How SaaS-Safe Time Clock Software Can Benefit Your Business

Featured article by Sarah Landrum, freelance writer and blogger

A SaaS — or Software as a Service — time clock can benefit any business, big or small. It’s well worth the cost and even helps you save time and money when it comes to keeping track of payroll and managing staff hours.

If you’re not familiar with the term, SaaS is a distribution method that hosts powerful software on a network or via the cloud, and manages it by a remote vendor or service provider. Once subscribed to the service, you can tap in and manage exactly what you need to, and so can your employees should the system call for it. Troubleshooting, service time and installation are all handled by the vendor or service provider.

According to Gartner, SaaS systems are much less expensive than internal systems or software used on-premises.

SaaS is an efficient way to offer a universal software system to your employees and team because it allows you to focus on the important things while leaving all the pesky time-consuming stuff to the vendor.

For example, a SaaS time clock system will automatically track company hours and break down the collected data for you. There’s no need to create Excel spreadsheets or produce in-depth records based on payroll. Most of these tasks will be automated.

As soon as an employee clocks in, the system records the date and time and continues to do so for everyone else that interacts with the system. There’s no way for employees to game the system and log more hours than they’re actually working because it keeps track of everything remotely.

How Does a SaaS Time Clock Work?

A SaaS time clock system has two major parts: the SaaS software and the actual time clock device.

The time clock device can come in many forms. It can take punch cards, key-fobs, act as a fingerprint scanner or be nothing more than a small touchscreen LED. The employee simply interacts with it to let the system know they’re clocking in or clocking out.

That information is registered and sent to the SaaS software, which does the real work. It calculates all payroll data, and this information can be accessed instantly from anywhere. That means if the management team is located on the West Coast and the business in question is on the East Coast, they can still keep track of employee hours in real-time.

Employees and managers alike typically have access to the system in some form or another, often by logging in via a web browser. Employees can usually view their time card and manage various tasks, like reporting sick time or requesting a vacation period.

What Are the Benefits of a SaaS Time Clock System?

There are so many benefits to using a SaaS time clock system that nearly 50% of small to medium sized businesses are using one.

Most SaaS applications have great uptime stats because they are managed remotely by a team of professionals. Large-scale data centers —where these systems are generally operated from — are much more capable than a small team of IT experts at your business. And thanks to modern security measures, the data is often much safer when it is handled by a remote SaaS system rather than an internal one.

Convenience is another benefit: The SaaS system is available from anywhere and can be logged into from a web browser. Even if the management team members are located far away from the business or if they happen to be traveling a lot, they can still tap into the system and keep track of all the necessary data. The benefits of remote access become even more promising when you consider most — if not all — SaaS time clock systems support mobile device access too.

Think about how you use internal software such as Word Processors, sales software and more. There’s a certain amount of downtime involved with those applications when they need updates, especially when it’s an important security update. With SaaS systems, the actual software is managed remotely, which means the vendor or service provider will be the ones worrying about updating said software.

This comes at no additional cost to you. Couple that with the fact that there’s little to no downtime during the entire process and you can see why using a system like this is so valuable. It’s no wonder that the SaaS market is growing five times faster than enterprise software.

Finally, let’s take a look at all the other benefits your business would reap from using a SaaS time clock system:

– Low commitment and quick maintenance

– SaaS systems are scalable and can grow with your team or business.

– There are no additional hardware or usage requirements.

– It’s more cost-effective than an internal system, which would also require a small team to manage.

– The system can be customized to meet your needs, reporting exactly the information you specify including total hours, overtime hours, overall payroll cost and more.

– Equipment used — such as a time clock — is leased by the vendor, which means if something goes wrong, you’re covered.

Putting a SaaS time clock system in place is a win for everyone. There are no additional requirements placed on your existing IT or management team and the system is maintained remotely: The only thing you have to worry about after putting such a system in place is keeping track of payroll and employee hours.

It’s no surprise that Forrester Research predicts total revenues for the SaaS market will reach $92.8 billion in 2016.