The verdict in three sentences
A firm producing payroll for dozens of clients needs to industrialise: either a multi-company payroll suite at 40,000-150,000 FCFA/month, or a custom platform between 6,000,000 and 15,000,000 FCFA with OHADA/CNPS-compliant payslips and an employee portal. The decisive gain: payslips produced 3 times faster and 25% fewer errors. The choice depends on client volume and customisation needs.
Vendor suite or custom platform?
A vendor suite lets you start immediately, with an up-to-date CNPS scale and compliant payslips. A custom platform pays off when the firm passes a certain volume, wants a branded client and employee portal, or wishes to automate payroll input (hours, bonuses, absences) to eliminate re-keying.
| Criterion | Vendor suite | Custom platform |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | 40,000-150,000 FCFA/month | 6,000,000-15,000,000 FCFA |
| Multi-company | Yes | Yes, unlimited |
| OHADA/CNPS payslips | Included, up to date | Built/configured |
| Employee portal | Rare | Branded |
| Input automation | Limited | Extensive |
| Code ownership | No | Yes |
What industrialisation costs in FCFA
Here are 2026 orders of magnitude for a firm running multi-client payroll in West Africa.
| Item | Vendor (monthly) | Custom (project) |
|---|---|---|
| Licence / platform | 40,000-150,000 FCFA/month | 6,000,000-15,000,000 FCFA |
| Annual maintenance | included | 900,000-2,500,000 FCFA |
| Employee portal | option | included |
| Team training | 200,000-500,000 FCFA | 500,000-1,200,000 FCFA |
| Payroll data migration | 300,000-800,000 FCFA | 1,000,000-3,000,000 FCFA |
Over 3 years, a vendor suite comes to 1.5-6 million FCFA; custom makes sense beyond 40-50 companies managed or for a fast-growing firm.
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Mini case study
Mr. Koffi runs an accounting firm in Abidjan producing payroll for 60 client companies, i.e. about 1,400 payslips a month. Previously each payslip took 12 minutes on average (collecting inputs, entry, checking): 1,400 × 12 min = 280 hours a month. By automating with a custom platform, he cuts that time by a third, down to ~93 hours, i.e. 187 hours freed per month. Valued at 3,000 FCFA per hour, that is 561,000 FCFA a month, nearly 6,700,000 FCFA a year — the custom investment pays off in about two years, before even counting the 25% drop in errors and penalties.
FAQ
Are payslips OHADA- and CNPS-compliant? Yes: serious suites include up-to-date CNPS scales and OHADA rules. In custom builds, compliance is configured and tested before go-live, with regulatory monitoring.
Can several companies be managed in one tool? Yes, that is the heart of a firm suite: partitioned multi-company management, with consolidated dashboards for the firm and separate access per client.
What does an employee portal add? Employees self-serve payslips and certificates, removing manual sending and sharply reducing requests to the firm and the employer.
How is ROI calculated? Mainly on production time cut by three and errors reduced by 25% (fewer corrections, fewer penalties). At high volume, custom pays off in 2 to 3 years.
How long to deploy? Allow 1 to 2 months for a vendor suite, 4 to 7 months for a custom platform including data migration and compliance testing.
Let's scope your project. Tell us how many companies you manage, your payslip volume and your needs (employee portal, automation) and we'll quote vendor vs custom. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
