Scandic Hotels chooses Intect: “We now have a payroll system that future-proofs our payroll administration”

Scandic Hotels

Scandic Hotels is a listed hotel and restaurant chain founded back in 1963 in Sweden. With more than 280 hotels across the Nordics and as many as 28 hotels in Denmark – with two more hotels under construction – Scandic Hotels is by far the largest hotel chain in the Nordic region. The Danish division has more than 2,400 employees who, under the new agreement, will have their payroll run in Intect.

Scandic’s business philosophy is based on running hotels built on good service, an inviting atmosphere and great facilities, with a strong focus on sustainability and climate-friendly solutions. With good internal employee care, Scandic Hotels is passionate about supporting a pleasant and relaxing experience for its overnight guests.

Flexibility was decisive for Scandic Hotels

After a short period with payroll administration outsourced to an external partner, Scandic Hotels decided to go back to running payroll for its Danish division in-house. It therefore started looking for a new payroll system with the clear intention of finding a system partner that could meet the company’s need for a flexible solution.

“When we made the final decision to bring payroll administration back in-house, we knew we had to find an agile payroll system that could give us a flexibility we had not had in our previous solutions. Intect was attractive here because the system could be tailored to our specific needs, including flexible import of data from our time registration system, Timeplan” – Gitte Møberg, Project Manager pre-opening and finance at Scandic Hotels.

As Scandic is covered by a collective agreement that places heavy demands on payroll systems, it was also important that its future payroll system could support the requirements set out in the agreement.

“At Scandic, we are covered by several collective agreements, and the hotel agreement in particular sets some requirements that are difficult for a payroll system to support. Even though Intect’s functionality could not do this from the start, we were met with openness and a willingness to develop the system so that, in the near future, it will be able to support our hotel agreement. We experience a very flexible approach to meeting our needs, and that is why we feel we are in good hands with Intect.” – Gitte Møberg, Project Manager pre-opening and finance at Scandic Hotels.

Flexibility and openness to system development are two aspects that are highly prioritised at Intect, as they are considered an essential part of meeting each customer’s needs.

“At Intect, we are committed to constantly developing our internal skills as well as the system’s functionality, so that we can meet our customers’ varying needs and wishes. To facilitate Scandic’s payroll runs, we therefore started developing features that enable the system to support their hotel agreement. This flexibility is a big part of our company’s DNA.” – Frants Moraitis, CEO at Intect.

Intect could offer unique future-proofing

Another decisive factor in Scandic’s choice of payroll system was Intect’s organisational setup, in which they saw promising future prospects. Even though the company deliberately chose to go back to managing payroll itself – after a short period of outsourcing – it wants to keep the option of outsourcing the task at a later stage, making it less vulnerable and less dependent on key people in payroll.

With Intect as the payroll system, this is an open option that will be simple to facilitate. Intect is part of the ECIT Group, whose services include payroll outsourcing. If Scandic wants to outsource its payroll administration in the future, ECIT can take over this task based on Intect, as its payroll consultants are experts in the system. This solution would, for example, bring benefits such as shorter response times for support requests, as the payroll consultants work under the same roof as Intect’s support team.

“It was important for us at Scandic Hotels to find a partner where outsourcing would be an option at a later stage. We have a strong and experienced payroll team in-house, but we are very dependent on key people, so it is absolutely essential that we are covered if one or more of them leave. With Intect, there is an obvious opportunity for ECIT to take over our payroll in the future, which is why this solution helps future-proof our payroll administration at Scandic.” – Gitte Møberg, Project Manager pre-opening and finance at Scandic Hotels.

A long-term partnership based on good dialogue

With an initial needs assessment and implementation phase based on close, open dialogue, a solid foundation has been laid for a well-functioning, long-term partnership between Scandic Hotels and Intect.

“We have had a good and reassuring dialogue with Intect throughout the process. A dialogue that has given us peace of mind, because we have had direct contact with the people who developed the system, while also being involved in setting up the system for our company. This has given us really good knowledge of the system, so we feel prepared to take over when we have to run payroll. We also have a good impression of Intect’s support function, which we feel confident contacting if everything goes wrong” – Gitte Møberg, Project Manager pre-opening and finance at Scandic Hotels.

Intect’s CEO, Frants Moraitis, adds:

“It is important to us at Intect that we facilitate a good, constructive dialogue with Scandic – also after we have completed the implementation – so that we create confidence and a good framework for a long and successful partnership. A partnership that has got off to a really good start, and which we very much look forward to developing further together with Scandic Hotels.” – Frants Moraitis, CEO at Intect.