We’ve seen them transform production lines across numerous industries, boosting efficiency and bringing down costs. They are set to revolutionise health care by carrying out intricate and complex procedures, and they can even vacuum our houses.

Now robots have a new role to play – providing payroll processing and HR data that will help businesses to not only be more productive but also to focus on activity that improves conditions for staff, including employee engagement and care.

Previously, monthly payday would be an enormous commitment for payroll teams, processing overtime, printing payslips, issuing these out. Communications between HR departments and payroll departments would take days, if not weeks, to filter down to the employee’s bottom line. But in an increasingly fast-paced digital environment, accurate and immediate processing is critical to meeting both staff expectations and, for outsourced payroll functions, client expectations.

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is the key to operating a truly modern payroll function. In years gone by, sending a BACS payment would involve no less than three people spending hours manually processing, validating, and approving payments. Assigning a robot to automate tasks like these saves time and frees up resource to address other priorities.

The benefits of RPA aren’t limited to simply saving a few minutes on repetitive tasks, though – used in the right way, smart automation can also facilitate the next part of the process. Within our client base, we are leading the way in working with businesses on cloud-based platforms which utilise RPA software to begin getting next month’s payment ready based on previous activity, and integrate with accounting and HR systems to update the payroll automatically when changes to records are made.

As well as being able to integrate seamlessly with other software systems, the modern payroll function is tailored to the needs of the individuals within the business. Employees in a unionised environment have more complex requirements than in a non-unionised workplace, for example. Overseas workers must undergo more rigorous processes than domiciled staff (and globally mobile working is only continuing to grow in popularity). Increasingly the question dictating decision-making is, “What do my people actually need?”

Because people are, and will always be, at the centre of every business – and that includes the people within the payroll functions. While the tech is making leaps and bounds, digitalisation is in no way a replacement for people; on the contrary, it’s now more important than ever to have the right people doing the right jobs.

As digital automation becomes the rule rather than the exception, payroll departments will become advisory instead of transactional. Where businesses have turnover issues because they’ve failed to keep up with the times, payroll specialists can take on a consultancy role to analyse the systems and explain what ‘good’ looks like. As well as providing management information and forecasts, payroll can also advise on pension options, the benefits that staff really want and need, and how employees want their pay supplied, supporting the talent pipeline.

What’s more, payroll teams can potentially begin to help advise employees on whether they’re getting the most out of their pay. Financial education has long been acknowledged as lacking within the current curriculum: after all, how many people know, when they leave school, what all the sections of a payslip mean? How many people, therefore, check the details of their payslips with any sort of regularity?

Payroll specialists are ideally placed to partner with banks and financial advisers to provide that education, teaching people exactly where their money is coming from, where it’s going, and what to do with it. With adoption of open banking on the rise and the introduction of open code payslips, API technology could allow payroll teams to work with third parties to help employees compare their income with their mortgage payments and consider whether they’re getting the best deal or look at their spending and saving habits to identify where changes could be made.

The potential is all there, it simply needs unlocked. Digitalisation is here and more is undoubtedly on the way, but this should not be a cause for concern – it’s an opportunity to be embraced. We have already adapted to so much change happening around us; now is the time to be bold in taking the next steps and choosing to change for the future.