Case Studies | Red Office

A Payroll Software Conversion for 600 Staff

A seamless payroll software conversion for Cater Plus

Highlights

Automated syncing and timesheet imports saved hours of manual work.
Reduced steps in payroll workflows.
PayHero’s updates ensure legislative alignment.

Cater Plus is a privately owned and operated leader in food service, providing high-quality catering solutions across New Zealand, from Kaitaia to Invercargill. Founded in 2006 by Paul Hodge, they have built their reputation on a passion for food, excellence in service, and a commitment to people. Their tailored solutions cater to a wide range of sectors, including corporate cafes, private hospitals, education, aged care facilities, private events, and more.

At Cater Plus, they believe that great food creates great experiences. By consistently delivering fresh, high-quality meals, they enhance customer satisfaction and foster strong, long-lasting client relationships.

“Cater Plus are big enough to deliver, but small enough to care.”

With almost 600 staff on their payroll, it’s a function that keeps the finance team challenged and engaged. It’s a busy job that Payroll Administrator, Elmari enjoys very much. She has been with Cater Plus for just over a year and says it’s a great place to work.

When it was time to move from one payroll software to another, the team knew it needed to be done with care, precision and within timelines. The payroll software conversion service from Red Office was exactly the level of support and expertise the Cater Plus team needed to keep their business going, improve payroll processes and manage a large amount of employee data efficiently.

Project Background

Cater Plus had been using a desktop-based payroll system for many years, which was due to be retired in 2025. They wanted to transition to new payroll software well before the retirement date to allow them plenty of time to learn and implement a new system without being rushed or pushed to make decisions.

One challenge they wanted to specifically address was the arduous leave set up in the previous system. This was creating additional steps and more work on top of their existing workload as they had to manually go through sick and annual leave for that week for every employee to ensure it was correct. It was a time-consuming task that added to their already busy day.

Three team members in the finance team worked together and reached out to PayHero who then referred them to Red Office and conversations began.

The Challenge of moving to new software

A payroll software conversion of this size and scope was going to be a large project on all sides.

Accuracy and care were needed to ensure all historical data for each employee was able to be transferred to the new system, including all year-to-date totals and leave balances.

Cater Plus had a deadline in mind and needed the support of a third party such as Red Office, to help make their plan a reality.

The impending retirement of the software was an opportunity for Cater Plus to review their payroll requirements while looking ahead at future needs. Cloud-based software was the way to go and meant they could address any workflow challenges they were experiencing and look to reduce any additional steps in the current process.

The Red Office approach

Why Cater Plus Chose to Work With Red Office

Red Office was recommended to the Cater Plus team through FlexiTime (product owner of PayHero), specifically to ensure a smooth transition with the implementation.

Our experience with PayHero gave Cater Plus the confidence that we could support the transfer of data accurately and securely. The high recommendation from the developer further reinforced their decision to work with us.

The decision process...PayHero stands out

While Cater Plus was exploring options, they wanted to ensure the transition could happen smoothly and simultaneously. PayHero caught their attention because it offered both timesheet and payroll integration – something other solutions didn’t provide. This made PayHero the right fit for their needs, as it offered the seamless functionality they were looking for, including the use of Droppah for rostering and timesheeting.

“We were impressed by how the project plan was set up. The entire transition was just handled in the background. The willingness and prompt replies from Sarah in assisting us, no matter how many times we asked the same questions”.

Elmari

Finance Team Member - Payroll

A team of three in the Cater Plus finance team worked with Sarah for the full software implementation. They received a plan of attack following their scoping call and were able to see the steps involved, the information and points of action that each party needed to provide.

The plan included cleaning the data to ensure accuracy before transferring it to the new system. Then, Sarah and the team conducted multiple parallel runs before the official launch. She then trained the finance team, equipping them with the confidence to train others across NZ on Droppah.

“Together with Sarah, we drew up the whole execution plan with dates on when everything was happening. There was a whole plan set up for us. We knew when pay slips were going to be loaded and more”

The Results

With close to 600 staff on their payroll, Cater Plus needed a smart, cloud-based system that could handle the volume of their payroll, which is what they received with PayHero.

“We started the process in April/May and did our first run live in September, meeting our target deadline. All data from the old system was successfully transferred and the whole process was smooth”.

So, how are you finding the new software?

We’re generally finding the new payroll software to be user-friendly, especially for most of the core functions. It’s also great to see that the system is updated to stay in line with legislation, which has been a huge benefit for us.

That said, there are still areas where we see room for improvement. For example, the leave approval process doesn’t currently have the hierarchical structure we need. We’re hopeful that this can be addressed in future updates.

What improvements are you seeing?

With the new system, we’ve saved a significant amount of time, especially in importing timesheets into payroll. The automatic sync feature eliminates the need for manual data entry, streamlining the process. Additionally, the system has simplified PAYE payments. While there are still some steps in the process, many of the manual tasks we had before have been automated, making the entire payroll cycle faster and more efficient.

“Sarah made us feel like family, not just another client. Without the assistance of Sarah and Red Office, we would not have met our deadline. It just alleviates the stress. For us, it was the first time going through a conversion, and it helps to have someone who has done this before otherwise it could have been very overwhelming for us”

Are you looking to migrate to new payroll software?

Moving from one payroll software to another can be a huge task on your own.

We have a comprehensive process designed to make this run smoothly.

Book a scoping call with Sarah to discuss your initial requirements and learn how we can help make it easier to move from one payroll software to another, or contact our office for a free, no-obligation chat.

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December 17, 2024

How a tech CEO won back her day

Case Studies

Introduction

In 2020 Lauren Peate was flying high. Multitudes, the performance analytics company she’d founded earlier, was showing solid growth in employee numbers and clients. With all the numbers heading in the right direction, it was time to take the business to the next level.

Lauren wanted to focus on:

Further developing her software
Building the team
Growing the business.

But there was a hitch: she was just too busy, managing all the functions of the business—from staffing to client work to admin— herself. The manual accounting and admin systems were slow and cumbersome. Processes hadn’t been fully set up.

Her company needed a CEO, but she was still functioning in start-up mode.

Then, thanks to a recommendation by her accountant, Lauren discovered Red Office.

How Multitudes used Red Office’s services

Lauren told us what she wanted to achieve, and we provided a scope of work that included:

Guidance on best practice and statutory requirements for payroll and accounting processing
Full setup of Xero and payroll software— from a manual to a cloud-based system with all IRD requirements met.
Internal process development and setup with customised templates, making it easier for employees to manage expense claims and leave requests.

Two of our team members worked on this account, managing the daily accounting functions—one processing and one reviewing—with Alanna, our Head of Specialist Accounting Services, overseeing.

All bills and payroll required Lauren’s approval before payment, meaning she had full oversight of her systems and accounts.

The Results

Lauren won back her day: Not having to spend huge amounts of time on admin meant she could concentrate on building her team and software.

Instant access to accounts and data: Lauren had full visibility of accounts, plus had metrics and financial data on hand to provide to investors at quick notice.

Always on the ball: We could inform Lauren of unexpected cost increases and any unusual items requiring her attention through weekly comms, reducing time spent reviewing and decreasing the number of queries.

“Jenny and Alanna at Red Office did an amazing job for us! They’re great communicators – and we appreciate that they work on our team’s tools, including Slack – and they’ve been proactive in catching potential issues, like a cost that was higher than it had been previously. I highly recommend the whole Red Office team!”

Lauren Peate
CEO – Multitudes

The brakes are off!

Multitudes is growing at a rapid pace, and we have recently completed a full handover to the new accounts team that Lauren has engaged. She realised she needed more high-level support and now has a full bookkeeping and CFO package.

Lauren remains one of our favourite clients and we are excited to see Multitudes’ developing future.

Set the CEO in you free…

So you can focus on the bigger picture for your business.

Book a no-obligation chat with Louise today. Call her on 027 473 5963.

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June 13, 2024

Marketing support for a commercial equipment supplier

Case Studies

Snapshot

Inter-Fridge are a locally owned business employing 3 staff who have full support from the Red Office team
With the cost of recruitment removed, Inter-Fridge were able to invest more in their marketing including SEO optimisation.
As at November 2023 we had 75 keywords in the Top 10 vs. 31 in November 2020. Website sessions from organic search increased from 350 per month to 500-600 per month over the past few years.

Introduction

Inter-Fridge supply commercial refrigeration to businesses around NZ. Being a small, kiwi business they have that can-do attitude helping many business owners with their storage and display requirements. No job is too big or small for this team.

Owner, James has been in the commercial refrigeration industry for over 40 years and the team have a good reputation with their customers and with those in the industry.

They have a range of customers spanning the length of NZ and manage all sales and service from their base in Auckland. They engaged our marketing support services in 2019 after being one of our bookkeeping clients.

The Challenge

When their sales and marketing coordinator was leaving, Inter-Fridge knew they had to replace her quickly to ensure their efforts to date remained current and relevant. The cost and effort of employing someone full-time again in this role was too much at the time for this business to consider.

They needed immediate help with preparing sales quotes and proposals, updating the website, providing general sales support, and keeping their online channels updated. There was a lot of marketing collateral missing that the team required for sales visits and a lot of products to catalogue and display online in an easy to digest manner that it became very overwhelming and stressful for the team when they couldn’t find what they wanted quickly and easily.

They wanted to have support in the form of being able to find what they needed when they needed it, as well as being able to have a support person available to help with small things like sales admin, editing, help with using their CRM and answering their queries.

The Solution

With a working relationship established with our senior bookkeeper, James explored the option of outsourcing the marketing side of his business to us. The value for money and cost savings became obvious.

We put together a scope of work to cover the absence of the sales and marketing coordinator, starting with 13hours per month that included a monthly meeting at their location. Initially our brief was for ‘upkeep’ of the current work, maintaining their digital channels, CRM, and sending email campaigns with new promotions and offers to their database.

James saw the benefits of nurturing his existing customers but also wanted to grow and increase his sales.

The team had sales collateral created for them, including templates for quotes and proposals that were easy to update and use, and slowly we started to build a cohesive brand and establish a larger presence in the industry.

New projects were introduced including a website overhaul, a focus on regular social media management, using those platforms in the right way and being able to provide leads to the sales team. Later we introduced the addition of blogs and new product catalogues. Once the website was complete, we were able to engage an external SEO agency for further optimisation and growth opportunities.

Results & Benefits

James has seen the value gained from keeping his marketing top of mind and ensuring adequate budget remains each year. The sales team have their large quotes and proposals prepared for them to provide a consistent look and feel which removed the admin burden from them, and there is marketing collateral available for their sales trips, The CRM and admin side is managed without the sales team having to worry about this.

By not having to employ anyone in-house, the cost savings were able to be applied to digital marketing initiatives:

A website update and redesign to sort products by category
The addition of monthly blogs
SEO focus to utilise the website and drive traffic
Google Ads and Facebook remarketing campaigns

With the combination of paid advertising and keeping on top of online channels, Inter-Fridge has had an increase in product enquiries, leads, and sales, plus a huge shift in an increase in visibility of the Inter-Fridge brand. They have been involved in large client pitches and tenders, and have grown their reputation within the industry.

“ Marketing support from Red Office has helped us in so many ways without the need to hire someone internally. We have been able to achieve everything we wanted to with this service set up.

James Holdich

Director

If you would like to find out we can support you with your marketing efforts, get in touch with our team on the main office line to discuss how this service could benefit you.

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January 18, 2024

How outsourced bookkeeping helped this equipment supplier

Case Studies

Services utilised: Bookkeeping | Payroll | Consulting

Who they are

Inter-Fridge are a supplier of commercial refrigeration equipment to the supermarket and hospitality sector throughout New Zealand.
A hybrid working setup provided the Director with confidence that his business was professionally cared for, providing accuracy across accounts functions and support for his team
Our team became trusted members of this team, with the scope of work extending past traditional bookkeeping, to consulting and admin.

Introduction

Inter-Fridge are a locally owned and operated business supplying commercial refrigeration to various businesses around NZ. They import a range of equipment from Asia and Europe specifically designed for the supermarket and hospitality industry. Based in Auckland, they are able to service the whole of NZ and employ 3 staff that manage sales, service and deliveries. They have been with Red Office since 2015, initially for bookkeeping and payroll services, and then in 2019 started using our marketing support services.

The Challenge

Inter-Fridge was managing their bookkeeping and daily accounts functions in house for close to one year before they were referred to Red Office through their accountant. It was a time consuming chore for James, Director of Inter-Fridge to do on his own. It often meant late nights, or working weekends to catch up on admin, and he knew he wasn’t doing the best job having to manage it all on his own.

Having the right fit person was important to Inter-Fridge. They didn’t feel they were big enough to employ someone but they knew they needed “more than just a bookkeeper” – they wanted a business driver, someone who understood and challenged them on their goals and were able to have discussions around where they wanted to be in 3-5 years and beyond. James also wanted to know and understand his figures better, to know which areas of the business required attention and which areas were working well.

Outsourcing work like this can be tough. It takes some getting used to the process, so it was also a preference to have someone on-site where there could be collaboration and discussion in person and reduce the emails or phone calls.

Inter-Fridge wanted a trusted, full-service relationship where there was complete visibility of the processes and accounts, including support for the wider team as well as ensuring the day to day accounts functions such as invoicing, payments, and payroll didn’t fall behind.

The Solution

With the referral from their accountant as our introduction, we were able to propose a solution to James, where he would receive weekly accounts support and management of all daily tasks, payroll management, accounts support for the sales team and monthly reports prepared for their accountant.

This was a cost effective way of ensuring the accounts were accurate and compliant, saving Inter-Fridge thousands in recruitment and salaries.

Having someone off-site was a slight concern for him, so we proposed a tailored solution where our senior bookkeeper would work in their office one day per week. This provided peace of mind, clarity, and a chance to go over any queries together without having to pick up the phone or send multiple emails.

Results & Benefits

We established a great working relationship between us and all members of the Inter-Fridge team.

With access to not only a senior bookkeeper who managed the day to day functions of the business, supporting the sales team with their purchase orders, invoicing as well as monthly stocktakes with the team, James was also able to engage consulting services from Louise to support the larger aspects of the business, liaising with his accountant, lawyers, banks and other stakeholders when required.

James has full confidence in his accounts and peace of mind that his figures are accurate. He was able to reclaim the time he used to spend navigating Xero and the various admin work to focus on his customers and sales.

Conclusion

With a fully managed service in place, across 2 functions of our business, the team at Red Office have become not just an outsourced service to Inter-Fridge, but a trusted advisor and partner to James and his team.

Our hybrid working setup alleviated his concerns with having work completed off-site, establishing our strong relationship that increased our service capabilities to other areas of his business.

We have attended sales pitches, provided support for a recent acquisition, and have been involved in other aspects of the business at the client’s request due to our team’s experience and service oriented outlook.

“ I am confident with our figures and the whole experience has improved our accounts, admin and marketing so much. We have a professional look thanks to the team at Red Office

James Holdich

Director

If you’re thinking you need help with managing your accounts, get in touch with our team to discuss how we can work together.

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November 15, 2023

Outsourced Payroll Management for 450 staff

Case Studies

Services utilised: Payroll

Who they are

National food retail business
450 staff
75 stores nationwide
This nationwide restaurant group focuses on providing healthy choice meals and drinks
They moved their payroll from an internal, sole charge position to a fully outsourced model at Red Office, with 4 payroll professionals.

The Background & Challenge

Historically, this business had always employed someone for their payroll processing. This was a sole-charge, full-time role reporting to the CFO.

With payroll being a weekly task the relentless schedule for this as a sole charge role, meant staff turnover every 12 months.

This created workflow planning challenges, continuous cost of recruitment & training, and ongoing risk for the business in staff absence.

At the last staff resignation, this business instigated a full payroll review via an external payroll consulting company.

When the review was completed, they decided to explore outsourcing options. They learned about Red Office through a recommendation from their Payroll Software Provider.

The Solution

It was important this business got a full-service relationship, 5 days per week, to provide accurate, timely payroll information that their leadership team could rely on.

Our team proposed a custom solution that would meet all their requirements and mitigate their risk.

Sarah, Head of Payroll Services at Red Office, put together a senior team to complete an online handover with the consulting team.

She ensured her team was all trained to run the payroll, review the payroll, and manage the inbox queries.

Results & Benefits

With a payroll team in place, the risk relating to staff absence from a sole charge role was instantly mitigated.
They returned to full management of the payroll inbox Monday to Friday vs. Monday to Wednesday. This has meant staff and managers receive daily feedback on their pay enquiries.
There is confidence that any queries raised by managers are reviewed and answered using a collaborative team-based view vs. a sole charge opinion.
Our four-person team has reduced the amount of time that the CFO spends overseeing payroll.
Across 450-500 pays, staff queries have reduced considerably to just a handful per week.
In addition, we have removed all recruitment, training, certification, and management costs for this business with a fully managed service in place.

The most significant benefit to me was moving from payroll processing to a payroll partner.
If you are considering a move to an outsourced payroll provider, I would highly recommend a scoping session with Louise and Sarah.

Tasnim Hoosein

CFO

If you would like your payroll professionally managed, speak to Louise or Sarah for a confidential discussion.

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September 22, 2023