“The Intelligo acquisition was a pivotal moment – a highlight in my career”

As SD Worx plans further expansion in Ireland, Country Lead Eimear Byrne, FCA, talks to Barry McCall about her role in the Belgian company’s entry into the Irish market and ongoing investment

In February this year, payroll and HR solutions provider SD Worx announced plans to create 40 jobs in Ireland over two years, growing its team to 115 as part of a €2.9 million investment in its workforce. 

More recently, the company unveiled a separate €3 million investment in its payroll offering, which will now be made available to SMEs in Ireland. 

Historically, servicing medium and large enterprises with over 250 employees, SD Worx will now offer its payroll solution to smaller businesses across all industries.

The move comes as SMEs in Ireland continue to face mounting challenges, including intense competition for top talent, increasing regulations and rising costs.

For Eimear Byrne, FCA, Country Lead at SD Worx Ireland, it marks the beginning of a new chapter in a career that has seen her move from the Big Four environment into industry where she played a key role in readying Irish company Intelligo for its 2022 acquisition by Belgium-headquartered SD Worx.

“We have scaled up our capabilities so that businesses that may lack the necessary internal resources can keep pace with evolving payroll trends and requirements,” says Byrne.

“Our new offering means SMEs can continue to grow and thrive with on-hand payroll support and cost certainty.”

Preparing for acquisition

The SD Worx brand may be relatively new to Ireland, but its service offering is already well-established here, Byrne says: “Our enterprise-grade payroll solution pays one-in-five employees in Ireland’s corporate sector.”

Byrne was appointed as SD Worx Country Lead for Ireland following the Intelligo acquisition, having formerly held the role of Intelligo’s Head of Finance and Operations. 

“I was on maternity leave when the approach came from the founders of Intelligo to manage the sale of the company to SD Worx,” she recalls. 

“It was a pivotal moment – managing the disposal and preparing for a new chapter in my career. I took charge of every aspect of the process, becoming the key point of contact between the founders and SD Worx. It stands out as a highlight in my career, showcasing what can be achieved when you step up to new challenges.” 

Byrne began her career in 2004 in the tax department of KPMG where she dealt with a wide range of clients across a variety of sectors. 

“I qualified in accountancy and tax between 2004 and 2008 and got fantastic exposure to the commercial world. It is a great foundation for a career. I have only positive things to say about working for a Big Four professional services firm,” she says.

Byrne left KPMG in 2008 to travel for a year. “I felt I had been sitting too long at a desk,” she explains.

Moving into industry

On her return to Ireland, she decided to move into industry. “While I loved the exposure to a lot of different companies, I wanted to drive one company forward,” she says.
“I joined Atlanco Rimec in 2009. It was an Irish-owned and headquartered temporary labour provider, with customers in several overseas countries. 

“I was the group accountant and prepared consolidated accounts for the different countries and was also involved in commercial contracts. I decided to move on in 2010. I worked with some fantastic people there, but I felt ready for new opportunities and to pursue the next stage in my career.”

From there, Byrne went to work with the late solicitor and businessman Ivor Fitzpatrick as Finance Director for his private businesses. 

“Ivor Fitzpatrick owned a number of different businesses in addition to his prestigious law firm, which included telecoms for aviation and maritime industries, the Christina O yacht formerly owned by Aristotle Onassis and hospitality, commercial property, debt management and other interests,” she says. 

“Through managing these businesses, I got involved in operations and really enjoyed it. Working with a fascinating visionary like Ivor with such incredible intelligence was a learning experience that shaped my approach to business and management. 

“I made the decision to move on when I was starting a family as there was a lot of travel involved and I couldn’t do both.”

Improving structure and processes

This decision brought Byrne into the next phase of her career when she joined the payroll software company Intelligo in 2016. 

“They had always used external accountants and weren’t sure if they needed someone internally, but had been advised to take on a financial controller and I quickly saw opportunities to help the two founders drive the business forward,” she recalls.

“I focused on harnessing data that hadn’t been explored, which led to some immediate but significant improvements. 

I standardised processes and brought more structure. 

“With improved processes and better resource allocation, we were able to respond to customer needs more efficiently, deliver higher service standards and ensure consistent quality across all channels.”

The impact on revenue and EBITDA was quite dramatic. “We had compound annual growth of almost 20 percent every year and higher post-COVID.”

Byrne also set up other departments to professionalise the management of the company. “The employee base grew by more than 50 percent from when I joined up to our acquisition,” she says. 

“I first set up the finance function and then HR. In 2018, I led a project to obtain an independent valuation and complete the buyback of shares to put the entire shareholding into the founders’ hands. 

“To facilitate the buyback, we did a corporate restructure and we took on debt finance to ensure the continued growth of the company. It was an invaluable experience for the subsequent acquisition by SD Worx.”

Next up for Intelligo was a new legal department. “We had outsourced our legal work but that wasn’t always the best fit for our business. External advisors might not fully understand internal operations,” explains Byrne. 

“Evergreen contracts set out ways of operating that no longer align with the business or the industry, for example. I took the lead and revised our contracts, becoming the point of contact for negotiations with every client. 

“As a result, we were able to streamline client interactions, reduce operational headaches and ultimately enhance the overall customer experience. We appointed an in-house legal counsel after that to support our continued growth.”

Delivering optimum profit

Looking back, Byrne says her biggest achievement was ensuring every revenue stream yielded optimum profit. 

“It was about getting more structured every year and understanding how to drive efficiency in the business,” she says.

The next chapter for Byrne was preparing the exit plan for Intelligo’s two founders. “There was a lot of consolidation in the market. COVID was a big driver of that as it introduced a lot of new payroll regulations overnight.”

SD Worx has been providing payroll services across Europe since 1945 and, up until the acquisition, had been using Intelligo software for payroll processing in Ireland. 

“They didn’t own payroll IP in Ireland, and they wanted to de-risk their payroll offering to clients. Intelligo had a very impressive client base of over 300 medium-to-large-sized enterprises, many of them international,” Byrne says. 

“SD Worx saw Ireland as a hub of business interaction with an excellent crossover with their pre-existing international clients. 

“Through acquisition, we still deliver exceptional payroll solutions but can now offer much more by expanding our product portfolio to include workforce management, HR, talent management, data and analytics. We can support in-house service as well as provide outsourced solutions and consultancy.”

M&A trajectory in European markets

SD Worx has 90,000 customers across Europe and employs 8,000 people. “It is a huge company, which is still growing,” Byrne says.

“It is on an M&A trajectory with the aim of being the European leader in integrated payroll and HR solutions, supporting clients along the whole employee journey from recruitment to retirement. My role as Country Lead is to deliver that vision in Ireland.”

This vision was the driving force behind the company’s recent entry into Ireland’s SME market for the first time. 

“We have taken our mid-market and large enterprise knowledge and expertise and applied that to SMEs,” Byrne says. 

“We are also adding new products. Last year, it was workforce management. This year, it is an HR solution. Talent management and an academy for learning and development are next. We will continue to add products as we establish ourselves as an integrated provider of payroll and HR solutions for Ireland.”

SD Worx will also continue to innovate and enhance its flagship payroll technology, MegaPay. “Payroll is complicated, and it changes very fast,” Byrne says. 

“We need to pivot very quickly to accommodate things like statutory sick pay change, auto-enrolment pensions and enhanced expense reporting, which was as big a change as PAYE modernisation. 

“The increased administrative burden makes it difficult for SMEs to stay abreast. As a result, we are seeing demand for webinars and newsletters to keep our clients updated.”
Demand for outsourcing integrated payroll and HR services is also on the rise. “If a company does this in-house, there can be a point of exposure,” Byrne says. 

“If a person looking after payroll in-house becomes sick, there are compliance and other risks. Outsourcing to SD Worx removes risk and deals with compliance. 

“We deliver better data and analytics to our clients who get a more holistic view of how their business is operating and performing. Our integrated HR and payroll and talent management solutions help them manage people costs to drive efficiencies and profitability.”