the sources (HR, finance, payroll, etc.) you pull from are up-to-date, cloud-based systems. You already see the effects of companies’ big data use in your life – after all, how else can Netflix recommend shows that you might like, or Amazon, products you might buy? These businesses are able to do so because they look at your history and the entire breadth of users’ histories.

When we apply big data with high-powered analytics in Payroll, a company can achieve these far-reaching benefits:

• Optimize business decisions by country, role or employee type through data-driven insights.
• Gain visibility into costs at employee levels, performance or costs incurred by consultants by country.
• Gain a better understanding of your employees’ needs.
• Detect how country-specific regulations impact your organization.
• Determine error rates, such as accuracy and time (including the time your Payroll department is fixing issues).

Your company already pulls and analyzes data, doubtlessly, so what makes big data analyses different? Big data allows for a macro look at your business, giving you long-term critical insights vital for a competitive advantage. With big data, you can predict opportunities for your business and challenges that might crop up, as well as persistent or seasonal problems.

Big data initiatives are integral for business transformation efforts and long-term improvement. However, it requires optimal technology and services that are automated to the full extent of data collection and analysis. This is where big data initiatives have struggled with Payroll in the past, but with new global payroll solutions such as iiPay offering a centralized global payroll software alongside consultative services, your company can make better use of payroll data.

Why Is Payroll Necessary for Big Data Initiatives?

According to a recent article in Harvard Business Review, roughly 48 percent of Fortune 1000 companies achieve measurable results from big data initiatives. Data management and aggregation is the starting point to set up global payroll success, which evolves into the real value of conducting analytics on payroll data. The analytical outcomes provide varying insights, such as attracting and retaining talent, determining performance trends, and gaining country-wide visibility. 

Payroll handles a high volume of data and is a significant portion of your company’s total expenses. With all of that data, there is a lot of room for inefficiency, especially if your company’s payroll department manually enters data. A global payroll solution automates, standardizes and centralizes your payroll data for easier viewing and fewer errors.

Managing global payroll has its difficulties, primary compliance with regional and country-specific legislation regarding taxes and payroll. This has previously made global payroll a piecemeal function and unsuitable for big data initiatives. iiPay solves that issue with our centralized software and consultations on legislation in different countries.

Once you have centralized and standardized data, global payroll is a goldmine for your big data initiative. All of the data Payroll handles is put toward the analytics you are working on, such as predicting workforce demographics and geographic dispersal, looking at staffing capacity and performance to guide your business decisions, or to improve your hiring practices and attract key employees. It’s time to think and act globally. We can help you centralize data collected from multiple international locations, and ensure compliance issues across legislative territories. With iiPay’s innovative global payroll solution and insights into payroll and compliance, you’ll be able to improve your payroll efficiency and use big data initiatives to improve your entire business.