Rockpool Digital, one of the UK's fastest growing digital agencies, is improving the way it manages its people with the help of Cezanne OnDemand, an online HR software for small and mid-sized businesses that's available on pay as you go Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) basis.
With teams based in both Bristol and London, and working with FTSE and high growth companies, Rockpool has enjoyed rapid growth since it was formed in 2004. Consistently profitable, the business has grown multi-million revenues based on a foundation of investing in its employees and processes in order to deliver a service that clearly differentiates it from its competitors.
As part of the company's mission to make life easier for clients, their customers, employees and the wider community, Rockpool brought on board Stephanie Bond, an experienced and MCIPD-accredited HR professional, as HR Manager to set up and run the HR department.
One of the first challenges Stephanie tackled was managing HR data for an ever expanding team. Stephanie says: When I first joined, information relating to employees was held in a number of files, which meant that any kind of reporting was extremely laborious. My first step was to move the data into Excel as a short term solution whilst I researched HR systems.
With over 10 years' experience working within HR, predominately in larger organisations and having used different HR systems, Stephanie understood the benefits that an HR system could bring to the business. However, as she explains: The HR software that I had used in the past was just too expensive and inflexible for a small, fast growing business such as Rockpool.
After speaking with fellow CIPD members and researching different options, Stephanie invited a number of suppliers to demonstrate their software. The companies included a mixture of traditional HR software suppliers and those that offered SaaS HR software, sometimes referred to as 'HR in the Cloud' or online HR software.
Most suppliers were looking for a significant upfront investment in software licences and implementations fees. It became very clear to the Board that spending GBP25,000 to GBP30,000 on a traditional HR software system just didn't make sense for a smaller business like our own, Stephanie explains. We just could not see a return on this level of investment in either the short or mid-term."
What we liked about Cezanne OnDemand was the straight-forward employee-based pricing, and the fact that it was delivered on-line, so there was no need for us to invest in our own hardware, software or internal support. We just pay a monthly subscription fee that covers all the HR functionality, online help and the frequency of automatic updates and new features.
Rockpool found it easy to get up and running too. Stephanie commented: To get us started, I entered the data for our management team onto the system and could then highlight to the Board the benefits of having all of our employee data in a single, specialist HR system.
With Cezanne OnDemand, Stephanie can quickly see data on key HR metrics, such as sickness, absence and employee turnover without having to search through multiple excel spread sheets. She also has access to employee information that she can use to help move the growing business forward. Importantly, Cezanne OnDemand also provides a framework that helps Rockpool to manage their HR processes in a legally compliant way.
Although Rockpool already has a tool for employees to book holidays, Cezanne OnDemand will be used to manage this process in the very near future when self-serve is rolled out. Stephanie says: The old holiday booking system is very unpopular, time-consuming and, unlike Cezanne OnDemand, not particularly user friendly. We are planning to roll out self-service in the next few weeks, which will provide our managers with the tools to manage the holiday booking process more efficiently and employees will have the opportunity to use the system too.
Stephanie finishes: We now see Cezanne's HR software as a service helping us to move away from a reactive approach to HR to one that is pro-active, allowing our managers to plan, shape and support the strategic vision of the business.
Source:
http://computernewsarticles.com/computer_articles/2012/10/rockpool-digital-selects-cezanne-softwares-online-hr-software-to-help-support-business-growth-306972.htm
