4 key considerations for recruitment business owners when making new technology decisions

It can cost you dearly or pay back handsomely…

On the face of it, buying software technology for use in the recruitment business is simply a matter of matching your requirements with the most appropriate solution available. However, it is an area of some complexity, so make sure you fully understand what options are available to you.
It’s not like buying a shiny new gadget like the latest smartphone. The decisions you make can cost your business dearly and impact the effectiveness of staff and the efficiency of the business. On the other hand, making the right choice can pay back handsomely on the bottom line. Here are four key considerations when making technology decisions in a recruitment business.

1. What functionality do you actually require?

You may need only limited functionality to perform specific tasks. It could be applicant tracking or accounting. Or it could be timesheets or payroll. Identify what you really need because software with more features than necessary costs you more, adds complexity and creates confusion.

2. ERP or Line-of-Business?

If you are a start-up or looking to replace a number of existing systems with a new software system capable of managing business processes end-to-end, there are two key choices. Firstly an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) solution customised to meet the needs of recruitment. Generally speaking, ERP applications are general purpose business systems that require extensive custom software development before they can be used to full effect.
Software development of ERP type systems tends to be expensive.
The second option is to integrate specialist Line-of-Business (LoB) applications that are already geared for recruitment. LoB applications are rapidly replacing ERP as the primary choice because of the significant cost advantages that come from eliminating the need for software development. LoB applications that perform specific functions like payroll, accounting or timesheets deliver the exact functionality you need and can be integrated with one another to automate the exchange of information.

3. SaaS or on-premise: Rental or Ownership?

On-premise is the traditional ownership model of software acquisition where you buy software and licences, install it on your hardware and then have to swallow support, maintenance and upgrade costs. Unlike property ownership, software is a depreciating asset.
Online applications, otherwise known as cloud apps or SaaS (Software-as-a-Service), have rapidly gained acceptance and achieved significant market penetration over the last 10 years or so. SaaS applications offer a simple rental business model where costs (typically monthly) fall into OPEX, and where support, maintenance and upgrade costs are eliminated.
There has been a significant shift in emphasis within the software industry and everyone including major players such as Microsoft and Adobe has moved or is in the process of moving at least some of its software to the SaaS model.

4. Do you really need to bring technology in-house?

Today, much of the thinking that shapes how businesses should be organised is about stripping out inefficiency and focusing on high value core business activities. Put more directly and in the context of recruitment, if your business is about placing temps and contractors, why put up with the distraction of running a back office?
If there are good reasons why you wish to retain responsibility for running the back office then by all means choose the appropriate technology tools and the right mix of staff skills and get on with it. If, however, you decide that you do not need to maintain the back office in-house, then you might wish to consider opportunities to outsource.
Electing to outsource, or to give its more up to date name of ‘managed service’, enables an agency to hand off much or all back office processes to a third-party. This is compelling because the combination of economy of scale, the right technology and time served expertise are able to deliver the back office as a service far more efficiently than small, mid-sized or even a large agency could deliver it in-house.

The complete recruitment back office solution from ETZ

ETZ offers recruitment businesses the opportunity to remove the back office.
With ETZ, recruitment businesses automate processing eliminating time-consuming manual tasks to reduce back office costs by up to 85%.
To find out more about how we can help your recruitment agency towards a more efficient back office, just get in touch.