The problem
Employees email asking for a payslip copy or to change an address, and the bureau finds it and replies. If your clients' 250 employees generate 60 such requests a month at 8 minutes each, that's 480 minutes, 8 hours a month.
What the AI does
BrightPay Connect is an add-on for BrightPay on PC or Mac. Employees can view and download payslips and payroll documents, see their payroll calendar, request annual leave and request changes to personal details; approved requests sync back to BrightPay. A dashboard lets bureau clients view employee data, set leave and view payroll reports, P30s and HMRC payment schedules. The page says it is hosted on Microsoft Azure.
A worked example
A bureau in Swindon runs payroll in BrightPay for 20 small employers with 250 employees in total. It adds Connect and tells employees and clients to use the portal rather than email. The bureau already runs BrightPay, so the licence isn't a new cost.
Before
60 requests a month at 8 minutes each: 8 hours a month
After
20 emails still at 8 minutes plus 40 portal approvals at 2 minutes: 4 hours a month
What it's worth
About 4 hours a month saved (480 - 240 minutes), worth around £120 if staff time is worth £30 an hour. Cost is £80.69 a month for 250 active employees, excluding VAT, charged by active employees counted across all linked clients. That assumes 40 of 60 requests move to the portal, which you should test. BrightPay's own licence is separate.
How to set it up
- Confirm which BrightPay version you run and that Connect works with it.
- Ask BrightPay for a data processing agreement and where your data is held, since the page names Azure only.
- Pilot with two small clients and check payslips appear after each run.
- Tell employees how to log in and what to use for which request.
- Check each month that the portal and BrightPay agree before payday.
- BrightPay mentions a 12-month contract that lowers the Connect price; ask sales.
What goes wrong
- Payroll data is personal data and you act as a processor; get your clients' agreement and a written data processing agreement first.
- Billing is by the highest active employee count in the month, and unresolved failed payment can suspend self service.
- Approved requests sync to BrightPay but you still run the payroll. Check any change before the run.
- The vendor's page didn't state UK hosting; it names Microsoft Azure. Ask which region your data is in.