Encon was previously part of the Wolsey Group and used the group’s contracted payroll and HR provider. Following a MBO, they decided to maintain stability with the payroll and stay with the same provider.

It quickly became apparent, however, that the size and service delivered by their provider did not fit with the way Encon wanted to work. The provider was too large with unwieldy systems and little personal service.

A decision was made to find a new provider and a Project Manager was employed for 18 months to manage this process.

Dataplan were successful in this tender process with Encon seeing a good fit between the way Dataplan operated and their needs.

As Deborah Gore, HR Director, stated

“I felt that the customer services aspect was right. That Dataplan offered more of a personal, informal and flexible way of working.

With other providers you are buying their systems and have to fit your processes around them. With Dataplan, they were willing to fit their systems around ours.”

The initial transfer was the first testing point for Dataplan due to the poor quality of data supplied by the previous provider. The transfer process involved a number of parallel runs of the payroll, during which Dataplan picked up errors and were able to correct before the payroll finally went live.

Deborah commented on our Project Team who were responsible for the payroll transfer and set up.

“They were very helpful and easy to access. Working on a personal level made it work better. We took time to make sure the whole process was set up correctly.”

Dataplan continue to work in partnership with Encon to help streamline the workflow through their business. In order to provide the HR functionality they require, we have implemented our VERA system and made adjustments to accommodate Encon’s requirements and systems.

We are currently working closely with Encon on a project to integrate all their master spreadsheets into VERA, which will have a substantial positive impact on Encon’s efficiency going forward.