TMS solutions: black holes of time and money.
Even with the fear that AI and automation are going to replace us all with robots, the reality is that we still need real people in our organisations. Managing people in almost any 21st century workplace means using people management software, and that is an industry by itself.
The talent management software (TMS) industry grosses around USD 12 Billion annually, and shows no signs of slowing down. Some products cost just USD 1 per month, while others cost the equivalent of USD 500 per month to run. A saturated market of products can cause even the most cautious buyer to pick the wrong product, and that leads to unexpected and unnecessary costs further down the line.
Before jumping into a complicated new system, how did most businesses deal with their HR management needs? Research showed that new users fall into three categories:
- Those who used nothing at all or had a paper-based system (43%).
- Those who used non-HR software such as CRM (Customer relationship management software) (23%).
- Those who used another dedicated HR product and decided to switch (39%).
(These numbers had overlap due to customers using more than one method)
Mistakes cannot simply be put down to picking the first product that appears in front of us. 45% of purchasers spend ten months researching and choosing the software they buy. Unsurprisingly, the data shows that cost has risen to the number two spot for reasons a product was purchased. When choosing something as important as an organisation’s integral IT product, saving money at the checkout can prove to be a false economy.
As the market became more saturated, TMS vendors began to create and cater products towards more the more frugal small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). This meant making cheaper, less complicated and easier-to-use products, which inevitably leads to features being cut. In heavily regulated industries such as education, finance or healthcare, it is critical that a product caters to the plethora of compliance requirements for staff. Finding out that the software you have invested in does not meet your needs can lead to a multitude of problems, including unexpected ongoing expenses, time lost on using fragmented systems, and even having to start the process all over again.
Most, if not all, of the big software providers are putting their services into the cloud, which means relying less on your local computing power and network, and more on internet speeds and remote servers. In simple terms, this means that even if the software is easy to use your staff can lose a lot of time just waiting for it to load and refresh. If you calculate how many staff you have and how long each one has to wait due to server downtime or slow responses, then you can work out your losses in pure dollars. As with other considerations, it might be worth investing a few dollars more in the product if it saves you time in the office.
Carefully study all the options and weigh up each element—cost, ease of use, ongoing technical support, future-proofing, cloud services, integration with other products—and you will no doubt find that higher cost in the short term may lead to peace of mind in the long term. The financial cost of lost time, staff frustration and fragmented products may be incalculable, but you can get a sense for when something is working for your team.
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
