Evolution of the HR Function

By: Tushar Bhatia
Date: August 18th, 2008

Introduction

A few years back during a client interaction, while being quizzed on our capabilities, I was surprised by a question on security practices in our company. The reason cited was that the customer measured the maturity of their vendor on the basis of the security practices prevalent in the vendors premises. After all they wanted to entrust their data with us!

Around 5 years later, we were asked a similar question where another customer evaluated our HR practices at a significant level of detail to gauge our competence.

In subsequent discussions, I have found that the question on HR maturity is being asked frequently by potential customers, investors and even prospective employees. The answers indicate maturity, stability, long term sustainability and delivery capabilities of your organization and hence are very important.

So what is HR function growth? Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in:  HR Best Practices, HR Technology, Human Resources | 3 Comments »

SaaS gets its due recognition

By: Gireesh Sharma
Date: August 14th, 2008

It was refreshing to see the perspective of a leading monthly magazine DARE which talked about SaaS as a

way to lower IT costs. Makes me proud since we were covered as one of the top provider in HR. You can read about the article and even view the coverage here.

And to begin with, we faced our set of challenges too. Many companies are skeptical about security of data, continuous availability of Internet, bandwidth limitations, etc. but many have hopped across to try the new business model. Google’s soaring profits are a testimonial to this.

While reviewing my list of clients in India, I was surprised to see that almost 75% of our customers had adopted the SaaS way of doing things. And most of these companies are not really small. The smallest is about 30 employees (who are using us to manage their sales force) and the largest has over 3,500 employees using our system.

Continue to look here for a detailed cost-benefit-analysis of using the SaaS model vs. an outright purchase of software.==============

Posted in:  Goal Setting, HR Best Practices, HRMS (HRIS), Human Resources, Performance Management | No Comments »

What’s in the name? SuccessFactors for HR

By: Gireesh Sharma
Date: June 25th, 2008

I stepped into the corporate office of Book Cafe, one of the largest chains of niche book stores, hoping to meet some white beard editors and publishers.

Against all my odd thoughts, while sitting in the lobby next to a training room, I saw a very smart guy conducting a training session – on sales etiquettes, sales strategies, motivation, and so many other strategic issues related to book business. In the middle of discussion, he would also discuss the personal problems of employees and give suggestions to resolve them at organizational level, giving reference to some third person, who faced a similar problem. It was a mesmerizing training session!

After the training session, the guy relaxed himself on a table that was just below a signboard that said ‘Human Resources Department’. Being an HR analyst, it was my turn to get amazed. Is he really from HR department? I wondered. I could not resist the temptation to meet him. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in:  HR Best Practices | 9 Comments »