Comments on: Sustainability Among HR Vendors http://www.inflexionadvisors.com/blog/2008/03/18/sustainability-among-hr-vendors/ Seeding growth through innovation. Tue, 06 Jan 2009 13:51:54 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5 By: smithsan http://www.inflexionadvisors.com/blog/2008/03/18/sustainability-among-hr-vendors/#comment-6693 smithsan Sat, 04 Oct 2008 19:52:32 +0000 http://www.inflexionadvisors.com/blog/2008/03/18/sustainability-among-hr-vendors/#comment-6693 Throughout North America, human resource functions are being challenged by their internal business customers to better meet customer needs while lowering costs. -------- smithsan <a href="http://www.drivenwide.com" rel="nofollow">message marketing </a> Throughout North America, human resource functions are being challenged by their internal business customers to better meet customer needs while lowering costs.
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smithsan
message marketing

]]> By: Inflexion Point » Blog Archive » The Sideline Offensive - Vendors Take Note http://www.inflexionadvisors.com/blog/2008/03/18/sustainability-among-hr-vendors/#comment-2817 Inflexion Point » Blog Archive » The Sideline Offensive - Vendors Take Note Thu, 24 Apr 2008 14:15:29 +0000 http://www.inflexionadvisors.com/blog/2008/03/18/sustainability-among-hr-vendors/#comment-2817 [...] weeks ago we addressed the issue of vendor sustainability, with acquisition activity one of the confounding variables in the constantly shifting sands of the [...] […] weeks ago we addressed the issue of vendor sustainability, with acquisition activity one of the confounding variables in the constantly shifting sands of the […]

]]> By: Inflexion Point » Blog Archive » How to Address Risk and Sustainability Among HR Vendors http://www.inflexionadvisors.com/blog/2008/03/18/sustainability-among-hr-vendors/#comment-2335 Inflexion Point » Blog Archive » How to Address Risk and Sustainability Among HR Vendors Fri, 21 Mar 2008 16:27:54 +0000 http://www.inflexionadvisors.com/blog/2008/03/18/sustainability-among-hr-vendors/#comment-2335 [...] Earlier this week we addressed a growing concern surrounding sustainability of HR vendors.  Issues such as financial solvency, management turnover, ongoing investment into product portfolios, backwards compatibility and support, legal action, and acquisitions (among others) can cause significant disruptions to both near and long term value propositions.  So how should one address these concerns, and does a system exist that can quantify the risk portfolio of an HR vendor prior to purchase?The short answer is no.  Inflexion has yet to find an appropriate single source mechanism or formulaic that combines risk mitigation and sustainability with deep functional domain expertise.  That being said, we believe there is tremendous opportunity in the development and deployment of an impartial decision support tool to aid HR buyers in assessing these and other risk factors.  Several existing assets, if properly leveraged and supplemented, could help to solve some portion of this significant industry problem: [...] […] Earlier this week we addressed a growing concern surrounding sustainability of HR vendors.  Issues such as financial solvency, management turnover, ongoing investment into product portfolios, backwards compatibility and support, legal action, and acquisitions (among others) can cause significant disruptions to both near and long term value propositions.  So how should one address these concerns, and does a system exist that can quantify the risk portfolio of an HR vendor prior to purchase?The short answer is no.  Inflexion has yet to find an appropriate single source mechanism or formulaic that combines risk mitigation and sustainability with deep functional domain expertise.  That being said, we believe there is tremendous opportunity in the development and deployment of an impartial decision support tool to aid HR buyers in assessing these and other risk factors.  Several existing assets, if properly leveraged and supplemented, could help to solve some portion of this significant industry problem: […]

]]> By: Peter Vlant http://www.inflexionadvisors.com/blog/2008/03/18/sustainability-among-hr-vendors/#comment-2302 Peter Vlant Thu, 20 Mar 2008 00:36:32 +0000 http://www.inflexionadvisors.com/blog/2008/03/18/sustainability-among-hr-vendors/#comment-2302 History repeats. We would expect the consolidation to continue for all the reasons outlined, the same as what happened pre and post the dot com boom. Key factors for HR vendors are being able to maintain the flexibility of customised solutions, a matter of managing service delivery effectively, not just building one-size-fits-all software (people management - not money or payroll management - systems are incredibly diverse), managing growth while maintaining or (heaven forbid) increasing customer satisfaction levels and ongoing funding, given the ongoing fallout from the sub prime fiasco. Quite diverse objectives. History repeats. We would expect the consolidation to continue for all the reasons outlined, the same as what happened pre and post the dot com boom.
Key factors for HR vendors are being able to maintain the flexibility of customised solutions, a matter of managing service delivery effectively, not just building one-size-fits-all software (people management - not money or payroll management - systems are incredibly diverse), managing growth while maintaining or (heaven forbid) increasing customer satisfaction levels and ongoing funding, given the ongoing fallout from the sub prime fiasco. Quite diverse objectives.

]]> By: tony http://www.inflexionadvisors.com/blog/2008/03/18/sustainability-among-hr-vendors/#comment-2283 tony Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:34:28 +0000 http://www.inflexionadvisors.com/blog/2008/03/18/sustainability-among-hr-vendors/#comment-2283 One issue is that these companies don't really have economies of scale if their clients want specialized/customized business processes. It is a shame, given that much of the HR work that is outsourced is non-core and therefore doesn't require customization. The other issue is that HR teams usually have a perspective that changing a vendor is a monumental task. If it wasn't for procurement, finance, and other teams asking twice about some of the oddly priced, bizarrely structured, and poorly negotiated HR vendor deals, there would likely be no switching. You hit on that topic here, and I fully agree. Lastly, HR teams don't have a tremendous amount of funding to pay start-up costs. Since most switching is actually driven by upgrading performance, it is hard for cost-cutting HR organizations to make the investment. Tony http://360vendormanagement.com One issue is that these companies don’t really have economies of scale if their clients want specialized/customized business processes. It is a shame, given that much of the HR work that is outsourced is non-core and therefore doesn’t require customization.

The other issue is that HR teams usually have a perspective that changing a vendor is a monumental task. If it wasn’t for procurement, finance, and other teams asking twice about some of the oddly priced, bizarrely structured, and poorly negotiated HR vendor deals, there would likely be no switching. You hit on that topic here, and I fully agree.

Lastly, HR teams don’t have a tremendous amount of funding to pay start-up costs. Since most switching is actually driven by upgrading performance, it is hard for cost-cutting HR organizations to make the investment.

Tony
http://360vendormanagement.com

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