RUN powered by ADP is a benefits administration and payroll platform for small businesses with light additional HR features. It runs on a cloud-based platform with mobile accessibility.
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Intuit Online Payroll (discontinued)
Score 8.1 out of 10
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Intuit Online Payroll was a small business payroll option available as a standalone SaaS solution, that Intuit announced it was discontinuing in favor of Quickbooks Online Payroll, available via Quickbooks.
I've used Intuit, Gusto & Paychex. Whenever I can, I refer clients to use RUN Powered by ADP payroll because of their easy payroll processing and the 24hrs service they provide.
When I was an office manager we were using Intuit to pay and be paid! When I came to a new company we started using ADP, and I now use RUN Powered by ADP for both jobs I work at. I think both services are good, but RUN gets the job done here because we do not need to submit our …
I prefer Run to QuickBooks in all aspects except price. However, the quality of the ADP product is worth the premium if the customer can afford it. Run is very comparable to Workforce Now in its core function but is obviously less robust in terms of functionality.
It is unfortunate to be stuck with only one solution and to be paying for each client. The two-day (and in some cases, one day) turn around time really sealed the deal for me. And that is without pre-funding an account. It reduces complexity, so I'm not paying for a bunch of …
When we hire remote workers, living in other states, RUN Powered by ADP has been supportive and an excellent resource. We know we can contact them with questions and they will set us in the right direction. From how to get set up in other states (with specific contact information) to general questions, they've been great.
I believe the ideal scenario is when you are already using the Intuit family of products and the payroll bolts on to your existing QuickBooks infrastructure. Payroll software products have been around a long time, and this is a very competitive niche. Most of the companies do a good job of filing taxes promptly, reporting W-2 items properly, providing good reports, etc. Where you might really get some extra efficiency and benefit is the fact that the payroll is woven into the accounting system, creating one seamless enterprise solution. Also, where it might be less appropriate is in a really simple use case such as a one person company where there aren't complex fringe benefits to deal with. In that scenario, you can set up the ACH debits directly with the state agency and the IRS and possibly file your own 941, 940, W-2/W-3 and state equivalent forms. Of course, if you're willing to do this and are good with details, you can save yourself some money.
Integration with QuickBooks Desktop. This is the key strength of IP... it is a complete, native integration and let's you maintain all employee records and time keeping in QuickBooks
Job Costing. Another key differentiation -- some payroll outsources say they do true job costing (by work or item code). Don't believe them. If its' not integrated with your accounting system, you will not get "TRUE" job costing. You can get costs ASSIGNED to jobs (which may be fine), but you won't get item level detail in QuickBooks from anyone but Intuit.
Variety of Payment options. Use Direct Deposit or manual checks... or whatever you want. Since its in QB, you can make payments any way you want.
Cash Flow. This is both good and bad, but IP will not take taxes out of your bank account until they are due. That's different than some other providers that want assurance that you have the tax payments available at the moment you push "SUBMIT."
Being a small company and as a designated owner, the employee who processes payroll is the only person that gets the notification that payroll is submitted. As the "Owner," it would be best if the "owner" could also get a copy of the processing of payroll. I have to log in to review what was actually submitted...so if incorrect and I miss checking immediately, an employee could be paid incorrectly.
The PTO / vacation accrual product does not have the ability to provide a "liability" report of what the accrual balances owed are. I started using the product only to find out that a liability report was not available, nor could it be created.
Employee change form is only available after payroll is submitted. It would be more helpful to have the change form available before submission so any potential incorrect changes could be identified before running a final payroll.
My biggest issue is that they do continue to raise their prices on a regular basis and it makes people feel stuck when there are so many clients already using the system.
They do not support roaming employees, so employees that cross over into various tax jurisdictions in one pay period pose a challenge for calculating taxes and pay.
The setup can be a bit daunting still if you are not familiar with the system or the various taxes and requirements for reporting.
It is much better than the payroll system I used previously. The integrations that RUN has for on-boarding new hires are very convenient when they work properly. It saves a tremendous amount of time being able to email a link to new employees that allows them to enter much of their own demographic information. Payroll feature alerts me when someone's pay is significantly less or more than usual.
I have been using this system for years and they have actually made it easier and easier. The system is always making great upgrades that don't necessarily require any additional information or training. I love when I log in and see a new feature or button that I get to use to make my life easier!
I would rate it a 0. It gets worse and worse all the time. It seems like every time I go into IOP to run a payroll for one of my clients, I have one more problem.
I have never had an instance of an outage. It is always available as I have added data while travelling, on weekends, and in after work hours. Retrieving pdf's is also available at any time for employees and benefit participants.
ADP Run loads a bit slowly at times, once I put in my credentials. However, that said, I think my perception of the time it takes is impacted by our "instant gratification" expectation of being able to get into everything quickly.
At times it takes a few minutes to reach someone and sometimes the ADP automated voice prompt does not recognize my name when I say it. Also, sometimes I am forwarded to different departments and I have to explain my issue 2 or 3 times. It is hard to know whether it is an ADP Run/payroll processing issue versus an ADP Time and Attendance issue. Over the last year or so that I have called ADP, sometimes I am left on hold for a very long time.
The customer support personnel have always walked me through the steps they need to take to assist me. Never rushed through anything. Always exceptionally thorough, answering all my questions and even sharing my screen visually (I have control, not them). It actually helps me to resolve future issues and questions, if they should arise.
While Paychex Flex was a decent payroll processing product, the customer service support was terrible. We were unable to reach our assigned payroll support team member constantly. If we had issues that were not pressing, we would send a quick email to get insight or to be addressed and it would go unanswered for WEEKS. This was extremely frustration as while it may not have been pressing at the time, but due to the length of time, it can grow into a snowballing effect.
It's a payroll software with decent customer support readily available and direct integration with my accounting tools. This made it a prime fit for me, and made payment and tax reporting relatively simple, and errors readily correctable. It does not have time tracking, and I still believe that this software is overpriced, but it's the best fit for me right now.
Every summer, we hire three new college interns who have to be entered into the system. They can enter their information themselves, which takes a load off me. The onboarding is quite straightforward, and today's college kids are techy enough to be able to understand it.
Our client list tripled in less than two years because current clients spoke positively of ADP
Since our client list tripled, so did our revenue which was a tremendous increase
ADP is one of the best in the market so when we're selling the payroll package to potential clients, they usually know who ADP is and they already have positive ideas about it
Positive: Less of a learning curve to train payroll accountants, as they are already familiar with using Intuit. Also, in general there are a larger pool of candidates who know this system than many of the other "niche" lesser known payroll products.
Positive: More options to choose from depending on the level of service needed. For example, there is a Full Service offering if needed. This might apply to an organization that doesn't have the resources available or an internal person who has the time/bandwidth to handle the entire company's payroll. Thus, it is possible to cherry pick the level of service needed depending on the type of company/situation.
Positive: Good audit trail. This can be extremely important and cost efficient when a business is going through an external audit by an outside CPA firm and the payroll accounting function is undergoing testing (ie. less time required by the external auditor would likely lower their bill for their services).
