Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Collaborating in the Cloud

The Ottawa Business Journal recently published an article entitled: Collaborating in the Cloud. John Smith, Director of Enterprise Business Solution for CRG emPerform, sat down with OBJ reporter, Greg Markey, to discuss HR in the Cloud and his thoughts about Cloud technology in general.

Read the article here: www.hr-inthecloud.com/pdf%27s/Ottawa_Business_Journal_Nov_14.pdf 

To elaborate on the piece, we sat down with John and asked him a few more questions.


What is HR in the Cloud?
HR in the Cloud is a groundbreaking collaboration of unified SaaS solutions that provides powerful and trusted talent management technology to businesses of any size looking to attract, build, and retain a competitive workforce. It is ‘One stop Shopping for Talent Management Technology'. HR in the Cloud integrates applicant tracking, human resource information system (HRIS), performance management, and learning and compliance management. Together the products provide a streamlined process from recruitment through the entire employee life cycle. This groundbreaking venture stemmed from the need for affordable HR software that can deliver rich functionality and proven results as opposed to thinner offerings that lack specialization.

 
What are the benefits of SaaS/Cloud Solutions in HR?
Today’s business landscape is more fierce and competitive than ever. In order to survive and thrive, companies of all sizes must find cost-effective ways to manage and optimize business processes. SaaS solutions are an attractive option as they allow even the smallest of companies to implement crucial technologies. SaaS solutions offer speedy deployment, affordability, controlled risk, reduced I.T. burden, flexibility and most importantly, accessibility. Employees are often the largest organizational expense. HR in the Cloud’s Unified SaaS solutions allow organizations to optimize this investment. Also, cloud technology's accessibility is very appealing for the growing number of business maintaining a geographically diverse workforce. Companies require a single interface and central repository for data and cloud solutions offer that. Cloud technology is only going to gain in popularity. 


How did the collaboration come about?
HR in the Cloud stemmed from the growing demand for rich talent management solutions that can be deployed in the cloud at an affordable price. Many vendors try to be everything to everybody, resulting in wide offerings that are quite thin. HR in the Cloud is the solution to this. It is a group of companies that share similar business values and market spaces and that are at the top of their game in their particular area. This collaboration allows each party to focus on what they do best - providing customers with powerful technology for monitoring their human capital.


Talent Management processes span recruiting, onboarding, performance management, succession planning, compensation management, learning and development, goal setting and the list goes on. Realistic enterprises are looking to update their processes in stages. SaaS technology allows them to roll each stage out faster than traditional deployment options and HR in the Cloud gives companies the peace of mind knowing that when they are ready to deploy new processes, there will be a proven and compatible solution available to them.

How can someone learn more?