Deep-Dive into a Customer First approach to Service and Support
It is a well known business metric that HR departments run lean. According to the 2018 HR Benchmarks Report, published by Bloomberg Law in June 2018, “HR departments have a median ratio of 1.5 employees for every 100 in the workforce, which represents an all-time high in the survey’s 40-year history.”
The rise of all-in-one HCM solutions are directly related to this rising HR-to-employee ratio. HR departments can harness HCM technology to consolidate systems, streamline processes and automate manual tasks.
Choosing an HCM solution to match your business needs is important, but equally important is to evaluate HCM vendors on their customer service record. For a small HR team, issues need to be solved quickly. A true focus on customer success will be reflected in a vendor’s approach to implementation, product knowledge, training, and case support. Here is what to look for to make sure your vendor has YOUR businesses’ success top of mind.
Is the HCM solution truly all-in-one or different products?
The underlying architecture of your HCM solution will impact service. Many HCM solutions say they are all in one but are typically different products connected together. Some connections are better than others. This HCM model impacts clients because an issue might require talking to two or more different product support agents because there are multiple products involved in the issues.
A Second factor that affects service is when the HCM solution is built as a single tenant (different clients, different versions) vs multi-tenant (different clients, single version). Many HCM solutions built on legacy payroll databases with bolt on product operate as single tenant. unique set ups on different software versions make service/support call extremely frustrating as the agents might not know why something isn’t working.
HCM vendors with a unified platform and multi-tenant can simply troubleshoot and resolve issues faster because there is one product and one version of the product to support.
Is there a Structured and Complete Implementation Process?
Realizing ROI of a technology investment largely depends on how fast it can be configured to the specific business needs for maximum user adoption and minimal disruption to your organization. Companies that deliver a unified HCM solution offer a more streamlined implementation process. For one, all the components of the solution are one database, so implementation is solely focused on data, custom configuration and process mapping - not figuring out how to get different product to synch on the back end.
When you narrow your search down to a shortlist of vendors, it will be helpful to have a few questions to ask each one about the implementation process for your project, such as:
- How long will it take to kick off the project?
- How many different databases will need to be connected to complete the implementation?
- What are custom configurations vs. standard configurations?
- How will you incorporate industry-specific or business specific processes into your solution?
- What recourse do I have if a core feature can’t be configured to specification?
- Will you regularly assess my level of satisfaction with the process and make sure that my expectations are being met?
- How will you measure whether our goals are being achieved and ensure that all phases of the process are progressing smoothly?
How much focus is on customization for your business?
The reason a company goes through the time and cost to switch HCM vendors is usually due to service. Service is intertwined with the capabilities of the platform and the support model. Clients that implement a truly all-in-one HCM platform receive continuity of product knowledge that directly impact the ability of the vendor to efficiently provide support.
Implementation teams that focus on a single product, codebase, and database develop a deep understanding of functionality and specific ways to handle business cases - both routine and complex. With more time to work with the client to configure customized rules, business processes and workflows the HCM platform will perform better in the long run. Implementation and change is always a challenge, but having the ability to optimizing the platform for the administrators and the employees alike will impact the time to implement and eventual adoption rates.
What is their training philosophy?
Research shows that organizations with a structured training program in place are much more satisfied with their technology than organizations with no formal training. Training is a very important factor in being satisfied with your technology so, how will your vendor partner provide project team training and end-user training?
Project team training builds in-house expertise to address any future concerns, while end-user training is the key to accelerating end-user adoption. You can get your project off to a strong start by empowering your project team and end-users with the training and information they need to unlock the value of your HCM system from day one. After it is up and running, continued training is key to make sure all employees, regardless of skill sets, are comfortable in time.
What is their track record for customer support
Immediately after implementation, what do the best support teams do? They don’t just guide you to informed decisions and connect you to product experts and peers. They coach you to thrive after your go-live date and then empower you with a wide range of self-service options.
This type of quality customer support requires both product experts as well as a dedicated team of HR and payroll experts. Make sure your vendor’s support team has all the IT experience, technical skills, and application expertise you need to manage, support, and maintain your cloud application.
Don’t be fooled by promises of a single point of contact for support either. Your internal structure has functional teams and departments rooted in deep expertise in different disciplines, and so should your support team. Expect the vendor to provide a dedicated cross-functional team of support contacts to offer expertise in each area.
OnePoint Ensures Customer Success
OnePoint HCM provides the implementation, training, and support you need to simply, quickly, and effectively implement the system into your business. This will minimize your implementation time and maximize your ROI. As an HCM solution partner we help you make better decisions about your personnel, employee development, coaching and succession planning. From workflows and automation to document repositories and retrievals, data archives and insightful reporting, maximize your technology and HCM partner to eliminate the stress of HR . Contact us to learn more about our HCM platform and workforce analytics.
