What we have learned about those looking for HRIS Software

We scrutinized the HRIS software surveys that have been completed in the last few months and learned a great deal about those who are looking for an HR Information Systems software application. We took a look at the following options: Payroll, Employee Self Service, benefit open enrollment and recruiting. We also took a look at what percentage of visitors selected either a purchase platform or a hosted platform.

We found that 50% of those who completed the survey indicated that an integrated Payroll software application was required. Those who did not indicate they needed payroll selected needing an interface from their HR application to their existing payroll application.

With ESS and BOE, we found that around 90% of those that filled out the survey indicated that these options were important. I found this interesting because during my work as a reseller, I found that many people were in fact interested in these options but that few in my case ended up purchasing these options. It may be that the many Employee tracking Software prospects are interested in this feature until they find out the cost or additional consulting time involved in setting up these options. The results for those wanting recruiting solutions were slightly less; around 75%.

We also looked at how often someone marked the options required. Payroll was obviously marked required almost 100% of the time selected. The surprise was with benefits open enrollment. A large percentage of those who completed the survey indicated that they had interest in benefits open enrollment but less than 10% indicated it was required. As opposed to 70% who said ESS was required or 80% who indicated recruiting was required.

The last field I would like to address is hosted versus purchase. We originally found that most visitors were selecting ‘either’ or ‘purchase only’ the vast majority of the time. We recently added text under this field highlighting the unique differences between the two options and we have now seen that 90% of the time visitors are selecting ‘either’ for the option. The other 10% selected hosted.

As we continue to generate more data based on the surveys, we will release more detailed information going forward.

Clay Scroggin has worked in the HR and Payroll Software Industry for more than fifteen years. During that time Clay and those who have worked for him, have sold and implemented hundreds of HR professionals with their HR software needs. In 2007 Clay began working on Comparehris.com, a site dedicated to assisting HR professionals with their search, selection, implementation and use of HR systems. The site contains several tools to assist HR professionals with their HR software research including a HRIS and HRMS Software Selection Tool.

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Be sure to also download our Detailed Free HRIS Buyers Guide which provides a detailed ten step approach to selecting HR Software.