Use ‘Disruptive Forces’ to Reinvent Payroll Industry, Says Innovation Expert

During his Closing General Session presentation “The Economic Pandemic: An Evolutionary Revolution Accelerating Disruptive Innovation Post Pandemic,” Daniel Burrus, a leading technology forecaster and innovation expert, talked about businesses post-COVID-19.

He believes companies will be able to go beyond simply getting back to normal once the pandemic is behind us if they react and respond with an open mind.

“We are in a unique time in human history,” Burrus said. “When the pandemic hit … everyone, on a global level, was forced to go digital. That accelerated change tremendously.”

In some cases, such as in e-commerce and remote work, Burrus believes the world has advanced technologically five to 10 years. That change means new opportunities for companies looking to create a better future for their employees and customers.

“Let’s take what we learn here and redefine and reinvent payroll,” Burrus said. “Technology is going to redefine and reinvent it for us anyway. Disruptive forces are heading our way, and we can use disruption to our advantage.”

Burrus said integration of the old and the new will “provide the magic” when the worst of COVID-19 is over. This means that companies will not completely remove things they implemented over the last year and a half just because some of them will want things to go back to the way they used to be.

“When it comes to remote working, we’re going to have a lot of people continuing to work remotely,” Burrus said. “We’ve learned how to do that now. We’re still going to go to the office, but not as we did before. Instead of a place where we house our employees, we’re going to look at how to maximize the human interface … and innovation, collaboration, and communication.”

This includes jobs in the payroll industry. Burrus said payroll pros should embrace change now with things like artificial intelligence compliance tools or the use of behavior analytics.

“As you get new payroll tools, look at not just what you did before,” he said. “Let’s look at, ‘What is it I can do here to give me new advantage and allow me to do things I couldn’t do before?’”

Attendees in the session seemed excited about what things were to come once the pandemic is behind everyone. "Payroll professionals always embracing change," said Laurie Murray, CPP, Payroll and Benefits Specialist at World Council of Credit Union Inc.

Many Congress Xstream attendees had thoughts on the idea of going back to an office setting.

"I do not want to return to the office," one of them said. "I am very happy in my home office, connecting via Teams. It has worked for us for 14 months now."

Someone else added: "For as much as I can be an introvert, I really need to be around people."

Whatever the equivalent of a standing ovation is in a virtual setting, Burrus received it once he completed his presentation.

"Wow, what a time for change!" said Susan Darring, Senior Principal Product Manager at Oracle. "Thank you Daniel and APA!"