Wednesday 4 May 2011

Making HR simpler - Why you should go for HRMS

Ask any HR professional and they would tell you that their maximum time is spend doing "admin" work. Managing time-sheets, payslips, appraisal documents, goal sheets among other things are time intensive and divert focus from the primary HR activity of creation and implementation of human strategy and employee engagement activities. Fortunately, this could be easily addressed by implementing an enterprise application that provides HR the same advantages which were provided by CRM to the sales force. Step in HRMS.

An HRM system would provide an end to end solution that integrates all common HR admin functions like appraisals, payslips and time reporting. It would eliminate the need for manual intervention and paper work, while acting as a repository for all important documents. This would help not only the HR professionals, but the employees as well, as they don't have to worry about filling excel sheets and following up with HR for payslips and time-sheet approvals etc. Lets take a closer look at some of the functionalities that ought to be standard features in any HRM application.

User Configurations:

The HRMS application would, through user configuration, control what each user views when he/she accesses the system. An employee with no supervisory responsibilities would get a different user interface from a supervisor, and the HR professional would get a different user interface altogether.

Time Reporting:

The employee should be able to punch in the time spent doing productive work along with break, lunch, overtime and leaves. This should then go to the supervisor for approval and would get finalized post approval. The time-sheet should be integrated with the payslip generation to provide seamless process flow.

Appraisals:

Supervisors and HR personnel should be able to set up goal sheet templates for employees by designation/responsibility along with appraisal criterion. The employee should get a notification and accept the goals. When the appraisal cycle begins, a notification should go to the employee to provide self input. Once the self input is completed, the supervisor should get a notification asking for appraisal. Post the completion of the documentation and acceptance of the appraisal, it should be archived.

Payslip Management:

HR personnel should be able to set up the salary structure templates by designation. This could include basic, allowances, incentives, deductions etc. This template along with the feed from time reporting and salary cycle should generate payslips and send notification to employees at the appropriate time. The payslips should be downloadable for the employee.

Industry experts are of the opinion that any enterprise with more than 25 employees should get HRMS. With the advent of hosted, web based enterprise applications, like HRMS by Deskera, this can be achieved in a short time with minimal cost.

Thursday 28 April 2011

What to look for in a standard CRM offering?

If you are looking for a hosted CRM solution, but are not sure about what features you should go for, then read on.

While the choice of CRM would depend on the varied requirements of an organization, there are a few standard features which would be a part of any offering. But what are the key sub-features that one should look out for in the standard features? What questions should one ask before selecting the right product? Below are the four key features that should help in the decision making process:-

1) Inbound traffic to Lead -- Imagine a customer visits your website, fills up the CTA form and leaves. Is this being captured by the CRM automatically and being classified as a Lead? With the increased focus on inbound marketing, this feature should be a critical component of any lead management system.

2) Campaign Management: Does the CRM offer seamless integration between the lead management system and the campaign management system? Does it track the success of the campaigns?

If not, or worse, if the campaign management system is not included as a standard feature, then the CRM is best left alone.

3) Customized Reporting: What would you rather look at to make informed business decisions - the standard reports that a software generates or a customized report which shows you what you need to see?

Does the CRM offers you the flexibility to generate reports that you want? If not, then its not worth your time.

4) Customer Contact/ Case Management: What are the after-sales features provided by the CRM?

When a customer writes an email, or calls the help-desk, is it automatically captured by the CRM? Does it trigger an automated response and assigns the case to a handler for follow up and closure? Does it have escalation rules that would ensure that proper attention is given to every customer query/complain/feedback?

The above features will free resources and time while at the same time make the business run better, easier and faster. While not an exhaustive list by any means, it should serve as a starting point to help decide which product to go for.

Wednesday 13 April 2011

Cloud v/s On Premises Deployment

If you are wondering about what to choose between cloud and on-premises deployment for the next enterprise application in your organization, or are just curious about the whole hoopla surrounding cloud technologies, then the following is for you.

Cost & Maintenance:

In a typical On-Premises deployment, investment in setuplicensing, IT resources, maintenance, infrastructure, staffing, security/data-backup etc. could be a drain, especially for an SME (small or medium enterprise). Not only is it cost intensive, but it also eats into that most precious commodity for all senior executives - Time.

On the other hand, by leveraging the cloud technologies, one could eliminate setup fees, licensing hassles, maintenance and upgrade issues etc. No more running around for getting the upgrade patch for the installed software as it is not on your machines. For example, if an upgrade happens, it happens simultaneously for everyone. As it is at the provider's end, it is hassle free for the users and the IT managers. The local teams do not have to worry about data backup and security as they are managed by the provider.

Deployment Time:

One of the biggest advantages that Cloud has over On-Premises model is the deployment time. For e.g. Deskera, a leading provider for cloud based CRM and Enterprise applications, provides instantaneous access to the services that have been subscribed for. Compare this with the wait during the installation and setup required in a typical on-premises model.

Accessibility:

Being web-based applications that require only a browser and an internet connection, they are accessible from everywhere. One could use a hand held device while on the way to access the application and make an important entry or access the live dashboard to get the latest update on campaigns before an important meeting. Leveraging such real time accessibility could give an organization the cutting edge in the market.

Scalability:

When scaling up, hardware and software costs along with personnel costs could be a financial drain in the on-premises model.

However, by leveraging cloud based solutions, and with an On-Demand model, this becomes easier to manage for the enterprises. In case of scaling up, the number of subscriptions could be increased, and vice-versa, if scaling down, the subscriptions could be cancelled to meet business requirements. No additional costs and technology hassles for the IT managers and the enterprises as everything else is going to be managed by the provider.

In a nutshell, leveraging cloud based solutions with the right model could lead to great reductions in costs, free bandwidth by virtue of time. The correct solution would enable enterprises to focus on what they do best, running the business.

Monday 11 April 2011

How to decide which is the best CRM for you?

It can be a daunting task to choose from the various CRM offerings available nowadays. There is a host of providers, each claiming to be better than the rest. There are established players like SAP, Oracle, Salesforce and then there are new entrants like Deskera CRM, Sugar etc. It can be a tricky decision when there is such abundance of choice.

Fortunately, like all buying decisions, the choices could be narrowed down to a few by a careful evaluation of the organizational needs and how closely each offering fulfills them. Here are a few questions that could help in narrowing the list as per the organizational requirements.

1) What is the usage requirement & pattern?

What is the CRM going to be used for? How many users will access it? What is the frequency of the use - is it constant across the year or does it change appreciably?
These questions should be the first ones to be asked as they set up a clear picture of the actual requirement against perceived requirement.

2) What pricing model fits the usage requirement & pattern?

There are various pricing models available, from the highly flexible On-Demand Monthly Subscription model to the Annual Site License model or the One Time per computer License model. More and more small and medium enterprises are opting for the flexibility provided by the on-demand model. 
Its important to map this to predicted and/or observed usage requirement & pattern to avoid waste.

3) Is the CRM offering compatible with existing systems and mobile systems?

There are a host of devices which we are dependent on - smartphones, tablets, desktops, laptops to name a few. Is the CRM easily accessible on all devices if required? Is it accessible on the above devices irrespective of the OS?
With the growing importance of mobile devices, more organizations are opting for solutions that incorporate the mobility requirement in the standard offering. Cloud based applications are being preferred as they allow greater flex

4) What is the ease of customization?

Every organization runs its operations differently and a good CRM offering should be easily customizable to allow for these differences. At the same time, it should not be so skeletal that it does not provide the standard features and everything comes with the tag of a customization request.


While there might be other questions that would be relevant from business to business, the above should provide a starting point from where the decision to choose a particular CRM offering would become less confusing and helps in making the right choice.