I have been working as a payroll executive for the past 3 years. I have listed some of the needs below, which should be given priority before starting a payroll consultancy. Hope it will be of some help.
1. The first and foremost point which needs to be done is the technology. Payroll software plays an important role in the processing. Hence if you want to satisfy your client or retain a client, hire a good tech team and a good software. You have to spend 1/3 of your investment in this.
2. The second thing is your Business Developer(BD). He/She should have a good communication both in English and local language (a linguistic will be preferred). The person should have a fair knowledge about payroll, so that he/she can explain the various type of outputs which will be provided to the client by the company. Also he/she should be in a position to convince and judge ourselve with the client about the rate which we are going to charge for the service rendered. An experienced BD will be preferred.
3. The third important thing will be the team. At the starting stage of a company the team shall be as follows:
Manager
Team Leader
Executive/Sr. executive
Roles of Manager: A Manager pays a very important role. He should have a very thorough knowledge about the day to day activities in the field of income tax to payroll activities. He can also be called as a "Second BD" as he is the one who is going to retain the client. He will be the bridge between the client and the Team.
He should be in constant touch witht the client and get the feed back about the team and in any further needs.
Roles of Team Leader: The team leader will have to get the inputs, process and take the responsibility of delivering the outputs in time to the client.
Executive: He/She will be processing the inputs as per the instructions from the TL and do the primary validation before passing on it to the TL.
Apart from the above a separate team for statutory and compliance activities has to be maintained.
* The team is a vast area and will expand according to the needs and flow of clients. Will explore if you have more queries.