How end-to-end recruitment software can make your agency more efficient
Recruitment agencies can enhance their success in the long term by implementing end-to-end software solutions that pull together data from different parts of the business.
Such technology can streamline the efficiency of internal processes, allowing a free flow of information from front office recruitment applications through to the important back office – payroll and billing. Many agencies, however, are still working with disparate systems for different tasks, which leads to a lack of connectivity and duplication of work.
David Page, CEO or FastTrack Recruitment, said agencies can experience inefficiencies if these systems aren’t integrated with the work that’s being done by the consultants in front office portals.
“The front office is probably the exciting part that a large number of staff in agencies are exposed to, so it gets a lot of attention. But the middle and back office is really the engine room, from a financial point of view. If that is not nicely tied into the work that’s being done in the front office, you can introduce inefficiencies,” said Mr Page.
“Using multiple systems can often mean there is double handling of information where you have to reenter into a second or third system that might be doing your payroll or billing,” he added.
“An agency is very dependent on working capital – if it’s having to pay employees before it’s billing clients, that can present a serious cashflow problem for the business. Having well integrated front, middle and back office software will allow the business to become more efficient and improve the management of its cashflow and working capital.
“Many recruiting agencies are considered unprofitable and it’s often because they’re not paying enough attention to their middle and back office systems,” said Mr Page.
“Using multiple systems can often mean there is double handling of information.”
Time to review your systems?
Mr Page revealed that FastTrack has been approached by many agencies keen to upgrade their systems and keen to ensure they had a vendor that would remain compliant within their system.
“The issue with some of the ageing, older systems, and again around the middle and back-office, around payroll, is just lack of compliance,” Page explained. “We have a fairly active legislation environment here in Australia and New Zealand, and it’s not hard for these systems to become non-compliant with legislation.”
Business owners may view the handling of payroll internally as tedious, but there is software available that can actually provide the same efficiency benefits of outsourcing. Benefits of internal payroll processing include having greater ownership of the company’s data and being able to get a better idea of how the business is performing financially. End-to-end software solutions are particularly useful, as data automatically flows from the front to back office without fragmentation or dispersion as happens when external services are engaged.
“Successful deployments of mobile collaboration will need an analysis of business requirements.”
End-to-end on multiple devices
Implementing software that allows for a continuous flow of information – not just from front office to back office, but across platforms – is also important to allow employees the ability to access data and collaborate on different devices.
“Empowering workers with mobile collaboration capabilities through smart devices, personal cloud sharing and mobile apps is a smart move for organisations to innovate in the workplace and stay competitive,” said Monica Basso, vice president of Gartner Research.
“Nevertheless, a number of challenges can arise from piecemeal, poorly-architected implementations. Successful deployments of mobile collaboration will need an analysis of business requirements – understanding the potential risks and restrictions while assessing existing investments and obsolescence trends.”
The recruitment industry is highly competitive, and it’s unsurprising that many agencies have difficulty finding time to conduct technology maintenance or ‘health checks’. Directors are often overwhelmed with managing teams and consultants, meeting the expectations of clients and candidates in addition to office targets.
However, when it comes time to plan for the long term, any doubts about the need to keep pace with latest technology should be put to one side. Latest end-to-end software solutions can certainly play a critical role in helping to keep recruitment agencies and other types of labour-hire organisations relevant in the market, more productive and more successful.
How to leverage on FastTrack solutions
The implementation of a new software solution can be disruptive for a busy agency. However, FastTrack Recruitment can make the process much easier in terms of providing people and resources to help make any change management exercise as painless as possible and ensure the implementation has the best chance of success.
Check out our FastTrack360 recruitment software, an end-to-end, integrated recruit, payroll and billing solution. Around its core functions of recruit-pay-bill, it features an integrated marketplace within which users can link to other key services provided by third parties. In this way we’re helping our customers stay up to date and abreast of technology that can help make them successful over time as new and innovative ideas come along.
Give us a call today if you’re interested to find out more about our FastTrack360 recruitment software solution and to see how we can help.