Top 6 Questions To Ask When Updating Your HCM System – #3 What are Vendor Sourcing Best Practices?

Many questions come to mind when companies start trying to solve for HR technology issues.  For many who have never been through an implementation, there are so many questions, it can be hard to decide where to start.  In our role of helping clients navigate the maze of HR technology solutions, we’ve heard them all (or most at least!).  In this six-part blog series, we boil it down to six of the most frequently asked questions.

This month’s question is: What advice can you share for sourcing and selecting potential HR technology vendors?

The Top Best Practices Include:

  1. Get referrals from others in your industry who may currently use the tech to get real feedback and check references
  2. Setup demos
  3. “Vendors must be able to listen to and understand customer needs and be truthful about benefits and offerings”
  4. Look at their history
  5. “Don’t reinvent the wheel, there are people who do this for a living, use them” (In other words, call MillsonJames wink-wink)
  6. Consider those that specialize in your industry, e.g. especially with ATSs
  7. Create a list of must-have functionality, consider your budget, narrow search of systems, call reps to setup demos, create comparison chart, evaluate and select
  8. A vendor should begin process by asking a lot of questions, if they don’t do this, be wary
  9. Consider vendors who spend more on R&D than marketing
  10. Look for vendors will similar staff culture as yours
  11. Look for a vendor who will be a great partner and help advance your culture
  12. Think of the business needs and prepare difficult questions to ensure in the sales process to ensure it does what they say it does

We often hear from clients “we don’t know where to start our search!?”  They are often getting called on by many different vendors and not sure how to make heads or tails of what they’re being told or shown.  There are too many vendors to count and the number grows everyday!  You can assure your clients they’re not alone in their search and MillsonJames is happy to help them “sort the wheat from the chaff”.  Our consulting approach is very tailored and starts with a detailed discovery discussion before any potential solutions are recommended.

Stay tuned for the next article in this series which focusses on tips for successful implementations.   Or to access other articles in this series go to: http://millsonjames.com/blog/

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