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Who we spoke to for this case study:
Rémi Champeix, Global Payroll Transformation Lead at Danone
Danone is a multinational company known for its food and beverage products, employing over 100,000 people across 55+ countries. Managing payroll for such a vast and diverse workforce presented unique challenges, especially with its legacy system of 37+ different payroll solutions. Danone embarked on a transformative journey to standardize and simplify its payroll processes, with Payzaar’s technology platform, while still fully respecting local nuances and flexibility.
The Challenge: A Complex, Localized Payroll Landscape with Multiple Vendors and No Global Framework
Danone’s payroll environment was in a legacy state, fragmented across over 37 systems and solutions. The company’s decentralized model meant that each country operated with its own local vendors or inhouse, leading to inconsistencies in data and processes as well as inherent compliance and audit risks without standardization.
“We had no global governance over KPIs or frameworks for payroll processes,” - Remi Champeix
Each country had its own local solutions based on specific needs, and as part of Danone’s corporate culture the company respected the countries’ autonomy and choice for different local solutions. There was no intent to disrupt local market requirements and choice of local vendor, but this did resulted in a lack of integration and visibility across the local, regional and global payroll operation. The organization also faced issues with resource restraints in payroll teams, which meant it was challenging to balance improvement initiatives with day-to-day responsibilities.
Key issues included:
- Decentralization: Each country had its own system, resulting in 37+ different payroll vendors and no unified reporting, process and data quality model.
- Limited Global Oversight: Without a global payroll governance structure, tracking key performance indicators (KPIs), ensuring compliance across multiple geographies and operating a set of controls was impossible to achieve.
- Capacity Issues: Lean payroll teams were stretched thin, making it challenging to dedicate time to transformation projects.
- Inconsistent Data Models: Danone’s core HR system, SAP SuccessFactors, was used inconsistently across different geographies, causing issues with data integrity and global reporting.
The Solution: Centralized Governance and Standardized Processes with Payzaar
To address these issues, Danone partnered with Payzaar, focusing on streamlining its payroll ecosystem and improving global oversight. The transformation centered on rationalizing the payroll landscape, reducing manual work, and ensuring better data integration. All while imposing little to no disruption to local operations, thus meeting business demands and getting their buy-in.
“Our vision was to rationalize the ecosystem by consolidating the best-in-class payroll systems at a regional level. For us, Payzaar was key in bringing this all together—standardizing our processes, improving compliance, and creating a unified data model.” - Remi Champeix
The transformation involved:
- Consolidating Payroll Solutions: Danone shifted from 37+ fragmented systems to a more unified approach, leveraging Payzaar to manage and integrate regional payroll suppliers.
- Global Data Model: Payzaar helped Danone standardize its payroll data models, ensuring consistent use of SAP SuccessFactors for master data across geographies, localized where required
- Standardized Process Model: By deploying Payzaar across all countries, Danone was able to standardize processes and create more operational consistency across the organization.
- Improved Compliance and Governance: With Payzaar’s advanced reporting and compliance tools, Danone was able to improve oversight, track KPIs, and enhance audit evidence with automated validation processes globally.
- Global Reporting and GL integrations: With all the data in one place, Danone reports on single country, and multi-country in a single data model, and intergating GL to all Finance ERPs
Remi also emphasized the importance of Payzaar’s role in simplifying integration for small and medium-sized countries.
"For smaller countries, the drag-and-drop functionality Payzaar provides eliminates the need for complex integrations. It saves us from building APIs for 30+ countries,"
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The Results: Time Savings, Enhanced Accuracy, and Better Compliance
Danone’s collaboration with Payzaar delivered significant results, improving operational efficiency and employee experience across the board. Through the transformation, Danone has saved approximately 10 hours per country, per payroll, per month, whilst simultaneously reducing compliance risks and improving payroll accuracy.
Key outcomes included:
- Reduced Manual Effort: Payzaar’s automated workflows and reporting tools reduced the manual effort required by payroll teams, saving up to 10 hours per country, per month.
"We’ve been able to mitigate compliance risks and reduce manual bookings with Payzaar’s advanced reporting features" - Remi Champeix
- Improved Compliance: With Payzaar, Danone’s payroll processes now have stronger governance, improving visibility and simplifying audits: audit readiness.
"It’s now easier to track who approved what, which documents were attached, and reduce risks across the board." - Remi Champeix
- Standardized Reporting: Payzaar’s platform allowed Danone to create standardized, consolidated reports for labor costs, addressing a key demand from its finance team. This helped speed up month-end closures and provide a clearer financial picture.
"Payzaar allows us to generate files in SAP-compatible formats without the need for manual data entry, which our finance team likes a lot." - Remi Champeix
- Increased Payroll Accuracy: The introduction of KPIs and improved governance through Payzaar have enhanced payroll accuracy, enabling Danone to drive towards its ambitious target of an errorless payroll culture.
Why Payzaar: Flexibility and Scalability for the Future
Danone’s partnership with Payzaar was driven by the platform’s flexibility and ability to scale globally while accommodating local needs.
“For smaller countries, it didn’t make sense to invest in building complex systems. Payzaar provided a simple, efficient way to consolidate and manage our payroll processes” - Remi Champeix
Looking to the future, Danone sees Payzaar playing an essential role in further improving its payroll operations. Remi summed up the transformational success by saying:
“Payzaar has allowed us to harmonize our global payroll without the need to replace every local system, providing us with both control and flexibility.”
Conclusion: A Smooth Transition to Unified Payroll
Danone’s global payroll transformation with Payzaar is a testament to the power of streamlined technology and strong governance. By consolidating multiple payroll systems, improving compliance, and simplifying processes, Danone has built a robust foundation for continued success in managing its global workforce.
Payzaar’s platform has enabled Danone to maintain local payroll vendors where necessary while introducing global standards and simplifying operations, positioning them for continued efficiency and growth.
To watch Remi Champeix talking about Danone's transformation LIVE from our recent Payzaar event in Warsaw, check out the video case study below:
If you want to learn more about how Payzaar can transform your payroll operations, contact us here.
