The market for HRMS platforms in the company continues to evolve and get more and more popular. At the moment, experts predict the growth of the management platform used to be 9% higher than now. And the 2021 results are up 8.1% over 2019. This increase in the use of platforms and applications can be explained by the fact that large companies require specific functionalities for employee management.
It is difficult to choose an application or platform that will fully meet the requirements of the company. Overpaying for features is not what actually someone would like to have, while not getting enough of the platform isn't the most pleasant or profitable case. That's why the bigger the company, the more likely it is to order a caste-based employee experience platform.
According to statistics, 47% of large companies will choose to use a licensed platform. Among small companies, that percentage is 15%, and 32% for medium-sized companies.
If you read between the lines, you can see that the bigger the company – the more they are looking to create its own custom service that performs multiple functions.
In February 2022, WEZOM was approached by a customer with just such a request. In this article, we will find out what solution our company found and how it should affect the client's work.
What is HRSM
To begin with, HRMS is a platform or app, that includes several functions for team management, and HR processes. Someone will call it an all-in-one platform, and they are not going to lie. HRMS is a platform that can be used to make reports, conduct surveys, automate work, conduct training, and more. If the platform is customizable, you can choose the functionality according to your needs. If you buy a subscription for such services, then you have to agree with the functionality already offered. At the same time, the price for the usage of such solutions can be pretty high.
That's why big companies are more inclined towards custom development.
Another reason why big companies are more likely to work with private platforms is the issue of security. When you work with software from an outside developer, you cannot be sure of the security of your data.
What does our client need
This is exactly the kind of request our client addressed to us. A company that provides gas supply all over Ukraine and the biggest part of Europe. According to the NDA contract, we cannot disclose the name of the client, so here and in the further content we will name it as Energetic Company (EC).
The first in-depth recertification of customer requirements began in February 2021. At that time, no one yet knew what events would happen in the nearest future. Therefore, after the crisis began, the question of replacing the used software in the company became particularly important. This decision can be easily explained by the fact that the EC does not want to use the platform of a country under sanctions, as it works with state-important data. The leakage of such data could have a negative impact on the operation of the complex energy structure.
In addition to the security issue, the project had to cover the following functionality:
- Work onboarding process. The platform should manage and threaten the onboarding process of new employees.
- Training process. It also had to store and record the process of training for employees.
- HR functionality. The client wanted the platform to also be able to manage leaves of absence. Such a feature would simplify not only the monitoring of employee activities but also the process of requesting leave from employees.
- Job administration. The platform should also capture all salaries, bonuses, overall productivity analytics, billing functions, and off days.
At the time when the client contacted our company, he already had experience with similar platforms and applications. So it was easier to draw up a plan of what should come out of it.
Some challenges
Before requesting a custom development, the client tested such platforms as Hurma, Academy Ocean, People Force for HR management, iSpring for training, as well as 1C and MS Dynamics. So EC already had an idea of what the final version of the platform should look like. However, already at the stage of discussions and research, our team faced some challenges.
- Lack of experience of the client. EC had not participated in the development of complex platforms from scratch before. Therefore, they had no idea about how each stage should happen and how to work with it. Also, the client had no experience in automating workflows. And since the platform is supposed to solve this very problem, it was an important step to take note of.
- Synchronization with the development of other components. In parallel, WEZOM was developing additional components for the platform, which also were considered when building the structure and developing the main platform. Building out the synchronization was also one of the main challenges. Speaking of additional functionality, with which the platform was to synchronize, it was supposed to be a CRM platform, a program for document management, and a accounting system.
- Custom solutions and integrations. As mentioned earlier, the client was already using platforms of a similar type in their work. Our team did an in-depth CustDev re-survey, which allowed us to understand what the client lacked in these applications. The answer was quite obvious. The services didn't provide the ability to connect the necessary integrations and had limited functionality. Since EC works in a narrowly focused energy field, custom functions were particularly important to them.
Did EC plan to resell the product after the release? The answer is yes. Moreover, the client’s goals were to sell the platform comprehensively or in parts to related companies and provide it to companies during M&A mergers. The research phase lasted about a month and a half, and full development began in the spring of 2022 (in April).
Solutions from WEZOM
At the start of the work, our team commonly understood what the final product was going to be. The client wanted to optimize all processes and for the work to be focused on one platform. Our work was divided into several stages:
- In-depth analysis of information. In this phase, we focused on interviewing the client to understand their basic needs. This is where we learned that EC had already tried other platforms to work with and what they didn't like about them.
- Competitor Market Analysis. An important step is to understand which references we can rely on. We paid particular attention to UI/UX design specifically, as well as the functionality of the platforms.
- Rapid Prototyping. To understand what the application would look like, we created a prototype, which we later validated in UX Moderate format and tested on end users.
- Formation of Terms of Reference. After we saw how the application approximately works, we generated the terms of reference and requirements for the UI/UI storybook.
- Formation of the release plan. Before forming the release plan, we also consulted at each stage with the client.
There were 14 people from the WEZOM team at the time of the work with the platform, including developers, product managers, and designers.
Final Result
Thanks to our custom platform, the customer saves about 64.7% of the time by optimizing business processes with the application, and the overall performance of the HR processes has increased by 52.9%. HRMS platform has positively impacted several departments at once:
- HRM Department. Firstly, the platform had a positive impact on HR processes. Primarily Head of HR, Recruiters, C&B manager, HR generalist, and also Travel Manager.
- Sales Department. The platform also helped to control the work of the sales department, as well as helped to monitor the employees' productivity more easily.
- Call Center. Another department in the company experienced a positive effect from the fixation of all work processes in the application.
To sum up, it is important to say, that HRSM platforms have a really great impact on the team workflow and increase productivity. It can increase productivity and improves compliance, efficiency, and robust reports. In the nearest future, HRSM platforms are expected to use AI to automate processes even more. So now we can see just the beginning of its development.
