Payroll is a function that can be legally ethically and sensitive. Therefore, protecting its data and ensuring a secure process is a key responsibility of any business. This is why many systems and platforms are introduced to safely manage an organisation’s payroll. One of the main proven methods that stands out among these are cloud payroll solutions. Cloud technology is known to protect payroll software in the following ways.
Controlled Access
When payroll data is stored in the cloud-based payroll software, it is restricted to outside access. This refrains any third party from having physical access or stumbling across sensitive data or using it negatively.
On the other hand, cloud payroll also has a unique data access restriction. It can administer the exact amount of data a particular set of users can access and use. This goes a long way in ensuring that there is no security breach and payroll transparency is contradictory.
Moreover, any unusual or unsolicited access to data can effectively be tracked, identified, and blocked, again protecting payroll data. Depending on your cloud-based payroll provider, you can also get a customised user access level to monitor your company’s payroll process. This way, you as a client can also have a certain level of control in your company’s payroll process.
Reliable Backup
Payroll data security spans beyond just hackers. Natural disasters or unexpected hazards can easily result in data loss. You can be doing everything right to back up your payroll data regularly, be it checking if the backup equipment is working properly or if the configurations are up-to-date. But if a disaster affects your on-site backup servers or systems, you still can lose critical payroll data.
The time and money you will have to spend to resolve these issues and restore lost data can be costly, both in terms of productivity and lost revenue. The best thing about a cloud-based payroll system is that it maintains backup data at off-site premises primarily for disaster recovery. The cloud server will automatically transfer backup data to an off-site system within minutes after being updated. So no matter what disaster strikes your organisation, you can restore all data, even those from moments before the disaster occurred.
Different Layers Of Improved Security
Firstly all the data stored in cloud-based payroll software is encrypted. Encryption keeps data scrambled, so it’s hard for cybercriminals or hackers to access them easily.
Secondly, the security measures taken by reliable cloud-service providers are more robust and powerful than a traditional payroll system in an organisation. This is mainly because cloud providers constantly innovate different security measures and get outside security companies to test their servers regularly to ensure they are safe from external access (hackers and cybercriminals), malware and viruses.
Thirdly cloud platforms rely on firewalls to protect payroll data. Firewalls act as a wall to keep your payroll data safe. Firewalls can be software or hardware-based and will filter out suspicious traffic to keep the payroll data behind the wall safe. This makes it very difficult for hackers to slip viruses or malware past the firewalls.
While the cloud has evolved as a fairly new business technology with many controversies, it has effectively established a strong position in strengthening the security of sensitive business functions like payroll.
