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TWST: Could we begin with an introduction to Automatic Data Processing (NYSE:ADP), as you see the company positioned today?

Mr. Melville: ADP is the largest provider of HR and payroll services and solutions in the world. Fundamentally, the organization provides Chief Executives, HR Directors, Financial Directors, payroll managers and financial managers with a range of service-based solutions that enable them to run their business more effectively. We are number one in the world in our chosen market, and number one in Europe. This is true no matter which way you cut the cake: size, total revenues, rate of growth, number of customers or global reach. Whichever way you choose to look at it, ADP is the world’s leading player in this market, and the gap to the number two player is considerable. Here in the UK we are presently sitting at a position of number three or number four – it varies from different analysts that you speak to. Our short-term objective, within the next two to three years, is to significantly increase our market share of an expanding market.

TWST: Can you paint a quick picture of the customer base? Do you target certain sized businesses?

Mr. Melville: Most of our business activity within the UK sits within the private sectors, albeit that we are also the leading provider of payroll services to the UK government. Essentially we are marketing and selling our services to private organizations. Fundamentally, we focus on commercial organizations having 50 or more employees. We don’t have a ceiling in regards to employee size. However, we do service organizations that are starting up in the UK and where their bankers or accountants recommend they come to ADP. These may only have four or five people at the outset, but we have devised a very specific service for their needs. So overall we service the very small up to the very large. That therefore means we have a very flexible workforce, flexible systems and flexible services. The way we manage to achieve this is by focusing very much on best practice components built into our solutions. And that really allows us to bring added value to the customer. So the emphasis has to be and indeed is on process excellence. With this focus in mind we have configured our solutions and deployed our people in ways designed to complement our customers in-house activities. This approach to solution design allows us to service the small, the medium and the large. It’s really about having an intimate understanding of what is best practice in every segment: what is best for a small company clearly is not always best for a very large one and vice versa. However, many areas of synergy do exist and it is our job to maximize these for the benefit of our customers collectively.

TWST: Are you more heavily weighted in certain industries?

Mr. Melville: Yes and no. Our solutions are very powerful and that means we can configure to meet virtually any need, be they customer or industry specific. So we have no need to constrain our marketing efforts. However, it is fair to say that we have grown strong in certain industry sectors due more to word of mouth recommendations than anything. Most industries have professional bodies or the like and a lot of sharing goes on there. Clearly if you give good service to one customer in a specific industry sector the words gets around and other customers come your way. That’s been our experience, however it’s dependant on service excellence.