• From its regional headquarters in Dubai, Mercans is leading a fundamental shift in how global payroll is managed.

Mercans is redefining global payroll from the ground up—leveraging AI, cloud-native technologies, and a stateless, unified architecture. As cross-border operations become more complex, Mercans is simplifying payroll for global enterprises through automation, compliance, and real-time capabilities.

Headquartered regionally in Dubai, where its leadership frequently meets clients and drives innovation, Mercans is positioning itself at the intersection of global expansion and regional growth. In a recent leadership conversation, Eero Plato, Global Head of Engineering, and Andre Voolaid, Chief Technology Officer, offered a closer look at how the company is reshaping global payroll delivery with a future-proof technology stack.

A Unified Platform Designed for a Global Workforce

Operating in over 160 countries, Mercans’ platform, HR Blizz, was built to standardize and accelerate payroll across borders. Unlike legacy systems that rely on fragmented country-specific tools, HR Blizz is architected on a single codebase that supports seamless integration with leading HCM platforms including SAP, Dayforce, and Workday.

“Rather than building 160 local solutions, we designed a platform that treats global payroll as one system—with localized rules applied as exceptions,” said Plato. “It’s a fundamental shift that allows for global consistency without sacrificing local compliance.”

This approach eliminates the need for companies to stand up infrastructure in every market, accelerating their global expansion while maintaining compliance and control.

The GCC and MENA: A Strategic Growth Engine

Mercans’ regional presence in Dubai, at the heart of the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) and broader MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region, is playing a critical role in its global expansion. The MENA market is undergoing rapid digital transformation, with governments and enterprises seeking advanced payroll and workforce management solutions.

“The GCC is a high-growth region for us,” said Voolaid. “From Dubai, we’re able to serve both mature and emerging markets in the Middle East and North Africa with speed, flexibility, and regional expertise.”

Dubai’s innovation-friendly environment and proximity to global talent pools make it an ideal location for Mercans to operate its regional HQ and engage with clients across sectors—from oil and gas to banking and technology.

AI and Automation Are Reshaping Payroll

At the heart of Mercans’ platform is a powerful layer of AI and machine learning. The company is moving beyond traditional digitization by enabling real-time payroll calculations. Now, when employee data is updated, payroll is automatically recalculated on the spot.

“This dramatically simplifies payroll processes,” said Voolaid. “It reduces delays, eliminates batch processing, and allows for predictive analytics to improve workforce decisions.”

AI also plays a growing role in automated anomaly detection and compliance checks—freeing up HR teams from manual validations and enhancing overall accuracy.

Compliance and Data Protection at Scale

Mercans combines advanced technology with local expertise to address the complex landscape of global payroll compliance. Its in-country experts continuously monitor and update tax and labor regulations in over 100 jurisdictions, while the platform enforces end-to-end encryption and role-based access controls.

“Compliance is the foundation of everything we do,” said Voolaid. “We’ve built local knowledge directly into the system, ensuring that our clients remain compliant with changing laws without added effort.”

Scaling Through Cloud Innovation and Engineering Talent

To support its international growth, Mercans has transitioned its infrastructure to a Kubernetes-powered, cloud-native environment. This flexible architecture supports both public and private cloud deployments, enabling rapid scaling without compromising security or performance.

The company’s ability to attract top engineering talent is also key to its innovation. “Engineers want to work on meaningful, technically challenging problems,” noted Plato. “Our architecture and mission attract those who want to make an impact at scale.”

Looking Forward

With its bold vision, a unified global platform, and an innovation hub in Dubai, Mercans is setting new standards in global payroll delivery. As it continues expanding across North America, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East, the company remains focused on helping businesses simplify, automate, and secure their payroll operations—one real-time calculation at a time.

Bio - Mercans’ Leadership

Eero Plato
Global Head of Engineering | Mercans

Eero Plato leads the global engineering team at Mercans, where he’s responsible for scaling the platforms that power compliant, automated payroll across 160+ countries. With a background spanning enterprise tech, systems resilience, and customer support, Eero brings a rare blend of technical depth and business empathy to his role. Whether he’s building robust backend architecture or embedding compliance directly into the code, Eero ensures that every engineering decision delivers measurable impact for clients around the world.

Driven by a passion for secure, scalable technology, and a leadership style grounded in clarity and collaboration, Eero is helping redefine what engineering excellence looks like in the global payroll space.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/voolaid/

Andre Voolaid
Chief Technology Officer | Mercans

With 10+ years at the helm of Mercans’ tech evolution, Andre Voolaid is the architect behind the company’s powerful native payroll engine and SaaS platforms. From small teams to global enterprises, Andre has helped shape scalable, AI-driven payroll technology used by organizations in 160+ countries.

A founder at heart with hands-on experience in software engineering and product innovation, Andre brings together deep technical know-how and business vision to deliver solutions that are future-ready, secure, and human-centric.

Based in Estonia, he's passionate about simplifying global complexity—one payroll at a time.