Multinational giants lose out in awards to small business based in Bushey (From Watford Observer)

Bushey business The Payroll Site beats multinational giants to top software award

5:20pm Tuesday 23rd October 2012 in News By Amie Mulderrig, Features Writer

A Bushey business of just four people has triumphed over software giants Sage, Iris and Intuit at the prestigious Software Satisfaction Awards.

The multinational corporations were all shortlisted for best SME payroll software at the ceremony in London on October 11, but based on scores given by customers, The Payroll Site in Sparrows Herne took the prize.

The awards, compered by Gyles Brandreth, were organised by Sift Media and Intellect, the trade association for the UK technology sector, and the winners selected by analysing 10,691 completed surveys covering 18 software categories.

These included 1,700 businesses using products in the SME payroll software category. 

Most were traditional software packages, but The Payroll Site beat the competition with their innovative, online payroll system.

Users were asked to rate the products for functionality, reliability, ease of use, value for money and levels of support. After eliminating any products used by less than five per cent of respondents, the prize was awarded to the package with the highest average score.

The Payroll Site won the award with an average score of 3.9, out of a maximum of 4. Sage 50 Payroll scored 3.76, with IRIS GP Payroll on 3.62 and QuickBooks Payroll (from Intuit UK) on 3.03.

Steven Tucker, managing director, explained that running a small business himself makes it easier to understand his customers.

He said: "Small businesses want to focus on what they do best and not spend their whole time on administrative tasks, like payroll. 

"What they need is something quick and easy that just works. And that’s exactly what we give them.

"Between the four of us, we are able to help our customers, keep the system updated, add new features and keep on finding new ways to make it even easier."

The Payroll Site’s small team developed the award-winning system themselves and support their customers from their offices in Bushey.