Cloud-Based HCM Replaces Homemade Solution

Transcription

1 Case Study: Bluewolf Cloud-Based HCM Replaces Homemade Solution How a Fast-Growing Consulting Firm Successfully Implemented FinancialForce HCM By Holger Mueller Vice President and Principal Analyst Content Editor: R Ray Wang Copy Editor: Maria Shao September 24, 2014

2 Fast-growing cloud-based consulting firm Bluewolf chose FinancialForce HCM to replace its home-built custom HR system. This case study gives insights about the starting point, best practices applied and lessons learned. Problem A custom-built HR system was not a reliable platform anymore Significant cost went into maintaining this custom HR system The firm faced a challenge to keep investing in the upkeep of the custom HR system. Solution The firm selected FinancialForce HCM to run its HCM processes A modular implementation led to quick results Benefits Bluewolf freed up 20 to 30 percent of HR department capacity for other more strategic tasks Employees were able to use the new solution quickly as they were familiar already with a similar user interface Bluewolf is a global business consulting firm that specializes in Salesforce.com implementations. It takes the scope of consulting projects beyond traditional software system implementation, leading to engagements for strategic consulting, training, learning, cloud management and application development. Bluewolf prides itself for not only telling clients what to do, but getting them there. Beyond Salesforce.com, Bluewolf also works in the ecosystems of Oracle s Marketing Cloud, FinancialForce, Marketo and Apptus. It has offices in the United States as well as the United Kingdom, France and Australia. The firm is expanding fast, benefitting from the dynamic adoption of cloud-based enterprise software systems. Company: Bluewolf Headquarters: New York 2013 Revenue: Privately held, not disclosed No. Employees: 500 Industry: Software implementation and adjacent services Other: Started in 2001 Bluewolf was in a relatively unique starting position. It was not running any servers itself and it owned no data centers. As an early Salesforce.com implementation partner, the firm had embraced cloud-based delivery completely and it practiced what it consulted clients on being a fully cloud-based enterprise Constellation Research, Inc. All rights reserved 2

3 Originally, the company had built and operated a custom HR system that was developed on the Force.com platform from Salesforce.com. The original decision was triggered by the desire to use a cloud-based system and at the same time a frugal approach to capital spending. Bluewolf used consultants who were under-utilized at the time to build the application. When the current COO joined the firm, he assessed all existing systems, and found room for improvement on the HR automation side. As with all custom systems built in-house, the upkeep of the system turned out to be a challenge, so the COO decided to replace the custom system with a standard HR system. FinancialForce HCM (then Vana Workforce) quickly became the leader in the RFP process, with the product being fully cloud-based and being built on the Force.com platform, a technological affinity that the firm appreciated. At the time of the selection in 2012, Bluewolf was taking a significant risk as Vana Workforce was still a relatively new product. But executives trusted the Vana Workforce team to build out any gaps in the product that might occur during discovery and implementation of the new system. In hindsight, Vana Workforce lived up to that expectation, with the vendor accommodating Bluewolf requests quickly, adding the majority of enhancement requests to the product roadmap and openly sharing the roadmap with Bluewolf. For instance, when Salesforce.com introduced its social collaboration tool Chatter, both Vana Workforce and Bluewolf worked closely together to avoid redundant operations and ensure a smooth and coordinated setup of the new capability. Bluewolf started the implementation in 2012 and quickly implemented FinancialForce HCM in a few weeks. The firm elected to start with HR Core first and added Recruiting shortly thereafter. During the implementation, the project team was regularly visited and supported by the Vana Workforce founders, and their presence and attention were well received by Bluewolf. Later, the firm added FinancialForce HCM Recruiting, a key automation area for a fast-growing company. The HCM automation portfolio is rounded out with Salesforce.com s Work.com product for Performance FinancialForce HCM Cloud-based on Salesforce.com s Force.com platform 2014 Constellation Research, Inc. All rights reserved 3

4 Management, replacing a Sonar6 solution. On the payroll side, Bluewolf uses ADP. FinancialForce HCM has been a solid choice for Bluewolf as we've (explosively) grown and changed over the past few years, and HCM has been able to keep up with that change. Paulo Kaiser COO Bluewolf One key reason for the very quick implementation was that all parties involved reported into the COO, so C- level visibility and quick decision making were a given, avoiding challenges in the cooperation between HR and IT professionals. And at the same time, the COO served as an executive champion. The key objective of the COO throughout the implementation was to make sure that, as both Bluewolf and FinancialForce grew rapidly, the FinancialForce HCM executive team paid enough attention to Bluewolf s implementation and to existing and future product requirements. For Bluewolf, that meant sometimes changing project priorities and for the FinancialForce HCM team it meant learning to scale processes over a growing customer base. The Bluewolf success served as a testament to executives of both companies managing these challenges successfully. The impact of moving to FinancialForce HCM was significant. An already very small HR department was not only able to support a rapidly growing company, but was also able to free up considerable time for more strategic projects beyond day-to-day HR operations. For instance, today s onboarding and offboarding at Bluewolf are fully automated, producing a dramatic reduction in administrative burden. All departments of the firm that are involved in the onboarding process can easily see exactly where a new candidate is, increasing transparency and significantly improving process efficiency. Though not having gone through a formal ROI assessment, Bluewolf management is certain that FinancialForce HCM has freed up conservatively 20 percent and on the high side 30 percent of HR department capacity. Moreover, FinancialForce HCM has dramatically more functionality than the homegrown HR system had, while costing Bluewolf less per user seat. And the firm was able to save up to two FTEs that were building and maintaining the homegrown system. Bluewolf now elects to use similar worker capacity to build standard extensions to FinancialForce HCM that will help Bluewolf to differentiate its business and boost its efficiency in certain strategic processes. The most recent example of this was the implementation of benefits functionality and its integration with other services and vendors. The analogy Bluewolf sees for FinancialForce HCM is that the system is like a box of Lego. The firm believes that it is better to play with Legos than having to build all the pieces by yourself Constellation Research, Inc. All rights reserved 4

5 Salesforce.com and FinancialForce HCM systems both are built on the Force.com platform. Having this common platform turned out to be a major asset for Bluewolf. For instance, Bluewolf can directly use utilization data from its in-house custom-built Professional Services Automation (PSA) application and feed that into the Salesforce.com CRM and FinancialForce HCM applications. Likewise, salary information is available in reporting applications and the company was much faster to create directional profit and loss statements. Apart from the common platform, the firm shared the following lessons learnt: Work closely with your vendor and align executives. This is especially true when one or both of the parties involved in the implementation grow rapidly. Close executive interactions and mutual access are crucial for the project s success. Cloud clearly wins. A cloud-based system, ideally on the same platform as the rest of a company s enterprise automation, is a key to success. Not only is the first implementation easier, all subsequent processes are easier, resulting in an overall acceleration of enterprise automation processes. Roadmap alignment is key. Working closely with the vendor and aligning the company s rollout priorities with the vendor s product roadmap is key. The custombuilt functionality that later will be replaced by vendor functionality is a waste of energy and resources. It s recommended to use that energy to influence the vendor as necessary to re-prioritize the project rollout as needed. Listen to the user. Having a close ear to the experience, concerns and potential issues of the user base is another area to pay attention to. Concerns in the user community can be quickly addressed in initial phases of implementation, but are much harder to put out when becoming prominently expressed in later implementation phases. User experience is key. Early attention should be paid to the user experience. In Bluewolf s case, the user base was already proficient at using Salesforce.com-style applications, but when that is not a given, executives should ensure sufficient time is given to training and education. ROI Bluewolf was able to free up 20 to 30 percent of the HR department capacity while the company was rapidly growing. The freed-up capacity was used for strategic projects that made the HR department more important as a corporate function and allowed a shift from an administrative function to a more strategic role in the enterprise Constellation Research, Inc. All rights reserved 5

6 Best Practices On the best practices side, there are a number of takeaways that will help other HCM system implementations. We present five best practices: 1. Develop a clear understanding of company and project goals. It s very important to know what goals a company wants to achieve with the implementation of an enterprise software system. The implementation and rollout priorities should then be aligned with these goals. In the Bluewolf case, it was key for executives to de-commission the custom system and align with standard processes supported by the vendor of the new system. If a specific functionality was not available, Bluewolf would try to influence the FinancialForce HCM roadmap and wait for the provision of the feature in the roadmap schedule. 2. Prioritize cross-functional leadership. Corporate systems like HCM systems are seen by every function of the enterprise. Executives need to consider all aspects of the enterprise and listen to potential concerns of some functions early in order to be aware of them and address them as needed. 3. Address pain points and solve them quickly. Every enterprise software implementation has challenges; some of them develop into pain points. Instead of letting these pain points grow and linger, it s key to address these early and successfully. Addressing and solving pain points quickly helps projects to evolve quickly from so so projects to successful projects. 4. Avoid complexity with modularity. Enterprise software implementations in general and HCM system implementations in particular can quickly get very complex. One of the common mistakes of project sponsors and managers is to load too much scope into the project plan. Avoid the big bang syndrome by breaking down the scope in logical modules and implement them step by step, but on a rapid path. Bluewolf is a great case to show how modularity can lead to project success. 5. Scale growth with a cloud platform. Bluewolf executives knew that their firm would grow rapidly, both organically and through acquisitions. Thanks to the very nature of a cloud-based system, the firm never had to worry about sizing capacity, procuring servers, etc. They just scaled up their FinancialForce HCM usage. The elasticity of cloud solutions (even in the case of an organizational scaledown) is a key argument in general for cloud-based enterprise systems. What to Avoid The key advice from this HCM system implementation is to make sure that the vendor capabilities fit the client s needs in the crucial areas of the project. Not every company is ready to implement a cloud-based HCM solution. Many would prefer a modular system like FinancialForce HCM Constellation Research, Inc. All rights reserved 6

7 Even though the advantages of cloud and modularity are evident in this case study, executives should evaluate the strategic fit with the vendor capabilities very carefully during the selection process. Moreover, special attention should be paid to the usability of the new HCM system. In the case of Bluewolf, the familiarity of the employee base with a Salesforce.com-style user interface experience was a big bonus. Even though an HCM solution may not be as functionally rich, a solution with better usability is likely to trump it as its features are taken up faster. And on the flip side, many HCM packages are functionally so rich that they need careful configuration during the implementation to avoid exposure of unnecessary system complexity to the employee user population. There are many lessons learned from the implementation of FinancialForce HCM at Bluewolf. A few stand out prominently: Involve executives early and often. As shown in many implementations, executive involvement in the rollout is a key to success. In the Bluewolf case, common challenges were eliminated relatively easily because all project resources reported into the COO. Not all organizations will have a similar favorable organizational setup for their HCM system implementation, so it s vital that the executive sponsor regularly communicates with his executive peers and that he has full support of the enterprise leader to reach necessary decisions quickly. Break implementations down into smaller projects. Enterprise software implementations are challenging, so do not make them even harder by expanding the scope of a project phase. Scope creep is the enemy of any successful on-time and in-budget enterprise software implementation, so in case of doubt, project leaders and executive sponsors should err on the side of smaller project scope. Bluewolf followed its own implementation methodology and philosophy by modularizing the project. An additional advantage of cloud-based solutions is that they can be extended step by step and usually don t face the challenge of onpremise product implementations in which all requirements need to be addressed and implemented within a certain timeframe and budget. Work closely with the vendor. Even though Bluewolf had extensive expertise for customizing a Force.com-based system compared to the average HCM system customer, the project team resisted the temptation to custom build functionality to address any potential gaps. The better solution is to work with the vendor, influence the roadmap and if possible align the project rollout scope with the vendor s product roadmap. Avoid sunk cost in IT, replace custom software with standard software. Over time, many organizations acquire a collection of custom software that needs to be maintained and supported, creating sunk cost in IT. The Bluewolf case study should encourage executives to revisit custom software used in their enterprise and, if 2014 Constellation Research, Inc. All rights reserved 7

8 feasible, consider replacing it with standard off-the-shelf software. When even a consulting company that has resources and skills for building, customizing and maintaining software built in-house is more successful on standard software than on custom-built software, then almost any enterprise out there should consider moving to standard software Constellation Research, Inc. All rights reserved 8

9 About Constellation Research Constellation Research is a research and advisory firm that helps organizations navigate the challenges of digital disruption through business models transformation and the judicious application of disruptive technologies. This renowned group of experienced analysts, led by R Ray Wang, focuses on business-themed research, including Digital Marketing Transformation; Future of Work; Next-Generation Customer Experience; Data to Decisions; Matrix Commerce; Technology Optimization and Innovation; and Consumerization of IT and the New C-Suite. Unlike the legacy analyst firms, Constellation Research is disrupting how research is accessed, what topics are covered and how clients can partner with a research firm to achieve success. Over 225 clients have joined from an ecosystem of buyers, partners, solution providers, C-suite, boards of directors and vendor clients. Our mission is to identify, validate and share insights with our clients. Most of our clients share a common trait - the passion for learning, innovating and delivering impactful results. Organizational Highlights Founded and headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, United States, in Named Institute of Industry Analyst Relations (IIAR) New Analyst Firm of the Year in Serving over 225 buy-side and sell-side clients around the globe. Experienced research team with an average of 21 years of practitioner, management and industry experience. Creators of the Constellation Supernova Awards the industry s first and largest recognition of innovators, pioneers and teams who apply emerging and disruptive technology to drive business value. Organizers of the Constellation Connected Enterprise an innovation summit and best practices knowledge-sharing retreat for business leaders. Founders of Constellation Academy, experiential workshops in applying disruptive technology to disruptive business models. Website: Contact: [email protected] Sales: [email protected] Unauthorized reproduction or distribution in whole or in part in any form, including photocopying, faxing, image scanning, ing, digitization, or making available for electronic downloading is prohibited without written permission from Constellation Research, Inc. Prior to photocopying, scanning, and digitizing items for internal or personal use, please contact Constellation Research, Inc. All trade names, trademarks, or registered trademarks are trade names, trademarks, or registered trademarks of their respective owners. Information contained in this publication has been compiled from sources believed to be reliable, but the accuracy of this information is not guaranteed. Constellation Research, Inc. disclaims all warranties and conditions with regard to the content, express or implied, including warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose, nor assumes any legal liability for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information contained herein. Any reference to a commercial product, process, or service does not imply or constitute an endorsement of the same by Constellation Research, Inc. This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold or distributed with the understanding that Constellation Research, Inc. is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional service. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. Constellation Research, Inc. assumes no liability for how this information is used or applied nor makes any express warranties on outcomes. (Modified from the Declaration of Principles jointly adopted by the American Bar Association and a Committee of Publishers and Associations.) San Francisco Andalucia Austin Belfast Boston Chicago Colorado Springs Denver London Los Angeles Monta Vista New York Pune Sacramento San Diego Santa Monica Sedona Sydney Tokyo Toronto Washington D.C Constellation Research, Inc. All rights reserved 9