Jenna Puckett, Author at TechnologyAdvice We're On IT. Fri, 20 Jan 2023 04:52:09 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://cdn.technologyadvice.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/ta-favicon-45x45.png Jenna Puckett, Author at TechnologyAdvice 32 32 Wrike vs. Asana Review https://technologyadvice.com/blog/information-technology/wrike-vs-asana/ https://technologyadvice.com/blog/information-technology/wrike-vs-asana/#comments Thu, 19 Jan 2023 04:00:00 +0000 https://technologyadvice.com/?p=40803 Thanks to project management (PM) software, overseeing complex tasks has become simpler. Project and collaboration technology has come a long way, and now allows teams to track progress, simplify processes, communicate clearly, and easily collaborate from one central platform. No matter what your business does or how teams work, there’s a solution tailored to your... Read more »

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Thanks to project management (PM) software, overseeing complex tasks has become simpler.

Project and collaboration technology has come a long way, and now allows teams to track progress, simplify processes, communicate clearly, and easily collaborate from one central platform. No matter what your business does or how teams work, there’s a solution tailored to your needs.

But with so many apps and systems to choose from, they quickly blur together when you start to compare project management software, such as Asana and Wrike.

These are two of the most well-loved project management programs, and we’ve placed them head-to-head to assess their strengths and limitations.

Wrike vs. Asana

Asana

Asana aims to make project tracking and collaboration simple. Using automations and integrations, Asana pulls conversations together to prevent communication silos. And for maximum visibility, users can track team productivity to find process hiccups and areas for improvement.

Wrike

Wrike is a work management and collaboration platform that streamlines teamwork for enterprises and small businesses. Its goal is to help you go beyond traditional task and project management by putting all your tools in one place, so you can interact, connect, and collaborate with your team.


How Are Wrike and Asana Similar?

Asana and Wrike are both strong players in the task and project management space. Since each vendor is focused on collaboration, they offer similar functionality like project management features and app integrations.

Project management

Projects lie at the heart of both systems (though Wrike uses the term “folder hierarchies” to organize projects). Inside projects of either system, you can create, assign, and schedule tasks, as well as organize them with color codes. Depending on your preference, you can view projects based on status, tasks, due dates, or percentage complete. You can also see the status of each project on the right panel of both systems.

In Wrike, you view statistics with the folder snapshot:

Wrike Folder Statistics

And in Asana, you get a project overview with the progress metrics:

Asana Project Metrics

Both platforms also make it easy to comment and discuss projects using @ tags to mention people, which helps eliminate siloed information by looping everyone into the conversation:

Asana:
Screenshot of Asana Chat Feature

Wrike: 

write comments on assets with wrike.

To wipe out pesky status emails, both platforms allow you to create custom workflows. For example, not every task is simply complete or incomplete—there are often multiple stages attached to each. Instead of wondering if a task is finished or forgotten, both systems allow for additional transparency.

In Wrike, you can create statuses to match the actual stages your tasks follow in the work process:

wrike custom workflows

With Asana, you can set up “sections” to represent each phase of a unique project:

Manufacturing Sections in Asana

One of the most helpful features of both systems is the ability to relate one task to multiple projects—without duplication. This is useful when a task is relevant to concurrent goals or when due dates are applicable to multiple projects.

Lastly, both systems help keep you out of your inbox by offering integrations with popular email providers. Asana allows you to turn emails into tasks, and Wrike lets you transform an email with one click:

Asana: 

Turn Emails Into Tasks with Asana

Wrike: 

Create a Task From an Email With Wrike

Asana provides a dedicated project inbox:

Asana Project Inbox

Wrike’s activity stream records about all updates happening in your workspace:

use activity streams to stay up to date on wrike projects.

Apps and integrations

Beyond functionality, both Wrike and Asana offer Android and iOS apps to keep you productive on the go. They also have a wide variety of app integrations, which helps connect the tools you use frequently with their platform. Current integrations include:

  • WordPress
  • Google Drive
  • Dropbox
  • Box
  • Calendars
  • Wufoo
  • Okta
  • Hipchat
  • Slack
  • Zendesk
  • Zapier

User-friendly interfaces

Both Wrike and Asana offer beautiful, easy-to-navigate interfaces to help track progress and understand performance at a glance. You can take a high-level view, or drill down to monitor individual projects.

Asana dashboards:

Screenshot of Asana Dashboard Asana Dashboards

Wrike dashboards: 

use dashboards to track your projects in wrike.

How Are Wrike and Asana Different?

With so much in common, it’s easy to see why people have trouble deciding between them. There are several internal differentiators that aren’t addressed on the surface. Some of these differences include pricing, Gantt charting and different integration abilities.

Pricing

Asana and Wrike both use the same pricing structure: a freemium, tiered model. They both allow unlimited third-party collaboration (“guests” for Asana and “collaborators” for Wrike). This means outside clients, vendors, contractors, freelancers, or other third parties can all access approved projects for free.

Asana is free for 15 users with limited functionality. Once you upgrade to their premium version to access more features, five users costs $21 per month, and 15 users is $63 per month. Wrike is free for five users with limited features. Their professional version is $49 per month, and 15 users is $99 per month.

Both vendors offer additional pricing for larger companies as well. Asana recommends companies over 100 members should contact them, while Wrike offers an enterprise tier for five or more users.

Gantt charts

Wrike provides built-in Gantt charts to help you track project progress, although this feature is not included in free versions:

Gantt for Creating Timelines

Asana offers Gantt-style charts called timelines. They let your team assign work, track milestones, and set dependencies.

timelines in asana look like gantt charts.

Integrations

Wrike and Asana both offer over 30 integrations. Though many of them do overlap, there are a few differences of note:

  • Time tracking: Wrike offers built-in time tracking, whereas Asana integrates with Everhour and Harvest.
  • Marketing automation: Wrike integrates with Hubspot, whereas Asana integrates with MailChimp and Campaign Monitor.
  • Sales: Wrike integrates with Salesforce, whereas Asana integrates with Zapier, which offers custom Zoho CRM automation.  

While it’s worth mentioning that none of these integrations are inherently good, bad, or better than the other, it’s an important factor to consider when weighing both programs. Asana has prioritized integration with many small-business tools, whereas Wrike favors many enterprise-focused integrations. In the end, each company also offers a flexible API, so if you already have your heart set on one, don’t be discouraged— there’s a good chance it can customized to fit your needs.

Support

It’s not healthy to expect the worst, but when things turn sour, you’ll need all the help you can get. Asana provides email support, FAQs, a knowledge base, and videos for troubleshooting. Wrike offers the same mix of electronic help, in addition to phone and live chat support.


Final Thoughts

Asana’s strength lies in its simplicity. It supports team communication and workflows, as well as individual work. It’s easy to get a clear view of priorities and tasks, and collaborate on those tasks that relate to other people.

Asana isn’t trying to be all things to all people; it doesn’t care to create tailored versions for one industry or company size. But if you need additional features or already have apps you love, you can take advantage of integrations and API to support your specific needs.

If you value communication and coordination but want to go beyond traditional task management, then Wrike may be for you. It offers many enterprise-grade features. Its built-in time tracking, for example, could be especially useful for large companies or remote workers.

And while Asana is focused on getting you out of the inbox, Wrike is focused on getting you out of all your apps. For instance, its native document editor lets users edit collaboratively and see changes in real time—all within Wrike.

Which project management software
is right for your business?

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Workday vs. PeopleSoft https://technologyadvice.com/blog/human-resources/workday-vs-peoplesoft/ https://technologyadvice.com/blog/human-resources/workday-vs-peoplesoft/#comments Thu, 15 Sep 2022 20:00:00 +0000 https://technologyadvice.com/?p=38695 Hundreds of vendors are fighting for a piece of the human resources (HR) software market. Of the companies aspiring to rule your vast and complex HR technology, the most epic battle rages between Workday and PeopleSoft. Workday and PeopleSoft were both started by tech entrepreneur and multi-billionaire David Duffield. In 2022, they are still fighting... Read more »

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Hundreds of vendors are fighting for a piece of the human resources (HR) software market. Of the companies aspiring to rule your vast and complex HR technology, the most epic battle rages between Workday and PeopleSoft.

Workday and PeopleSoft were both started by tech entrepreneur and multi-billionaire David Duffield. In 2022, they are still fighting for a larger piece of the enterprise resource planning (ERP) market, and both companies are making strides with machine learning and AI to make their offering work better and faster.

Both are strong choices with a loyal customer base, providing enterprises with solid, global, horizontal HR and ERP system solutions. And yet, they each contain unique features that differentiate them from one another.

Still unsure? Discover more HR software options with our HR Software Product Selection Tool. It only takes five minutes for an unbiased Technology Advisor to match you with a list of five HRIS solutions that fit your needs. Click the banner below to get started.

HR-software

Why Should You Choose PeopleSoft?

Oracle PeopleSoft is backed by a global enterprise technology leader, and its focus on integrated systems has made it one of the most modern and comprehensive providers of business software in the world.

Because of the overwhelming popularity of cloud software solutions, PeopleSoft has pivoted to a cloud-based model in the last few years. While the software is available to run on any public or private cloud storage system, PeopleSoft recommends that administrators set the software up to run on Oracle Cloud, as users can integrate their current PeopleSoft system with Oracle cloud solutions.

This proprietary storage solution holds a lot of advantages for PeopleSoft users. Most importantly, it’s the only cloud storage solution that runs the PeopleSoft Cloud Manager tools, which manages updates and data connections for the tools.

The company is constantly rolling out new features for its software solutions as Oracle delivers new PeopleSoft releases every quarter. Oracle PeopleSoft even provides a Cumulative Feature Overview (CFO) tool that enables users to gain control of the features available to them, by developing a CFO report that lists features that have been introduced between PeopleSoft releases.

PeopleSoft’s Human Capital Management software is intended to help users streamline talent management and reduce operational costs by leveraging more automation capabilities. Still, Oracle makes it easy for customers to move from PeopleSoft to Oracle Cloud, as the Oracle HCM Cloud provides one complete solution for PeopleSoft customers.

Why Should You Choose Workday?

Workday is recognized as a leader in the HR software industry, and the Workday Human Capital Management (Workday HCM) software delivers cloud-based human resource management solutions for organizations and businesses.

The Workday HCM software contains features for managing talent, compensation, payrolls, shift scheduling, time tracking, and more. This enables HR professionals to stay on top of their workforce management actions all within one platform. 

Additionally, the software leverages augmented people analytics to reveal insights from datasets, and users can apply intelligent automation to eliminate manual tasks and support their staff’s productivity.

The HCM solution isn’t the only Workday software tool that comes with HR functions. Workday Adaptive Planning is a cloud enterprise performance management (EPM) software solution that provides operational, sales, workforce, and financial planning solutions to users. The Workday Financial Management solution also assists businesses in their core accounting processes.

For additional storage and computing power in their software solutions, Workday contracted IBM in order to use the computing giant’s cloud computing service SoftLayer for undisclosed internal processing.

Moreover, Workday’s customer-centric approach and cloud design make it ideal for businesses with smaller budgets that may need more support.

Comparing Workday and PeopleSoft

Anyone considering an enterprise software upgrade must weigh the costs and benefits. If the implementation of a new software solution would be particularly large and complex, you may find yourself at a fork in the road when contemplating your next upgrade.

But in the battle between Workday and PeopleSoft, how different are the two systems, really?

Though the feature names vary, both vendors provide a wide variety of similar suites and functionalities for large businesses to manage their HR and talent processes. Still, there are a few applications exclusive to PeopleSoft, as well as several internal differentiators that aren’t addressed on the surface.

Deployment and updates

One of the fundamental differences between PeopleSoft and Workday is their deployment options.

Workday is entirely engineered for cloud deployment, which means every user is always on the latest version since functionality upgrades are automatically released. There is also the potential for a lower total cost of ownership because Workday doesn’t require any on-premises hardware or infrastructure.

Another great perk here is Workday has invested in software partnerships to expand their native integration offerings, meaning you can quickly connect their services to Slack, Salesforce, and other necessary business tools without IT intervention.

PeopleSoft also provides cloud deployment but can be purchased as an on-premises and private cloud implementation as well. The tool recently pivoted to a Selective Adoption workflow for updates; PeopleSoft regularly offers updated versions of the tools that system administrators can download, choose the updates they prefer to run, and schedule their maintenance on their own time.

PeopleSoft Applications Portal also supports a variety of integration options, such as with Microsoft Exchange Server. When it comes to PeopleSoft updates, the Selective Adoption model gives administrators control over their own maintenance and update schedule but does require much more intervention than the constantly-updated Workday.

The vast difference in deployment options often leads the conversation to configuration and customization. Some companies believe that a pure SaaS solution can never be configured to fit their business needs and eliminate any solution that does not offer intense customization.

When looking at the deployment differences between Workday and PeopleSoft, your company needs to assess its availability of IT and specialized support staff. Those with the resources to put toward dedicated PeopleSoft help will find the customization of that product worth the expense, but those with more limited resources may appreciate the native integration flexibility and ongoing support of Workday’s consistent upgrades.

Customer relationship management (CRM)

Oracle offers PeopleSoft CRM, a set of customer service relationship management applications. Its CRM is tightly integrated with the rest of the PeopleSoft platform and can be tailored to fit sales, marketing, or service industries.

Business process management (BPM) solutions are also available within the CRM, and users can set up orders, create workflows, and automate processes with the tools.

Currently, Workday does not offer a native CRM application. Instead, the company has forged a partnership with cloud computing leader Salesforce. As such, there is a native integration between the two companies via the Salesforce Service Cloud.

Analytics and reporting

As business intelligence software becomes easier to use, more companies are including dashboard reporting and analytics in their products. While both PeopleSoft and Workday include analytics and reporting tools, the companies have approached the inclusion of these features differently.

PeopleSoft has worked to incorporate analytics into each of the tools, giving users access to analytic data where they’re working within PeopleSoft. The analytic power of these tools is limited to the data the company has stored in its PeopleSoft databases. For example, PeopleSoft financials provides analytics and reporting features based on the data collected from personal information logged within the users’ integrated PeopleSoft databases.

On the other hand, Workday’s Prism Analytics tools connect to outside data sources and build analytic reports within Workday. These same tools are found all across the software to bring insights right into the dashboards, but the addition of outside data elevates the feature to a business intelligence tool.

User interface

One area where Workday shines is its intuitive design. Workday was built on modern architecture and provides a consumer UI built for the web.

Workday single UI across platforms

The company works hard to provide users with a single experience across mobile, tablet, and desktop views. The UI is designed to change with the latest designs and needs of the consumers without touching the core functionality of the product. That means UI updates don’t change how you work.

peoplesoft fluid UI

While Peoplesoft’s HR solutions provide more employee self-service features, Workday provides an intuitive user interface for higher education purposes. The Workday Student system is a student information software solution that is connected to the Workday finance and HR systems. PeopleSoft also offers its own PeopleSoft Campus Solutions, which is mainly used to store students’ personal information.

Workday vs. PeopleSoft: Which is Better?

Workday is an innovative platform built for the modern workforce, and its technology aligns with the current trends in IT. Workday’s beginning as an HCM software platform provides HR professionals with a system designed with the workforce and financials in mind, while its continuous updates and enterprise focus make Workday HCM a viable choice for a variety of companies.

PeopleSoft HCM, on the other hand, is “designed to address the most complex business requirements.” This certainly makes it the leader in terms of market presence and end-to-end functionality but can also make installations a very complex process.

While many businesses are moving to Workday, Oracle continues to move toward cloud functionality and flexibility. The move gives administrators greater control over their own update schedule and all users better access to their data from anywhere.

As these two options become more and more similar, what are you to do?

The first step is to define your business goals and strategy, then pinpoint the requirements necessary to achieve them. Which vendor satisfies your business needs and provides business value? Which vendor’s roadmap and strategy syncs with your ERP or HR strategy?

You want to pinpoint the specific configurations that are relevant to your business. Consider your goal, and choose the technology that helps you achieve it.

Remember, by using the HR Software Product Selection Tool, you can receive free recommendations on the best HR software for your organization. Additionally, visit our website to read other HR software comparisons, such as the comparison between Workday and SuccessFactors.

Which HR software
is right for your business?

Top Human Resources Software Recommendations


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What Is White Label Software? https://technologyadvice.com/blog/marketing/what-is-white-label-software/ https://technologyadvice.com/blog/marketing/what-is-white-label-software/#comments Fri, 16 Apr 2021 20:00:00 +0000 https://technologyadvice.com/?p=33435 White label refers to goods or services that are produced by one company, then purchased by another company to rebrand and sell as their own. Though you may be wary at first, you’re likely already familiar with the practice. For example, most supermarket “store brand” goods are created by companies that mass produce items and... Read more »

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White label refers to goods or services that are produced by one company, then purchased by another company to rebrand and sell as their own. Though you may be wary at first, you’re likely already familiar with the practice.

For example, most supermarket “store brand” goods are created by companies that mass produce items and sell them to various grocers. White label products aren’t just limited to cereal, DVD players, or running shoes though; they’re common throughout many industries.

In the tech world, think of white labeling as ghostwriting — but for software, apps, or digital programs. For instance, cloud-based services or infrastructure lend themselves particularly well to reselling or re-branding.

Table of contents

Reasons to use white label software

There are a variety of reasons why someone might choose to white label the software they use. For one, having everything branded in the same way looks a lot better when presenting to clients or prospects. Additionally, businesses whose customer base has grown faster than their in-house staff may white label certain services they source from other companies to keep up their service-level agreements (SLAs) while they hire more employees.

White label software doesn’t just have to be for marketing or aesthetic purposes. Marketing agencies will often white label reports from their business intelligence (BI) or marketing software to keep their process proprietary. This way, other agencies attempting to poach your clients won’t get your strategy.

Also read: The Top 4 Competitive Advantages of Embedded Analytics

White label software use cases

White label software, or private label, brandable, or rebranded software, is not limited to one type of company or industry. For example, companies that offer complementary products may use white label goods along with companies that don’t develop products at all. Let’s explore three common ways an organization may choose to use it.

1. Internally by employees for communication, collaboration, and engagement

LearnUpon’s brandable white label portal

LearnUpon dashboard view for white label learning management system.

LearnUpon is one example of a company that provides brandable software to companies. The software focuses on employee training and allows businesses to upload their own logo and customize the styling to match their branding. When employees log in to the training portal, the look and feel reflect the rest of the company website.

White labeling your training software lowers your company’s risk. You don’t risk spending the time and money to develop the platform only to have to go back and fix glitches. Instead, you can purchase an already working platform and ensure your employees have a smooth and enjoyable onboarding experience.

2. Externally by customers to increase sales and loyalty

LoyaltyLion’s white label customer loyalty solution

LoyaltyLion display for white labeled customer rewards.

Another company that offers white labeled software is LoyaltyLion — though their platforms are consumer-facing. LoyaltyLion provides customer loyalty program solutions to ecommerce companies like Overtone, Cupshe, and Lively by offering custom design resources that provide an on-brand experience.

LoyaltyLion not only allows their customers to white label the software, but they can even choose their own loyalty program name and fully customize it. There are several pricing tiers available, but white labeling isn’t an option unless you go for the Advanced tier or beyond.

Also read: The Best Loyalty Program Software for Any Business

3. Resell to end users and customers for profit

Badgeville’s white label gamification platform for resale

Badgeville white labeled gamification platform.

Badgeville is one platform that not only offers both of the options above but also provides the option to co-sell or resell their solution. Businesses can simply encourage clients to use Badgeville for their digital engagement challenges, or incorporate Badgeville specific design expertise as part of their services. Partners then receive either a referral fee for licenses sold or a portion of revenue for each new license.

Benefits of white labeled software

White labeling can provide substantial business gains. Companies choose white label software because it can provide faster launches, lower costs, less risk, and diversification.

Faster software launches

Developing software for internal or external use requires a lot of engineering and time, and then you have to consider the implementation time. Rather than build the solutions from scratch, businesses can get reliable platforms up and running sooner rather than later — and often for less money upfront.

Diversifying your offerings

For resellers, white labeling is a prudent way to add more products to your portfolio, move into a new market, or cross-promote your own products or services. If you don’t have the time, resources, or knowledge to build a custom solution, then white labeling might just be the best strategy available for your products and company. It can also help you meet customers’ needs without hiring extra in-house employees.

Lower development costs

Software development is expensive, consuming high levels of both time and resources. And once you’ve developed the software, you then have to test it rigorously and check it for bugs. White label software can help you cut out these expensive development projects. Instead, you get access to software that has already been built and tested.

Less risk

Developing your own software puts your company at risk, even if the software is only for internal use. Let’s say you’re using the software for training purposes. If your learning management system has a lot of glitches in it, new hires are going to get frustrated. It’s going to be more difficult for them to retain the information, and they’ll likely vent about it to their friends, hurting your recruiting chances.

That risk opens up even more if you’re developing customer-facing software. About 51 percent of customers won’t do business with a company again after even a single poor experience. Additionally, those who have poor experiences are likely to tell anywhere between nine and 15 other people about it, further damaging your reputation. White label software can help you keep your customers happy and engaged with your brand.

Also read: 4 Risk Management Considerations for Your Project

Is white label software right for your business?

Although there are a lot of benefits, white labeling isn’t for everyone. It offers less control over specific features or updates and can be challenging to integrate into centralized reporting and analytics. However, for those who require software to carry their own brand, white label software is usually cheaper and easier to implement than developing your own software in-house.

To find out if white label software is right for your business, check out our Product Selection Tools for gamification software and learning management systems. After providing some information about your needs, you’ll get a short, unbiased list of software customized for your company.

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BambooHR Pricing, Features, and Customer Dedication https://technologyadvice.com/blog/human-resources/bamboohr-pricing-features-customer-dedication/ https://technologyadvice.com/blog/human-resources/bamboohr-pricing-features-customer-dedication/#respond Mon, 28 Sep 2020 18:00:00 +0000 https://technologyadvice.com/?p=41613 If you’ve tried to find HR software for your growing business, you’ve likely come across BambooHR. After all, they’re one of the best HR vendors for small businesses. So now you’re wondering: Does it do everything I need it to? What’s it gonna cost me? Is it worth it? You’re not alone. Many business owners... Read more »

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If you’ve tried to find HR software for your growing business, you’ve likely come across BambooHR. After all, they’re one of the best HR vendors for small businesses. So now you’re wondering:

Does it do everything I need it to? What’s it gonna cost me? Is it worth it?

You’re not alone. Many business owners just like you come to us with questions about BambooHR pricing, features, and rumors they’ve heard from third-party sites. To sort the myths from the facts, we spoke with Jonny Rejholec, VP of Product at BambooHR about their software, ideal customer, and why the heck you can’t find pricing on their website.

For an unbiased look into all your burning BambooHR questions, read on.

BambooHR Overview

While many vendors say their product is a perfect fit for every business under the sun, BambooHR proudly claims SMBs as their niche. Their sweet spot is businesses with 5-1000 employees, but they have many customers outside that range. Rejholec says BambooHR’s goal is to help businesses “make a successful transition from spreadsheets to software, so they can free up time for meaningful work.”

BambooHR allows employers to centralize detailed employee information such as salary, job history, training, and benefits. It consolidates data from various business sources into a single view, which employers can then access, control, sort, and analyze. BambooHR also offers employee and manager self-service, an applicant tracking system, eSignature, performance management, and reports.

BambooHR Pricing

Now for the part every HR professional and their CFO wants to know: how much does BambooHR cost?

Like many vendors, BambooHR started out with a simple, tiered pricing structure. When they launched, you would buy whichever block matched your workforce size.

But as they started adding features, things got complicated.

Pricing went up according to the value the new features added, but Rejholec says the price increase “wasn’t the best way to help customers.” Not all businesses with a larger workforce were complex or needed the additional functionality.

There was also a flaw in the system. Let’s say pricing at the second tier ends at 300 employees, but you have 306. Should you really have to pay for the entire price bump?

Most vendors would insist you do.

But their customers didn’t think so — and the team at BambooHR heard them.

Since they are so focused on SMBs, BambooHR took the time to investigate how their customers actually wanted to pay. They learned the logical choice was to pull the strict pricing tiers and create a model based on the specific solution that each business needs.

 

hand shake cloud

So now you pay a monthly subscription based on how many employees you have, plus an optional training fee. That’s it. There’s no extra charge for customization, multiple administrators, enhanced features, support, or inactive employees.

The lack of pricing on their website isn’t intended to hide anything, Rejholec explains they simply made the change while evaluating “how customers react and how new customers feel about the pricing change.”

So how do customers feel about BambooHR’s new pricing structure?

While Rejholec didn’t share hard numbers, he assured us businesses don’t get hung up on the cost because they’re still competitively priced in the HR software market. And more importantly, the pricing is “working much better to help clients as they grow.”

And BambooHR offers a free trial and implementation services that help ease the transition as Rejholec explains:

“HR people are really busy — they’re wearing a lot of hats. We offer the implementation piece and a lot of companies take advantage of it because it’s a low fee and it’s worth it.”

BambooHR Features

time off approvals for bamboohr

As far as features go, BambooHR offers functionality that’s comparable to many alternatives available on the market:

  • Centralized employee database
  • Benefit and payroll administration
  • Employee and manager self-service
  • Global capabilities
  • Applicant tracking system
  • Time and attendance tracking
  • Document storage and management
  • eSignature
  • Performance management
  • Reports / Analytics
  • Alerts (for training deadlines, license renewals, birthdays, etc.)
  • Phone and email support
  • Web-based
  • Mobile App
  • Open API
  • Six languages (English, French Canadian, German, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Dutch)
  • Pay per employee per month
  • No long-term contract
  • Free trial

Two BambooHR features worth exploring in-depth are their mobile app and their new performance management module.
mobile apps for bamboohr

Though the way people work has changed over the years, most HR software hasn’t. To combat this, BambooHR offers a mobile app designed for the modern workforce. Employees and managers can access a team directory on the go, as well as view a time off calendar that shows who’s out for the day.

Are you out to dinner and discussing a trip with friends? Check your vacation time and request time off right from your phone. If you’re a manager, you can approve requests by phone as well:

BambooHR’s performance management module is another recent development created for the new workplace:

“Performance reviews are broken — they’re a game everyone hates to play. Nobody looks at what the outcome of a performance review should be, which misses the point and you get a bunch of meaningless stuff that is inaccurate and doesn’t fix behavior.”

Rejholec says performance reviews should focus on the things that are most meaningful and strip away everything else. Modern performance management shouldn’t occur just once a year but throughout the year.

BambooHR encourages performance reviews once a quarter, as well as continual goals that employees can collaborate and comment on. This makes performance management an every day experience with ongoing coaching and feedback. This is important since waiting months for a scheduled review means details are lost or irrelevant.

Reviews also include peer feedback and take into account job attributes that impact the happiness of employees, such as autonomy and the ability to do what they do well every day. Rather than feel like a chore, BambooHR wants managing performance to “inspire managers to identify which employees need attention and what they can do to help them.”

Integrations

BambooHR has a built-in ATS, but also offers integration with industry leading applicant tracking systems such as Jobvite, Greenhouse, and CATS. When asked about this, Rejholec says it’s because they want you to “use the systems you already love.”

They offer many integrations to both fill the gaps in their offerings, as well as provide easy compatibility with the tools many SMBs already love, such as Payscale and Cornerstone OnDemand.

Customer Dedication

Above all else, BambooHR is committed to their customers. And not just because they listen to their customers’ feedback. The company caters to their core market and isn’t willing to compromise on the value they offer SMBs. For example, we asked what happens when a customer outgrows BambooHR. Do they fight to keep them on board?

Nope.

Rejholec says they “love when a customer graduates!” Even though many of their customers have over 1,000 employees and are happy with BambooHR, he admits that some companies say “we need X feature or we have to go.”

To which BambooHR responds: “Sorry, we won’t leave our focus on our small customers.”

As companies grow and complexity increases, many look for succession planning, wellness programs, or other features. “We support succession planning, but we are not an LMS — we are not a complex system,” Rejholec says. As a company’s HR gets into enterprise complexity, “We say no, we aren’t ready to go there, we will keep focusing on our target customer.”

While many customers are willing to make it work through integrations and add-ons, others do “graduate” to other systems. But Rejholec says it’s as simple as requesting an export from the team, “We are month to month, so customers can leave at any time — no contract.”

Is BambooHR for you?

Of course, BambooHR is just one product available. To research more options, use our HR product selection tool to get personalized recommendations, call one of our in-house advisors, or download the guide below.

Although BambooHR doesn’t offer some of the robust features of its competitors, the price structure is hard to beat, and the user experience is friendly. It’s specifically designed to meet small business administrative needs and provide employees and managers with a modern self-service experience. For growing companies that want a head start on tracking things the right way, it might just be time to join the BambooHR cult.

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What Recruiting Metrics Do You Need to Track? https://technologyadvice.com/blog/human-resources/recruiting-metrics-that-need-tracking/ https://technologyadvice.com/blog/human-resources/recruiting-metrics-that-need-tracking/#comments Thu, 06 Feb 2020 15:00:05 +0000 https://technologyadvice.com/?p=40662 Recruiting is a mix of HR and sales — with a strong shot of marketing. Recruiters must simultaneously attract the right audience, size up a candidate, and sell them on the company. A company is only as good as its talent, so having a professional who can master this balance is fundamental for success. As... Read more »

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Recruiting is a mix of HR and sales — with a strong shot of marketing. Recruiters must simultaneously attract the right audience, size up a candidate, and sell them on the company. A company is only as good as its talent, so having a professional who can master this balance is fundamental for success.

As competition for talent increases, so does recruitment spend:

But is this investment paying off?

To ensure the answer is a resounding YES, today’s talent acquisition leaders must accurately monitor and discuss the state of recruiting performance. HR departments are becoming more data-driven in order to justify larger budgets and make recruiting more effective.

The recruiting process includes numerous steps, each must be continually improved by monitoring and acting on recruiting data. (via Workday)

The recruiting process includes numerous steps, which must be continually monitored and improved using data. (via Workday)

Going digital not only helps businesses automate and streamline the hiring process, but provides valuable data to recruiters and businesses. Hiring professionals can use this data to monitor the health of their recruiting efforts — if they know what to look for.

Below we’ll examine the essential recruitment metrics and KPIs talent acquisition leaders and executives should interpret in order to assess and improve the recruitment process.

Which HR Software
is right for your business?

In-house recruiting metrics

When investigating which recruiting metrics your company should track, it’s important to note the differences between internal and external recruiting. Agency recruiters are commissioned based on how many candidates they place in a company, so their recruiting metrics will vary from that of an in-house recruiter. While the two may have overlapping analytics (which we’ll discuss later), it’s beneficial to examine the recruiting metrics primarily associated with each.

Cost Per Hire (CPH)

HR professionals consistently rank cost per hire as one of the most helpful HR metrics. It looks like this:

Cost Per Hire = (External Costs + Internal Costs / Total Number of Hires)

Why is it a favorite recruiting metric?

CPH helps link recruitment efforts to cost savings for an organization and is easily understood by those outside of HR. Cost per hire ensures your recruiting efforts make sense for the business and stay on par with your industry, size, and location.

Critics of this metric aptly point out cost per hire can distract from quality of hire, or even leave a negative impression on candidates. So remember: you get what you pay for. If you track this metric, be sure to balance it against other performance indicators for a comprehensive picture.

Turnover

Retention metrics not only help companies keep tabs on recruiting efforts (Are you attracting the right people? Were the job expectations clear?), but company and manager performance. According to Shayleen Stuto, Director of Human Resources and Administration at TechnologyAdvice:

“Turnover is part of every company, and it’s not always a bad thing. The key is understanding what causes turnover and to establish a history from which to benchmark future trends. Assessing the ‘why’ is equally, if not more important than just knowing the number. This is one metric where qualitative data is crucial. Does one manager experience more turnover than others? Is there a running trend on why people are leaving? Do more people tend to part ways during a specific time of year? All of these things are beneficial to look at.”

Examining wanted versus unwanted departures and high performer turnover rate can provide valuable insight. How long do top performers stay at your organization? What motivates them to leave? If your organization is continually losing top talent, you may need to examine how your company stacks up to the needs of top talent and adapt accordingly.

New growth vs. attrition rate

Are your recruiters swamped? Is your company constantly hiring new employees?

Productivity counts more than busy-ness.

Are you hiring because the company is growing, or because employees are leaving? If the team spends most of their time on recruiting efforts that replace employees rather than growing your team, then you’ll need to follow Stuto’s advice and assess the root of the problem.

Offer ratios

You’ll fulfill numerous steps and criteria before you decide to offer a position to a candidate. Two important conversions to look at include:

  • Interview to offer ratio
  • Offer to acceptance ratio

If you interview a lot of candidates but fail to extend offers, then it’s time to reevaluate your vetting process. If candidates don’t buy what you’re selling, then you have a mismatch between expectations, a poor culture fit, or they took an offer from a competitor. Keep tabs on where you lose candidates and find ways to improve those areas.

Application completion rates

Cornerstone OnDemand Recruiting helps you identify where in the application process you lose candidates.

Do you know the number of applications started versus applications completed? Application abandonment rate helps identify weaknesses in your process — such as candidates dropping off on mobile devices or having too many input fields.

If you can’t fill the top of your recruiting funnel with applications, then it’s time to consider upgrading to an applicant tracking system with a modern careers page and application portal.

Internal vs external hires

You must evaluate your workforce to determine if internal or external hires are more successful, so you know where to find talent. Though it’s good to bring in outside employees with new perspectives, be sure to mind the gap between hiring new rather than promoting internally.

If you only hire externally, then you can prevent the gap from widening by evaluating and updating your performance management tools, corporate learning programs, and leadership development processes.

Agency recruiting metrics

At a recruiting agency, the product is people. The ability to set the right expectations and find qualified candidates efficiently, and at scale, is a must. External recruiters track a lot of numbers in addition to — or in place of — the internal recruiting metrics above.

According to Bullhorn’s 2018 North American Staffing and Recruiting Trends Report, agency recruiting professionals consider the following three core sales and delivery metrics most important:

Let’s examine how they compare to internal recruiting metrics.

  • Fill rate: Over half of respondents chose fill rate as the most important recruiting delivery process metric. This is understandable, since placement is king for agencies — no fills, no money.
  • Hit rate: This is simply the ratio of job offers made to job offers accepted. Sound familiar? That’s because it’s the same as the “offer to acceptance ratio” that internal recruiters track. This measure shows how productive your recruitment process is.
  • Customer satisfaction: Customer satisfaction as a priority has actually dropped, as it was the primary priority for agencies in 2017. Bullhorn CEO Gordon Burnes explains the difficulty in using customer satisfaction as the primary success metric:

Using customer satisfaction as the only recruiting metric can be problematic because it may change from placement to placement and is difficult to measure accurately. While subjective satisfaction input is valuable, performance benchmarking recognizes the value of more standard metrics such as fill rate and hit rate. Repeat business also serves as a meaningful proxy for customer satisfaction.

Where internal departments are often concerned with cost per hire, agencies use other metrics to benchmark and drive revenue, including: Total Number of Placements, Average Placement Fee, and Total Number of Job Orders. This focus likely stems from their volume-based business model.

But agencies focus on more than quantity. Many also track the following recruiting metrics to ensure clients get the quality they need:

  • Submittal accuracy: Is the hiring manager satisfied with the candidates recruiters submit? This can be answered by comparing the number of candidates presented to the number interviewed, or calculating the percentage of referrals that get hired through submittals.
  • Referrals per call: If a recruiter realizes a candidate is not a good fit, the time they spent sourcing and vetting could be considered wasted. To prevent this, recruiters will steer the conversation towards referrals as soon as they know a candidate isn’t qualified. According to Lou Adler, recruiters should aim for two referrals per call because “second round referrals are like gold — you’ll only be calling back those who are perfect fits, and they’ll all call you back if you mention the referrer’s name.”
  • Sendouts per hire: How many candidates need to be seen in order to get one hired? A low number indicates an efficient recruiter who’s also a strong interviewer and knowledgeable about the hiring manager’s needs.

Strategic hiring metrics for both

data analytics for CFO

In addition to performance metrics, both agencies and internal recruiters should focus on strategic recruiting data that indicates a successful process. Beyond execution speed and quantity, track the following analytics to increase effectiveness:

Hire source

Today, recruiters use more sourcing channels than ever before — job boards, referrals, career sites, social networks, and so on. You must not only identify which sources deliver the most applicants, but analyze which deliver the best candidates. How did you find last year’s top performers? This will tell both recruiters and talent acquisition leaders where to spend their time and effort in the future.

Quality of hire

It’s necessary to balance recruiting costs with quality. In order to evaluate recruiting quality, organizations should assess quality aspects, including:

  • Productivity: How long did it take them to get up to speed, compared to their peers or predecessor?
  • Tenure: Did they stay at the company shorter or longer than average?
  • Scale: Did they grow professionally and get promoted internally?
  • Impact: What kind of value (or ROI) did they create for the company?

Satisfaction ratings

When your recruiting analytics look great, it’s easy to forget about one simple performance metric: satisfaction.

Is the hiring manager pleased? Did your candidates have a good recruiter experience? Are the employees you spent so much time and energy on happy?

Frequently monitoring the data that answers these questions allows you to make immediate changes in areas that need improvement. After all, if your new hires aren’t satisfied, your metrics aren’t likely to hold up long-term.

Which recruiting metrics should you measure?

Jobvite's recruiting dashboard tracks the metrics that matter most to your company.

Jobvite’s recruiting dashboards tracks the metrics that matter most to your company.

With so many numbers to crunch, how do you choose the right recruiting metrics?

It boils down to both strategy and technology.

Bullhorn’s recruiting survey found 77 percent of respondents said they needed an ATS or CRM system to do their job effectively.

Recruiting is core to your business, and you must grow your talent to meet your business needs. In the video below, Leighanne Levensaler, the VP of Product Management at Workday, talks about why it’s so important to work with a recruiting solution you actually love:

But while recruiting software can help you make the most of both your recruiting process and data, technology alone will not suffice.

You need a strategy.

You must identify your organizational goals first, then align metrics accordingly. Ensure your team understands the purpose of each metric, how it’s measured, and how it fits into the company’s long term growth plan.

Let’s examine a few different ways you can mix and balance recruiting metrics — and why you should track each.

In-house enterprise recruiting metrics

  • Time to hire and cost per hire are popular, but keep in mind: those don’t tell the whole story. Time to fill should be tracked to help predict how long it will take to fill critical roles within the company, or to ensure you can quickly hire a large amount of staff. When tracking this metric, the overall number isn’t always meaningful. For example, it’s more helpful to drill down per department or role to examine why a specific job opening takes so long to fill (or what you can learn from one with a shorter time to fill). Cost is important to help pinpoint inefficiencies, but shouldn’t be used as an excuse to settle.
  • Internal vs. external hiring is important to monitor. A large organization should have a leadership and development program that encourages employees to learn and grow within the company. If the majority of your hiring is external, you might be neglecting the potential of your current workforce.
  • Applicant source is an important metric for every company to track. But for big companies in particular, be sure to track your employee referral program. Your company has thousands of employees. If they are happy enough to vouch for your organization and refer friends, family, or former colleagues, then your applicant pool could increase by the 1000s.

Agency recruiting metrics

We already know the top efficiency metrics agencies track: fill rate, time to fill, and referrals per call. To ensure quality, you should track per requisition metrics, such as the number of candidates who:

  • Applied
  • Interviewed
  • Got an offer extended
  • Accepted an offer

You should also track applicant and hiring manager satisfaction. Depending on your agency’s goals, consider tracking more granular data.

For example, if you’re having trouble connecting with passive candidates, track emails sent versus response rate. If people aren’t responding to you, this metric can help improve your sourcing efforts. Which messages elicit a response? What kind of person is more likely to answer? Analyze the numbers and adjust accordingly.

Lastly, agencies should track new hire turnover rate. Though this is an internal metric, it helps determine the quality of candidates you refer to clients. Regardless of their performance, if your referral leaves after a few months, then it wasn’t a successful placement — which is something fill rates ignore.

Recruiting metrics for SMBs

Small to medium sized businesses must focus on laying a solid hiring foundation. In addition to basic recruiting metrics, it’s helpful to look at the big picture: Is your network growing? Are you attracting the right type of people? Benchmark your growth against similar organizations and competitors to ensure you’re on track.

Turnover metrics are especially helpful to SMBs, since retention indicates whether or not your hiring is on track. Overall turnover lacks context, so look at new hire turnover rates for 30 and 90 days. High turnover early on often indicates a poor culture fit or lack of understanding of the job.

You also want to see if retention is performance or manager related. If employees are leaving your managers, not your company, then you’ll have a hard time growing your business. You want managers who foster employee engagement and help your workforce grow and succeed. Retention shows if your efforts are on track, so conduct exit surveys to learn why folks leave and if your company can prevent the things they mention.

Recruiting metrics for startups

Startups need to build a workforce that propels the business forward. In addition to metrics that fit your recruiting goals, quality should be a top priority. Of course you want to be efficient, but you need to find and attract talent that will ensure success and keep investors investing.

Balance metrics such as time to fill and cost per hire with employee satisfaction and quality metrics: productivity, scale, and impact. Stuto recommends looking at employee satisfaction often, “By assessing this quarterly rather than annually, we’re able to gather quantitative data that allows us to make more immediate change in areas that need improvement.”

As you gather more and more data about your recruiting performance, you’re able to tweak the sourcing, screening, and hiring process. Acting on the data you collect means constant recruiting improvement, which improves the company’s profitability — no matter your size or industry.

This also means what you track will change over time.

The most important recruiting metric to track right now may look different one quarter or a year from now. The purpose of recruiting metrics is to help improve your recruiting.

***

Don’t measure everything; measure what’s most important to your current business goals. Measuring too many things will be overwhelming. Results are everything, but only when you measure the right ones. Need help finding the right tools to measure your results? Check out our Recruitment Product Selection Tool to get a list of recruiting software we recommend based on your needs.

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The Best HR Software For Enterprises https://technologyadvice.com/blog/human-resources/best-hr-software-for-enterprises/ https://technologyadvice.com/blog/human-resources/best-hr-software-for-enterprises/#comments Fri, 31 May 2019 13:00:00 +0000 https://technologyadvice.com/?p=37600 Updated for 2019 Valued at over $15 billion globally, the human resources technology market is one of the fastest growing segments in business IT —  and it shows no signs of slowing down. Why are organizations so eager to get a piece of the HR software pie? Besides the fact that every business with employees... Read more »

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Updated for 2019

Valued at over $15 billion globally, the human resources technology market is one of the fastest growing segments in business IT —  and it shows no signs of slowing down.

Why are organizations so eager to get a piece of the HR software pie?

Besides the fact that every business with employees needs to perform core HR functions (hiring, onboarding, payroll and benefits administration), it’s because these systems are now more powerful than ever.

As corporate software has moved to the cloud it’s helped businesses stay agile, mobile, and analytics-driven. Along with the evolution of basic HR systems, new tools for social and referral recruiting, performance management, assessment science, online learning, and workplace wellness are begin to transform companies.

HR platforms are now used across organizations, and have user-friendly tools to handle almost any human capital management need.

Forget what you know about clunky, aging setups. These new systems are not your grandma’s HR software.

HR Software Market Trends Infographic

HR Software Market Trends

Big Businesses, Big Struggles

Companies of all sizes struggle with workforce challenges such as developing leadership candidates, improving employee engagement, and simplifying performance management. Though HR best practices and technology are swiftly evolving to address these demands, large enterprises continue to face a different set of challenges than their small business counterparts.

Perhaps the biggest issue facing large companies is on-premise legacy software in need of an upgrade. According to research by HR consultant and thought leader Josh Bersin:

“The average HRMS system in large companies today is more than five years old and more than half are over seven years old. And enterprise software becomes nearly obsolete in seven years, leading most companies to shop around.”

In other words, these on-premise HR systems are about the same age and relevancy as a first generation iPhone (which Apple tactfully refers to as “vintage”). These outdated systems create numerous internal issues: data silos, inefficient processes, clunky interfaces, low adoption rates, and integration issues with newer software. Adopting a modern talent management system that supports a mobile, remote, and global workforce can solve these issues.

Essential HR Software Features

self service software for employee vacation, insurance, and paystubs

HR departments aren’t the only ones using talent management software —  this technology is for employees and job candidates, too.

From complex payroll and compliance needs, to self-service access, to succession and workforce planning that builds a talent pipeline, market leading HR software for enterprises goes beyond automating administrative tasks and offers an end-to-end solution that helps manage all people processes.

For large enterprises, integration with ERP software and other company technology is essential. Many HR vendors offer “best of suite” solutions that provide core HR functions as well as strategic talent management, with easy access to data and analytics. On the other hand, you’ll also find best of breed vendors who provide specialized software so you can have tailored functionality for specific job duties and niche problems.

While many companies are accustomed to managing multiple HR and payroll systems, and over 33 percent would be willing to “sacrifice features in order to get a single vendor solution.” No matter which vendor(s) you choose, you’ll need an intuitive solution that offers some combination of the following modules:

  • Payroll administration: compensation, benefits, and absence management
  • Social and referral recruiting with applicant tracking: social analytics, internal job board, branded career portal
  • Talent management: onboarding, goal management
  • Performance management: align, assess, and optimize workforce capabilities
  • Learning management: online courses, career and development planning
  • Succession and workforce planning: build, manage, and evaluate succession plans for essential jobs
  • Employee engagement/wellness: corporate social network, health initiatives
  • Collaboration tools, such as instant messaging
  • Reporting: analyze talent supply and demand,
  • Mobile access: web portal or app  for employees, managers, and candidates

Whether you choose to use multiple suites through one vendor or choose one core program and add a few integrations, having a seamless system for all human resources needs is beneficial. For example, you can seamlessly access payroll data from an ERP system for other business processes, which eliminates duplicate data entry and provides easy access to data across the entire organization for accurate reporting.

Top HR Solutions for Enterprises

Let’s explore some of the market leading HR software vendors available for enterprises. To receive personalized HR software recommendations for your enterprise, click the banner below to get started.

Which
HR software is right for your enterprise?

 Workday

workday HCM interface with intuitive graphs

Workday is designed to provide enterprise-grade solutions at a much lower price point than its A-list competitors. Their cloud HCM enterprise platform helps businesses manage HR processes and record-keeping on a global scale. Workday offers benefits administration, payroll, time tracking, and workforce planning, as well as an intuitive self-service portal for secure access to role-specific information. The system also goes beyond core HR to provide recruiting and talent management features, such as onboarding automation and performance management.

Saba

Saba administrator view and reports 

Saba is cloud-based talent management solution created to improve the way you hire, develop, and engage your workforce. Their suit consists of six modules that cover the following areas: learning, performance, planning, succession, recruiting, and compensation.

Saba has acquired several innovative software companies to continually expand their offerings, and the company is now positioned as a frontrunner in the learning management systems (LMS) market. Their “Learning@Work” solution provides personal and relevant class recommendations, social learning opportunities, and coaching tools. Saba has a sophisticated compliance and certification system, along with collaborative and social learning features.

Skillsoft 

Skillsoft is a premiere provider of cloud based online and elearning solutions to customers worldwide, including global enterprises. With over 6,000 customers and more than 19 million learners, Skillsoft is a pioneer in the field of learning. They offer a comprehensive learning e-library to develop off-the-shelf and custom learning programs tailored to individual businesses. Skillsoft’s courses, books and videos have been developed by industry leading learning experts to ensure that they maximize business skills, performance, and talent development.

iCIMS

iCIMS recruiting dashboard with reminders and job candidates 

iCIMS is a best-of-breed talent acquisition system, making it an excellent choice to help you streamline the hiring process and find great talent. The recruiting world changes every day, and many suite providers don’t offer hiring tools powerful enough to satisfy the needs of enterprise recruiters. iCIMS Recruit is the company’s flagship product. It includes an applicant tracking system, mobile optimized recruiting portal, and robust communication and analytics tools.

iCIMS’s more unique features include built in recruitment marketing automation that helps engage candidates before they receive an offer, and integrated video screening that allows candidates to submit personal showcase videos as part of the virtual screening process. The software also supports employee referral programs, robust searching and reporting functions, and is compliant with federal Equal Employment Opportunity standards.


***

Now that companies have adopted software to automate and streamline manual processes, HR professionals are left to focus on more strategic workforce initiatives —  like culture, engagement, retention, and workforce development. HR software is no longer just a system of records. Modern tools are providing companies with valuable technology that can help improve employees’ performance, skills, health, and even happiness.

HR technology has evolved to meet the unique needs of global enterprise, and there are more options to help improve your business than ever. If you need help choosing the best solution for your business, use our HR software product selection tool to get free personalized recommendations based on your industry, company size, and desired features.

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The New Workplace: Why Flexible Working and Telecommuting are Taking Over (Infographic) https://technologyadvice.com/blog/human-resources/infographic-flexible-working-and-telecommuting/ https://technologyadvice.com/blog/human-resources/infographic-flexible-working-and-telecommuting/#comments Wed, 19 Aug 2015 14:45:00 +0000 https://technologyadvice.com/?p=41593 It’s no secret that employee engagement, retention, and turnover are top challenges for organizations. In order to overcome these challenges, companies must adapt. The workplace as we know it is at a crossroads: Smart leaders are measuring productivity by output — not by hours worked. Broadband adoption, mobile phones, smart devices, and improved project management... Read more »

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It’s no secret that employee engagement, retention, and turnover are top challenges for organizations. In order to overcome these challenges, companies must adapt.

The workplace as we know it is at a crossroads:

Smart leaders are measuring productivity by output — not by hours worked.

Broadband adoption, mobile phones, smart devices, and improved project management and collaboration tools have changed the way teams communicate.

A new generation is surging into the workplace.

These changes and trends have led to a workforce that demands flexibility. But despite evolving employee preferences and expectations, many companies have workplace policies that have failed to mature. In order to attract and retain talent, organizations must redefine “work.”

technologyadvice-the-new-workplace-R7-01

Ready to redefine “work”? The following steps can help you adapt to a flexible workplace:

  • Survey employees about working preferences. Simply gathering information on how your employees prefer to work will pinpoint where your work policies need improvement.
  • Create and communicate flexible work policies. Once you know what your employees actually want, update your policies to reflect these expectations. Of course, it can be a shock to transition to telecommuting after working in an office full-time. For many businesses, a gradual change might be necessary. To test the waters, consider offering employees flexible work hours, or just 1-2 work from home days a week. Then tweak your new policy based on feedback and successes.
  • Align IT, HR, and Operations to facilitate remote employees. Ensure employees have the technology needed to work from home, clear expectations about performance and goals, and an understanding of workplace policies.
  • Reward employee achievements rather than hours worked. In many companies, measures of productivity and success are broken — bosses publicly shame workers for tardiness or employees are promoted for working late, even if it’s just for show. Define departmental and employee requirements in a measurable way, so that your workforce is motivated by success and not hours worked.

Flexible working and telecommuting fuel economic growth, business success, and worker happiness. And it can differentiate your company from competitors. If the nature of your company’s work does not necessitate a centralized location (and this is increasingly becoming so), moving to a flexible, results-oriented workplace should be seriously considered.

Top Human Resources Software Recommendations


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Is the Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) Dead? https://technologyadvice.com/blog/marketing/is-the-marketing-qualified-lead-dead/ https://technologyadvice.com/blog/marketing/is-the-marketing-qualified-lead-dead/#respond Wed, 05 Aug 2015 14:30:00 +0000 https://technologyadvice.com/?p=40807 Some businesses still don’t know what they are, yet people have already pronounced the MQL dead. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Marketing qualified leads are one of the most important metrics marketers can measure. Why? Because these leads become customers. Based on qualifiers such as specific demographics, activities, or behaviors, MQLs are more... Read more »

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Some businesses still don’t know what they are, yet people have already pronounced the MQL dead.

This couldn’t be further from the truth.

Marketing qualified leads are one of the most important metrics marketers can measure.

Why? Because these leads become customers.

Based on qualifiers such as specific demographics, activities, or behaviors, MQLs are more interested in your product than other prospects. Qualifications can include expressing interest through information or guide requests, having certain job titles, site activity such as viewing your pricing page, or numerous other predetermined factors.

Of course, marketing qualified leads aren’t guaranteed to buy your product, but identifying them early ensures you aren’t sending garbage to your sales team:

  • Marketing Sherpa found that 73 percent of all B2B leads are not sales-ready
  • Gleanster statistics suggest that somewhere between 30 percent to 50 percent of leads represent future opportunities but are not ready to buy yet

All leads cannot go directly to sales.

Sales and marketing must align in order to focus their collective efforts on prospects who meet specific criteria. Prospects who meet sales-ready criteria.

The Secret to Making Marketing Qualified Leads Work

data analytics for CFO

Treating every inquiry as a lead creates a disconnect between sales and marketing.

In order to ensure only hot leads are passed to sales, you must validate the intent of each inquiry. This is where marketing qualified leads come in. A follow-up email that analyzes a prospect’s actions and interests — or digital body language — is necessary. Only after you’ve confirmed that a lead meets sales’ requirements should you pass it on.

So how do you know which leads sales reps value?

It comes down to communication. Here’s a four step process to ensure your marketing efforts align with your sales team’s expectations:

  • Talk: If sales and marketing don’t speak the same language, then your MQL strategy will fail. Sit down with sales, find common ground, and agree on the attributes that impact quality. The goal is to find out what leads sales considers high quality.
  • Define: Once you know the traits your sales team deems important, sales and marketing must work together to define both a lead and an MQL for your business. This is where a lot of companies fail. If sales expects apples and marketing delivers oranges, then neither team will be happy. Especially if marketing thought they were handing off apples. To make MQLs meaningful, both teams must agree on what characteristics make a lead worth reaching out to.
  • Measure: After you settle on the definition of an MQL, then it’s time to generate and deliver them. One of the many benefits of marketing automation software is the in-depth analytics. With closed-loop analytics, you can track and analyze the cost of acquiring a lead, nurturing them, converting them, and the speed at which they convert. This insight allows you to pinpoint which efforts are worthwhile and which ones need improvement.
  • Adjust: Lead scoring and nurturing isn’t static. Keep an open dialogue with sales to analyze what is and isn’t working. If they find a high percentage of your MQLs aren’t worthy of a sales follow up, you will need to be more judicious. Adjust accordingly as you gain new insight.

MQL Metrics That Matter

HR dashboards 101

Though MQLs are important, the amount delivered shouldn’t be the only thing you measure. To ensure you see the big picture, consider tracking the following metrics.

MQL Conversion Rate

If your MQLs don’t lead to closed sales, then it’s tempting to conclude they’re futile. While it’s important for marketers to look at conversion rates along the entire funnel, this metric is especially important. If sales can’t close MQLs, then you’ll need to re-evaluate your definitions and focus them further down the funnel.

MQL Per Channel

To keep the leads flowing, you need to know which channels are the strongest MQL source for your business. Does email marketing create more qualified leads than your blog? Does paid media bring in the most volume? If one channel is particularly lucrative, then you’ll want to focus more of your effort there. Be sure to balance MQL per channel with close rate per channel. If you get a lot of leads from social media, but they don’t convert well, then that’s an opportunity  to fill the top of your funnel with MQLs for nurturing.

MQL Conversion Rate Per Offer

Are your leads more likely to become an MQL after attending a webinar, or downloading a case study? Knowing which content offers have the highest MQL conversion rate will help you focus your marketing efforts on the most effective content. To monitor content performance, compare your conversion rate per offer to the leads generated per offer.

If people are willing to fill out your form to download an ebook, but no one converts to a customer, then you have a content disconnect. Perhaps your target market is hungry to learn about the topic, but your content wasn’t valuable or compelling enough. Knowing what offers generate leads, and which ones convert leads will help you pinpoint room for improvement. It also provides insight about which content to use in your nurturing efforts.

MQL to Opportunity Conversion

If you want to measure the quality of your MQLs, calculate what percentage of MQLs turn into opportunities. If this metric is low, your MQL criteria may be off. Consider interviewing your sales team to discover the hurdles they run into when turning MQLs into opportunities. Then pinpoint how you can help nurture leads to overcome those obstacles. This will ensure you only pass on truly qualified leads.

Liven Up Your MQLs

business man and bar graph

Marketing qualified leads are not the be-all and end-all of marketing metrics, but they’re important because they help map marketing’s contribution to revenue. Imagine being able to correlate closed sales with marketing sourced contributions. Marketing would be viewed as an investment, not a cost center.

With a strong MQL strategy, you can interact and nurture leads until they are sales-ready. You must know how many MQLs are sent to sales, their conversion rates, and how to repeat and improve the process. This will help you shift from reporting on what you did last quarter, to forecasting the revenue marketing will generate next quarter.

MQLs are simply a stage in the funnel. When defined and nurtured correctly, they drive sales and ultimately revenue. If your MQLs are dead ends for sales, then it’s time revamp your strategy to focus on prospects who meet specific criteria. MQLs are simply prospects who meet criteria that drives revenue —  let’s not pronounce them dead before you’ve given them a chance to truly live.

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Looking for more advice on lead generation and marketing? Make sure to check out B2B LeadsCon Summit on August 24-26th, where you can learn about the latest B2B lead gen practices from industry experts. Speakers include Ruth Stevens, President of eMarketing Strategy; Brandee Johnson, Sr. Marketing Manager at Lego; and Scott Binker, President of Ion Interactive. Register by August 18th to save $100.

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The Right Way to Use Video Recruiting https://technologyadvice.com/blog/human-resources/video-recruiting-done-the-right-way/ https://technologyadvice.com/blog/human-resources/video-recruiting-done-the-right-way/#comments Mon, 27 Jul 2015 13:00:00 +0000 https://technologyadvice.com/?p=40795 Video is powerful. It grabs your attention and entertains. Want proof? Look no further: See? One minute ago, you didn’t even know you wanted to watch a bunny wash her face. Now here you are, engaged and wondering how bunnies relate to recruiting. Video is a big opportunity to improve hiring and sourcing efforts. But... Read more »

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Video is powerful.

It grabs your attention and entertains. Want proof? Look no further:

See?

One minute ago, you didn’t even know you wanted to watch a bunny wash her face. Now here you are, engaged and wondering how bunnies relate to recruiting.

Video is a big opportunity to improve hiring and sourcing efforts. But if you don’t already know that, then you likely need more than a cute bunny to convince you to start recording.

Why Use Video Recruiting?

Video can be used to delight candidates throughout the hiring process. 500 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute. Here’s why:

Wasn’t that more compelling than simply reading that users spend 100 percent more time on web pages with videos? Or that 85 percent of viewers are more likely to purchase a product after watching a video?

That’s one of the benefits of video — it’s engaging.

Video communicates messages quickly and simply. It entertains, impresses, and is more likely to be shared. Most importantly, it’s persuasive.

Video compels action, which you can leverage in your recruiting efforts.

There are two main ways to use video during the recruiting and hiring process:

  • Talent acquisition: Use video to strengthen your employer brand. Video allows candidates to “see, feel, and hear” what life is like at your organization. Applicants will have a clearer picture of the company, and be able to better decide if it’s a match for them. Use video correctly, and the right talent will think “I need to work here!” while those who lack the skills or culture fit will filter out, which saves you the effort of doing it later.

Examples of Video Recruiting — Done the Right Way

To see the benefits of video recruiting in either application, you’ll need to balance both technology and strategy. But rather than simply telling you how, we’re going to show you.

Brand Videos

Imagine you’re in a movie theater: ice cold soda in one hand, warm popcorn in the other. The first preview starts rolling — and within 10 seconds you’re already making plans to go see it.

Brand videos are a preview for your company.

Use them to capture your target candidate, then convert them into your next top hire. Brand videos highlight the company, and drive people to learn more about your organization.

Take the following Adidas video as an example. It’s sensational, it features real employees, and if you’re not applying to their company two minutes after pressing play, then you’re clearly not their ideal employee.

Another company that nails the informational approach is Harley Davidson. Their video is less dramatic, but still theatrical and targeted. They feature testimonials from their workforce, which is clearly comprised of passionate motorcycle enthusiasts. Not only are you meeting potential coworkers, but you even get to see the environment you’d work in and the tools and technology you would use. Harley Davidson showcases the company, the factory, and how the employees “export freedom around the globe.” Because they don’t explicitly state they are hiring or that you should apply, the video works as a branding tool.

Both videos above are tailored to a specific group of job seekers. They provide facts and insight about the company, as well as details about working for the company, without boring you.

But recruiting videos don’t have to be high budget or showstopping. Entertaining, creative, team produced videos will also help you attract the right candidate.


Career Site Videos

Candidates like to know as much as possible about a company before applying. While recruiters fact check and call references, recruits are busy sleuthing your organization’s social media accounts, website, and career portal. Make it easy for them to envision working at your company.

Shopify‘s quirky video does a great job of showcasing the company culture and work style, while still focusing on how much the company is growing. Their video is honest and works well for a career page, since it lets you meet each team.

 

Zendesk‘s recruiting video is a great mix of informational and fun. It introduces you to the company and offices all over the world before focusing on their headquarters. Their dry humor is charming, and they provide a 360 degree view of their office, San Francisco, and even the people who would greet you each morning and evening. It feels like a friend is giving you a tour of the office, and by the end it’s easy to imagine coming to work each day, volunteering with the company, and victory dancing.


Team or Job Specific Videos

According to CareerBuilder, job postings with video icons are viewed 12 percent more than postings without video. On average, CareerBuilder customers receive a 34 percent greater application rate when they add video to their job postings.

While you can add branded videos to job posts, another option is to share more detailed videos.

AdRoll is a great example of this approach in action. Their recruiting video below is filmed from a first person standpoint, which shows what it’s like to come in, grab a snack, and get to work. After a short overview of what the company does, they get nerdy. They mention all the techy things a potential developer would want to know before joining the team, then highlight each developer’s unique background.

Lastly, if you want to showcase a specific role within your company, use videos that feature one employee or job description. This works well for a large enterprise that often hire for the same position, or any company that wants to effectively communicate company expectations for a particular position. In the video below, Cancer Treatment Center of America highlights what it’s like to work as a physical therapist. This video would compel any physical therapist searching for a rewarding job to apply.


Video Interviewing

Once you’ve hooked a candidate with video, you can also use it to the reel them in during the interview process. Video screening and interviewing is increasing in popularity, because it saves time and money during the recruiting process. Jobvite explains how it works in the video below:

Video interviews make it possible to pre-screen or interview long distance candidates. Interviews may be conducted live with a team, or asynchronously with pre-recorded questions. One of the biggest benefits of video screening interviews is the ability to compare two candidate responses at the same time. According to recent Aberdeen research, video interviewing helps improve key recruiting metrics, such as time spent sourcing, cost per hire, and satisfaction rates:

 

Video Interviewing Benefits

 

Executives are plagued by talent acquisition issues. Recent Bersin research found 58 percent are currently revamping or considering changes to their talent sourcing and recruiting strategies.

With so many ways for businesses to leverage video, refusing to incorporate it into your recruiting process is one of the biggest mistakes you can make.

Video has the power to transform the candidate experience, as well as improve recruiting metrics. It makes it easy for employees to share information about the company and refer others to join. Candidates are enjoying video on the web. If you don’t delight them with a compelling visual argument for your brand, then they’ll turn to a competitor who does.

Top Human Resources Software Recommendations


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Corporate E-learning Solutions, Challenges, and Trends https://technologyadvice.com/blog/human-resources/corporate-elearning-solutions-challenges-trends/ https://technologyadvice.com/blog/human-resources/corporate-elearning-solutions-challenges-trends/#respond Wed, 24 Jun 2015 13:00:00 +0000 https://technologyadvice.com/?p=39311 Does your organization face a shortage of people, or a shortage of skills? If you answered skills, you’re not alone: more than 70 percent of organizations cite “capability gaps” as one of their top five organizational challenges. The desire to fill this skill gap has caused the training industry as a whole to grow by... Read more »

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Does your organization face a shortage of people, or a shortage of skills?

If you answered skills, you’re not alone: more than 70 percent of organizations cite “capability gaps” as one of their top five organizational challenges.

The desire to fill this skill gap has caused the training industry as a whole to grow by 15 percent (the highest rate in seven years) to over $70 billion in the US and $130 billion worldwide.

To facilitate the consistent transfer of critical knowledge and skills to workers, enterprises are increasingly turning to modern technology for corporate learning, which covers everything from onboarding and training to ongoing education and skill development.

Corporate Skills and Learning Challenges

In addition to the capability gap, businesses are further challenged by the imminent exodus of Baby Boomers from the workforce. A study conducted by the Kenan-Flagler Business School found that less than one-third (30 percent) of senior leaders believed their organization had a strong leadership pipeline, and 85 percent said there was an urgent need to step up leadership development.

The majority of respondents also said they planned to offer more leadership development programs in the next five years, which is good news since Millennials are likely to look elsewhere if employers fail to provide opportunities to learn and acquire new skills.

If companies want to bridge the skill gap, build a leadership pipeline, and engage and retain the next workforce, then a dedication to and investment in employee learning is crucial.

Corporate Learning and Elearning Trends

If you’re ready to stock your workforce with high-potential employees who perform their job well and can grow into vacant roles, then it’s time to invest in technology to help bridge existing skill gaps. Human resources software is designed to link the specific skills you need to corporate learning programs. Let’s examine some of the current trends in learning and elearning technology.

MOOCs

Massive open online courses, or MOOCs, started in 2011 when Stanford, MIT, Harvard, and other university professors began putting their courses online. The MOOC market now consists of large companies like Udemy, Coursera, and Udacity who offer free or low-cost online classes. In addition to largely video-based lessons, MOOCs offer a system of testing, grading, and peer-to-peer learning that opens up higher education to the masses. You can take advantage of online material to provide learning and development to your workforce through corporate partnerships. MOOCs are an innovative alternative to traditional classroom training for employees, and can also be leveraged externally to attract potential new hires.

Gamification

gamification used to motivate and train employees

Gamification has become a popular complement to education. Based in game thinking and neuroscience, the act of adding game elements to non-game contexts is designed to make the learning experience more engaging. Gamified learning can help keep employees attentive while gaining competence, as well as encouraging them to pursue mastery in their current roles.

Social Learning

Social and collaborative learning are not technically a trend. In essence they represent one of humankind’s oldest forms of learning: attaining knowledge from other people. In business applications, social learning is when we learn informally from colleagues. But by using technology such as blogs, wikis, discussions forums, videos, and company social networks, enterprises can enable employees to take responsibility for their own personal development. Companies that incorporate social learning technology engage employees, encourage continuous training, and foster a learning culture.

Cloud and Mobile

The corporate learning and elearning industry is not immune to the proliferation of cloud and Software-as-a-Service technologies. Cloud-based learning technology makes education available to employees anywhere at anytime. Rather than relegating learning to the workplace, employees can login through an online portal or mobile app to learn new skills on the go.

Intelligent Learning

learning management systems for corporations

Good corporate learning and elearning solutions don’t just manage and deliver educational and instructional content: they help identify and assess individual and organizational learning and training goals. The best learning management systems then track employee progress towards meeting those goals, and use the data to make personalized recommendations for individual learning. A system that provides smart learning paths for each employee helps make training as relevant and effective as possible.

LMS

Learning management systems, or LMS, aren’t new technology. But the LMS market is now well over $2 billion and still rapidly growing. Though originally used as a content management system and to help automate and track training administration, LMS now do much more.

Modern learning management systems now incorporate most of the corporate learning trends mentioned above. Many larger companies are now upgrading their legacy systems to LMS programs with new capabilities, built-in best practices, and the ability to integrate with other HR suites, which is fueling market growth.

The Best Corporate Elearning Solutions

Saba Elearning Employee Dashboard

There are myriad benefits to corporate learning management and elearning solutions: they’re effective, flexible, consistent, and data rich. Unfortunately, a Brandon Hall survey shows high customer dissatisfaction, with 47.7 percent of respondents indicating they are looking to leave their current LMS platform for a new provider. Similarly, results from a 2012 eLearning Guild survey show 31.5 percent of respondents were either dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with their LMS solution.

If you’re unsatisfied with your corporate elearning solution, it’s time to switch to a provider that gets results. To determine which system best fits your company, first identify what programs you want to offer employees. Common topics include:

  • Certifications and compliance
  • Workplace safety, diversity, and inclusion
  • Management, supervisor, and leadership development
  • Communications, computer, or sales skills

Once you know your goals, decide which features are non-negotiable. To do this, you’ll need to pinpoint the requirements that get you closer to achieving those goals. Do you need a specialized vendor to make your corporate training possible? Will your old HR data transfer to your new learning system? Does the vendor have experience in your field and business size?

The core functions of most corporate elearning solutions are similar, so it’s easy to get overwhelmed when trying to choose the best program for your business. In fact, e-learning expert Charles Severance stated,

“There’s a lot of parity between the systems. You can almost throw a dart at a dartboard and pick an LMS, and it won’t be that bad.”

And while the dartboard method might sound tempting, it’s far from necessary (and is likely one of the reasons for such high dissatisfaction rates).

Learning management systems vary significantly from vendor to vendor — if you know what to look for. At TechnologyAdvice, we can help you do better than ‘not that bad.’ If you need help choosing the best corporate learning solution for your business, download the guide below, call one of our in-house experts, or use the product selection tool to get personalized software recommendations.

Online education and learning management systems have changed the world of learning — and they have the potential to revolutionize your business, too. When corporate learning systems start to blur together, don’t let one single dart control the fate of your entire workforce.

Top Human Resources Software Recommendations


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