How Datacom Datapay and Frontier Software differ
Datacom's payroll offering sits inside a much larger technology business – Datacom provides broad IT services, with Datapay serving enterprise payroll customers and Smartly aimed at smaller businesses. Its most distinctive credential is New Zealand-specific: a five-step Holidays Act remediation approach and NZPPA-certified consultants, reflecting deep experience untangling the notoriously complex NZ Holidays Act for customers. Datacom also offers AU payroll via Datapay, supporting STP Phase 2 and superannuation.
Frontier Software, by contrast, is a dedicated HCM vendor rather than a diversified IT company. Its ichris payroll engine covers 26 countries, and the business wraps a full HCM suite around payroll – recruitment, talent, and learning modules (HCI21, IWF21, API21) – with a long-standing local office presence across both Australia and New Zealand. Where Datacom's strength is bound up in its wider technology ecosystem and NZ remediation expertise, Frontier Software's strength is a purpose-built payroll and HCM platform with genuine multi-country reach and long-standing local offices in four AU/NZ cities.
For buyers, the distinction is largely about focus: Datacom offers payroll as part of a broader technology relationship, with particular NZ Holidays Act depth; Frontier Software offers a dedicated payroll and HCM platform with wider country coverage and a longer-standing specialist local presence.