Article: HR automation for SMEs - A challenge: Sunil Goyal

Strategic HR

HR automation for SMEs - A challenge: Sunil Goyal

Sunil Goyal, COO, Sopra India
HR automation for SMEs - A challenge: Sunil Goyal

The first ERP that I remember from the 1990s was from Ramco and ESS, which offered HR as a module, but their focus was more on the other modules like finance, inventory, manufacturing, supply chain, etc. Over a period of time, they have evolved and are now focusing on HR as a module. Then there are ERP’s like PeopleSoft (acquired by Oracle now), SAP HR, etc. which have focused on HR modules from the beginning. These products cater to large companies, with a size of 5000+ people, as the cost of procurement, implementation and maintenance is very high. In the small segments, there are local vendors who are not very well known. For HR, there is need for a product like Tally for HRMS, which is reliable and implemented easily.

Most IT companies develop their own in-house softwares. In the last 2–3 years, the only names in the Delhi market that have gained some name are Saigun and Summit HR.

At Sopra, we developed our HR product in-house, which was working fine for the number of employees that we had 3-4 years back (less than 500). But now, since we have grown to 1000 employees and are growing every year, it is becoming a problem. As we are present at multi-locations, our HR application also needs to be integrated with payroll, finance, time management, travel and many other in-house applications. Integration is a challenge as we also need systems, which can integrate with the systems and applications developed by our corporate office in France.

In the last two years we have installed two applications, one each for recruitment and payroll. For recruitment, we are working with HireCraft, whcih is a Bangalore based vendor for recruitment software. They offer both SaaS and server based models. It is very economical and is working brilliantly for us.

For payroll, we use the application named Ascent from Eilisys Technologies of Pune. We installed their solution 8 to 9 months ago, and it is working extremely well for us. Since they are independent functions, they do not need to be integrated with anything else at least to begin with.

The only challenge is that more companies now have only SaaS based model. While those solutions might work for the SME, they cannot work for Sopra, primarily because of security concerns. With the kind of clients we support, we cannot afford a security breach.

Given the kind of new entrepreneurs who have come in the market, SaaS will definitely pick up in the future. These entrepreneurs are technically sound and come with good educational backgrounds, which equips them to develop the kind of products that organizations are looking for.

Eventually, there is a huge opportunity for a good HRMS product, which can be used by SME’s and also companies, which are below the size of 5000 employees, having presence in multi-locations, it is very important to have stability and functionality similar to Tally that is used for financial accounting. also It would also be preferrable to have vendors who have products both on Saas as well as server based.

 

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Topics: Strategic HR, Performance Management, Technology

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