Ascender expands Japan footprint with Workcloud acquisition
Regional momentum sees Ascender add Time & Attendance capabilities to its portfolio in line with 2020 growth strategy
15 February 2017: Ascender announced today it has acquired Workcloud, a leading Payroll and Time & Attendance (T&A) services provider in Japan.
This transaction will strengthen Ascender’s position as the market leader in HR & payroll software and services across Asia-Pacific by specifically accelerating its growth in Japan. Ascender is now servicing over 3,000 clients and over 1.7m employees in ANZ and the Asia-Pacific region.
“This acquisition positions Ascender as a leader in innovation for multi-national HR and Payroll services in Japan – a critical market in the Asia-Pacific region. As well as complementing Ascender’s overall growth strategy and vision, this acquisition also allows us to build on existing market momentum and experience to support our customers with the best products and services. Workcloud has a modern web technology platform which we look forward to building upon as we continue to innovate and expand into Japan”, says Marjukka Mäki-Hokkonen, CEO of Ascender.
This acquisition is aligned to Ascender’s 2020 strategy to become an Asia-Pacific leader in payroll and HR services. As part of the transaction, Ascender will ensure continuity of the acquired Payroll and T&A operations, service agreements and software development.
Following the transaction, Brian Tsai, Workcloud’s CEO & Founder, will become the Country Director of Ascender Japan and will be instrumental in leading the business in the market. “Ascender’s vision to be the leading HR & payroll services company in Asia resonates with the core values and culture of Workcloud, making this a natural step for us. Ascender is commited to client satisfaction alongside innovation and our strategic partnership will allow us to leverage the best technology available across the network to meet evolving customer needs,” says Brian Tsai.
About Ascender: With more than 1.3 million employees of our Customers using Ascender’s HR/Payroll platforms as their workforce source of truth throughout Asia Pacific, nearly 1,400 global brands and listed companies trust us to meet their Payroll and business needs. We serve many large and medium-sized Customers across different industries through 800 Ascender staff in a regional footprint that is built on 35 countries’ local knowledge, and delivered in 31 languages and eight delivery centres.
About Workcloud: Workcloud was founded in 2014 with a vision to provide small-to-medium size businesses in Japan with a service that integrates management of all aspects of HR operations into an easy-to-use, beautiful platform. While so many services focus on the HR administrators, Workcloud brings a B2C user experience that is focused on a company’s employees.
For more information regarding this media release, please contact:
E: hello@ascenderhcm.com
T: 1300 766 400