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The Challenge
SRSL operates across a diverse group of businesses, including hotels, property, rural estates and farming operations. As the business grew across different sectors, each division had adopted systems that suited its own operations. Over time, this left SRSL with three different payroll platforms, two HR system, and one division with no HR platform at all.
That fragmentation made it difficult to answer basic questions consistently.
- Total headcount.
- Full-time equivalents.
- People costs across the group.
Without a shared system, those answers were difficult to obtain and rarely consistent.
At the same time, SRSL had begun a wider harmonisation programme across the business. To align how teams worked, they first needed a clear, reliable view of their people data.
“Two things drew us to Sona: the technology was more advanced than anything else we saw, and we wanted a partner we could grow with — not a corporate provider where we'd be a small fish in a very big pond.”
The Solution
Sona replaced SRSL’s fragmented systems with a single platform covering HR, payroll and rostering across all four divisions.
Implementing the platform required adapting the system to very different operational environments — from hotel teams working across shifts to rural and farming operations with their own employment structures and contract types.
Despite a change in SRSL’s solution manager during the project, the implementation continued smoothly.
“It didn’t feel at all like we’d had that changeover, which is sometimes concerning when you’ve done all the discovery with someone else. It was seamless.”
The experience also reinforced one of the reasons SRSL chose Sona: the speed at which the platform evolves.
“I’d been off for two weeks. I came back and some of the things we were talking about a month ago — ‘it would be great if it could do this’ — had appeared in the product updates. It’s great to see that coming through so quickly.”
| Before Sona | After Sona |
|---|---|
| Three payroll systems, two HR platforms and one division without HR infrastructure | One unified platform across all four divisions |
| Fragmented workforce data and limited organisational visibility | A single, reliable source of truth |
| Legacy systems that struggled to support a growing business | A modern platform designed to evolve with the organisation |
The Results
Today SRSL has something it previously lacked: a single, consistent view of its workforce across the entire organisation.
All divisions now operate on the same platform, with payroll, HR and rostering aligned in one place.
This means leadership teams can access accurate information on headcount, workforce costs and people data across the business, providing a reliable foundation for decision-making as the organisation continues to grow.
“What Sona’s given us is that one source of truth — a base for all future decisions.”
