Adding Strategic Value to an ERP Software Sale

By Including Payroll Processing and Human Resources Solutions

How do you add value to an ERP sale aimed to set your offering apart from your competitors?

By including payroll and human resource services that integrate with your current ERP solution offerings, you can provide strategic value to your current client/prospect base in today’s competitive environment. Outlined below are some of the payroll and human resources functions that ERP prospects demand in today’s marketplace.

Payroll Processing & Integration ACA Reporting & eFiling Applicant Tracking & Recruitment Benefits Management Employee & Manager Self-Service Performance Management Time & Attendance Workflows Surveys Reporting

Payroll Processing & Integration

In many cases, payroll systems do not integrate with ERP systems out of the box.

Why? Because most ERP vendors do not provide robust enough payroll or human resource functions within their solution offerings.

However, when integrations or functions do exist, they are typically limited. In some cases, the integration is simply not flexible enough to meet the needs of each client/prospect’s specific requirements. Because of this, some ERP users are forced to rekey data from their payroll to update the general ledger files within an ERP system on a regular basis.

In some cases, payroll systems are challenged in processing taxes, earnings and deductions which could lead to a whole host of issues such as:

Incorrect tax filings
Inaccuracies

Filing taxes past the deadline
Exposure to fees and penalties

Employees’ final pay
Levied by the IRS

With all this said, there are some payroll systems readily available which hold the necessary integrations to seamlessly handle the general ledger data for your clients.

ACA Reporting & eFiling

There are several different vendors that manage and file for Affordable Care Act (ACA) services. The growing need driven by user-demand has been the requirement to file within a singular system.

On top of that, users want their singular, automated system to abide to the ACA compliance standards dictated by the IRS, as well as be able to populate the required 1094/1095 forms for their employee population seamlessly.

Overall, they want a singular system that assists in minimizing errors and omissions which significantly reduces the need to refile and helps to remove as many stressors as possible when it comes to tax season.

Applicant Tracking & Recruitment

There are many different options for companies to choose from when deciding on applicant tracking and recruitment solutions currently. While some vendors only offer a standalone applicant tracking and recruitment solution, others may offer these functions within their full HCM solution.

While both have their pros and cons, the growing trend has been for the applicant and recruitment functions to be included in an HCM solution package. It’s become a duel of providing the capability of one-click hiring and electronic onboarding of newly hired employees VS. an integration that covers some, but not all the features and capabilities of a one-vendor HCM solution.

It is becoming clearer that users are demanding their applicant tracking and recruitment solutions to include:

Integrations with competitive recruiting domains such as ZipRecruiter, Indeed and more
Access to customizable email templates used to communicate with applicants
Seamless onboarding and workflow integrations
EEO reporting
Referral source tracking capabilities
Setting up employment screenings

Benefits Management

Businesses have multiple options when it comes to managing the benefits of their human capital.

The two most common choices are:

Managing benefits through an insurance broker
Managing benefits through an automated HCM solution that integrates to insurance carriers or broker portals

While both methods are effective, the growing trend in the industry is that companies are transitioning towards complete benefits management utilizing automated HCM solutions to maintain total control over their benefits process.

Some areas of control include electronic integrations to various carriers’, health insurance, vision, dental and to 401k providers that would update changes within an organization. Examples of potential event changes would be terminations, new hires and any employee data changes.

Employee and Manager Self-Service

Companies have seen an increase in productivity within the human resources department due to them moving from a manual process to an automated orientated one. Simple tasks like PTO approval or checking available balances move faster due to automation technology.

In the past, a PTO approval might have been completed by a time consuming manual process. Usually involving a document or email chain which at times could take multiple days or weeks to approve. Because of the efficiency of an employee and manager self-service function within an automated HCM solution, data has shown that it frees up more time for HR personnel to focus on strategic company initiatives instead of those mundane, administrative manual tasks.

Performance Management

Time and Attendance

Time and attendance requirements are significantly different based on each companies’ requirements and the industries they specialize in. Most recent trends are showing a strong indication that time and attendance vendors must have a flexible mobile app that include multiple features such as punching in/out, geofencing and IP restrictions.

Workflows

The utilization of workflows has shown to significantly increase productivity amongst multiple departments. With the ability to approve a workflow within an automated HCM solution, companies can provide a date and timestamp from the approver, while also moving it to either the final approval process or to the next step in the workflow process.

Organizations who have moved to an automated workflow process have provided feedback that they can approve or deny requests within minutes of receiving the request, compared to sometimes taking days or even weeks due to their previous manually-run process not being as efficient.

Surveys

Automated HCM systems can create and conduct surveys seeking critical feedback from:

Specific divisions
Groups, and/or

Departments
The entire employee population

Locations

In many cases, the survey data needed will be reported or shared with key stakeholders or the entire employee population.

Organizations who use this function within an automated HCM solution removes the need for them to rely on a 3rd party survey solution. This will provide them with a more streamlined way of collecting and analyzing data.

Reporting

The need for companies to access their data within an HCM solution has never been greater. Some HCM providers offer a built-in report writer, or access to already existing reports which is a benefit itself compared to not using any system.

However, aside from those two functions, a growing trend within HCM vendors is to offer analytical and business intelligence reporting tools, either developed in-house or the integrations are created from an existing solution. These enable companies to harvest and present data in ways they could not previously provide to key stakeholders when mission-critical personnel-related decisions are required.

As you can see, there are many different facets to payroll and HR requirements based on real-world demands. No two companies’ share the same requirements.

With that said, when selecting the correct automated HCM solution, one should search for a scalable system that fits into many different company structures and requirements.

Learn More About Arcoro’s Modular HR Solution

MAXIMIZE YOUR PROFITS

Adding Strategic Value to an ERP Software Sale