[Case Study] Powering Payroll at Scale

How Integrella helped a global payroll services firm modernise integration for growth

Overview

Our client is a global provider of HR, payroll, accounting and compliance services for multinational organisations.

As the business grew, managing payroll across multiple countries became increasingly complex. Different payroll platforms, regional systems and local regulations made it difficult to deliver services consistently and onboard new clients efficiently.

The organisation introduced a new global payroll and middleware platform to improve visibility, simplify data flows and create a single foundation for integrations across its international business.

While the technology was in place, the way integrations were being delivered wasn’t built to support the scale of the business. The client needed to improve delivery without slowing down ongoing customer projects.

The Challenge

While the symptoms were understood, the underlying causes were unclear. The objective was to identify the root causes, establish a target operating model, and begin implementing improvements immediately. They also needed to understand where they stood, what to improve, and how to improve it, while continuing to deliver.

• Slow customer onboarding processes

Our client was dealing with inconsistent ways of onboarding their customers and slow, manual processes. This was impacting the speed and reliability of client onboarding

• Limited visibility 

While integration delivery was known to be slow and inconsistent, there was no clear, evidence-based view of where gaps existed across strategy, delivery, and engineering

• Fragmented ways of working

Different teams operated with varying standards, approaches, and levels of maturity, limiting repeatability and scale

• Inability to pause delivery

With a new platform being rolled out, integration delivery had to continue, meaning assessment and transformation needed to run in parallel

Integrella delivered the engagement in three stages.

1. Assess

Over eight weeks, we reviewed the company’s integration capability through interviews, workshops, technical reviews, code analysis and stakeholder surveys.

This gave the client:

• A clear view of current capability
• Evidence of where improvements were needed
• A prioritised roadmap for change

Before the assessment was complete, we also delivered several high-priority improvements during this phase to demonstrate immediate value.

2. Improve

We then worked alongside the client’s teams to implement the roadmap while continuing live delivery.

This included:

• Improving delivery processes
• Creating reusable integration assets
• Introducing engineering standards
• Strengthening governance

The result was faster, more consistent delivery without disrupting ongoing customer projects.

3. Build Capability

Alongside delivery improvements, we helped the client become more self-sufficient by:

• Defining best practice across integration, engineering and delivery
• Creating standards and playbooks
• Coaching internal teams
• Embedding consistent ways of working

Because these changes were introduced through live projects, they became part of everyday delivery

Our Partnership

• Depth of integration expertise

Assessments were led by experts with hands-on delivery experience ensuring recommendations were grounded in real-world execution

• Preparation before Day One

Extensive pre-engagement planning ensured the right stakeholders, documentation and system access were identified before the assessment began. 

• Multiple evidence sources

Findings were based on interviews, workshops, technical reviews, documentation, surveys and direct observation rather than opinion alone. 

• Maturity-based assessment

Current capability was measured against a clearly defined future-state model to create an actionable improvement roadmap. 

• Value during discovery

Rather than waiting until the end of the assessment, Integrella implemented 5 priority improvements from a backlog of approximately 63 actions, demonstrating immediate value and building client confidence. 

• Business-case & outcome focused approach

Every recommendation was linked back to measurable business outcomes such as reduced onboarding times, improved delivery efficiency and commercial impact, ensuring the roadmap justified continued investment. 

Outcomes Achieved

By combining assessment, enablement, and uplifting into a single integrated approach, Integrella enabled the client to transform its integration capability with improved business outcomes while maintaining business continuity for a continued international growth.

• Improved customer onboarding speed

Faster and more predictable client onboarding with enhanced visibility, supporting their global growth ambitions

• Greater delivery consistency

Standardised best practice across a global team of 22 Integration specialists, improving quality and reducing variability across teams

• Clear maturity & Scalable integration model

Integrella provided a structured, repeatable Discovery-to-Transformation methodology that moves organisations from current maturity to a clearly defined target operating model to support client evolving needs.

• Embedded best practices

Teams adopted consistent ways of working across the delivery lifecycle

• Impact over recommendation

Our work enabled measurable improvements during the discovery phase where the client was able to see results in practice rather than leaving the client simply with recommendations.

• Sustainable internal capability

Through hands-on delivery and mentoring, the organisation built the expertise needed to operate and scale independently