InformationWeek

October 26, 1998

ADP Starts Web Service

Vendor to debut Internet-based payroll system

By Marianne Kolbasuk McGee

utomated Data Processing Inc. this week will unveil a new Internet-based payroll service for its more than 120,000 small-business clients. The service represents the first of several Internet-based payroll initiatives ADP plans to roll out over the next year for customers of all sizes.

ADP's EasyPayNet service will let companies with up to 100 employees send their payroll information to ADP over the Internet. In the past, those customers either faxed or phoned in that information during a prescribed time. EasyPayNet will also allow ADP clients to access their payroll information online, rather than waiting for printed reports to be faxed or mailed to them by ADP.

Peter Kraus, controller of Broad Street Productions Inc., a New York video production company with 11 full-time employees and a payroll that periodically jumps to 40, plans to use EasyPayNet. "This will give me a lot of freedom in processing the payroll," he says. "I'll have the ease to send the information from remote project locations whenever I have the time."

The Internet services will also free up ADP customer service representatives to provide more consulting services for ADP clients, such as answering questions about tax laws, says Raul Villar, ADP director of marketing programs and services. ADP is in the process of upgrading its network to T1 lines in an effort to handle the Internet traffic.

Currently, EasyPayNet is being tested with ADP small-business customers in the greater New York area. The service will be offered nationwide next spring, says Villar. ADP estimates that about 40% of small businesses have computers that are equipped to send payroll information via the Internet. ADP estimates that by 2003 the percentage will jump to 60%. Pricing has not yet been determined.

ADP enlisted Internet solutions systems integrator Inventa Corp. to create the EasyPayNet Web site and front end, while ADP's own IT staff integrated the systems with its legacy systems. IBM Global Services is providing Internet hosting services to ADP.