In an age of unprecedented connectivity, the world of business is changing faster than ever before. The rapid shift toward remote work, freelancing, and digital tools has paved the way for smaller companies to operate at a global scale — sometimes even from day one. This phenomenon has given rise to the “micro-multinational,” an emerging breed of businesses that harnesses talent from across the globe without the traditional constraints of large-scale corporate structures. By combining agility, digital collaboration, and global expertise, these micro-multinationals are poised to become the future model for global disruption.
To ensure we remain ahead of these trends and are investing in the areas slated for growth, last week we announced the divestiture of our global enterprise payroll division.
This pivotal transaction marks a new beginning for Safeguard Global.
Our journey so far
Way back in 2008, Safeguard Global got its start as a global payroll processing company, an industry we helped to grow with our innovative payroll solution. In the years that followed, we grew as the industry grew, pioneering the global EOR industry in 2010. The industry — us included — leaned heavily into serving global enterprise customers who needed ever evolving and complex technology platforms to support their own rapid global expansion.
Over time, though, it began to feel like it was the technology that mattered more than the EOR; recruiting; HR, benefits, accounting, legal, and tax services; and contractor management solutions. Which is, of course, understandable for the global enterprise market since they typically have hundreds of in-house employees of their own who can handle all of these critical services for them.
“Human when it matters”
We know that technology platforms absolutely matter, especially in this age of AI. But so does the other type of AI: Actual Intelligence. Artificial intelligence should never be relied on at the expense of actual intelligence — HR expertise that’s critical when technology can’t solve a problem it’s not programmed for. That’s when being “human when it matters” and truly a trusted advisor matter even more than the efficiency of technology.
Being human when it matters matters even more to small- to medium-sized organizations, many of whom are growing into micro-multinationals. They are eager to pursue global expansion without the risk. And they need us now more than ever.
These customers appreciate and need our deep understanding of the complexities of global expansion without the risk but prefer a more streamlined and personalized approach to payroll processing. A heavy enterprise payroll solution may not meet their needs, especially since these customers pride themselves on their lean and agile operations. But a solid payroll solution doesn’t have to be a heavy and overly complex one. Which is why we’ll continue to offer our Payroll Express solution (which we’re now calling Global Pay), our international payroll solution that’s purpose-built for when companies need to pay 50 people or less, instead of thousands.
A new era
The sale of our enterprise payroll division kicks off our efforts to tell the world about our growth plans, renewed focus on our core business with small- to medium-sized organizations, and our excitement about the future.
This was something we planned to announce alongside the relaunch of our refreshed brand and website in May. But there’s no time like the present.
We’re eager to start this new journey today. And as the pioneer of the global EOR industry, we’re excited to help our customers — whether small- to medium-sized sized organizations or emerging micro-multinationals — along their own journeys to any of the 187 countries (and counting!) where we currently operate.