Michael Alter, SVP at SurePayroll

In spite of all the challenges for a small, growing company, many businesses didn't see the value in outsourcing payroll. Others would submit information to accommodate the outsourcer's schedule and not their own, and had no assurance that the numbers would be correct until the checks showed up a few days later.
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Michael Alter, senior vice president at SurePayroll, saw the opportunities to help streamline the process for companies with an Internet-based automated payroll service and work for an innovative startup that has attracted the attention and millions in funding from Chicago VCs and industry giant Wells Fargo & Company.

"We put the owner of the business in complete control of the process. They can see their results before they approve it," said Alter, whose company recently landed nationally regarded financial maven Debra Janssen as its CEO.

"Our service provides the best of both worlds. They enter [payroll information] on their schedule, they know it's right, they do it on their time. And yet we are a payroll company so we guarantee the taxes. You'll never pay an IRS penalty and we provide direct deposit," said Alter.

Research shows that 40 percent of businesses are penalized by the IRS because of improper payroll data entry, at an average charge of $845.

"In a sense, the IRS is one of our best salespeople," said Alter, whose company helps avert such errors. After payroll data is entered, SurePayroll automatically calculates, deducts, pays and files taxes for client companies.

Started in December 1999 and originally based in Highland Park, SurePayroll has targeted small businesses with its early efforts. On Monday, the company announced it was teaming with the National Business Incubation Association, representing over 14,000 small businesses, to bring its service to startups.

"You hear small businesses are very risky and the majority of them fail. But I believe it's north of 85 percent of businesses that are incubated in one of the member incubators survive for more than five years," said Alter. "That's a huge survival rate versus the norm and a lot of that has to do with what small business incubators provide to startups."

Alter grew up in the Chicago area and attended Northwestern for his undergraduate education, graduating in 1989. Out of school he worked as a salesman for IBM, and he later attended Harvard's Business School. Prior to joining SurePayroll, he worked as a management consultant for McKinsey.

While the payroll processing space offers its share of formidable competitors such as ADP and Paychex, Alter believes SurePayroll provides the advantage of cost savings - 30 to 50 percent less than competitors - and ease of use.

"When reviewed in the accounting press, [our system] gets glowing reviews for being simple yet fully functional," said Alter. "If you're a small business owner, you don't have the time or inclination to learn the system. This has to be as easy as a Mac or a Windows-PC based system, where you know intuitively what to do."

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