Nigel: It seems that technology is becoming an increasingly active discussion subject for many recruitment agencies.
Rod: That is true. Both of us are seeing this as an important and frustrating topic for the agencies that we meet. It is not surprising. There are significant benefits to new integrated technology solutions from many perspectives. But it is a complex and expensive project for many recruitment industry leaders.
One of the realities is that there are huge expectations from all those that interact with the agency ,it impacts how you retain and attract staff, how you interact with candidates, and even how you are perceived by your clients. When some technologies become pervasive in the community then there are real expectations that need to be met the use of smart phones and tablets are a good example of this.
Nigel: And agencies work in a more complex environment now.
Rod: Yes in a few short years the complexity of how an agency works has increased significantly. New business models require technology to make them work multiple office locations, mobile staff, offshore outsourcing, working in VMS environments, WHS requirements, and other quality requirements. In this environment you need good technology.
I've recently come to the conclusion that technology is now an inhibitor to many agencies, large and small. It is meant to be an enabler! If an organisation has been running the same internal applicant tracking system for the last 7-10 years then just that factor may be costing them business in all sorts of ways. Great technology can dramatically affect the quality of people hired and reduce the time and cost to hire them. But technology is not a panacea.
Nigel: Thats so true and it's not a project that agencies either look forward to or manage successfully.
Rod: Technology is hard choosing and implementing core technology systems is a serious project that most recruitment industry leaders do not encounter very often. Most agencies are not equipped for any part of the project defining the project, developing requirements, choosing a vendor or project managing the implementation. Vendors are not your friend for these projects; you need to have (or buy) your own capacity and capability.
Of course the post implementation aspects are critically important as well ensuring staff are well trained in using the technology and understand the importance of technology to the business. Employees also need to be well versed in the consequences to the business where technology is used inappropriately.
But then we have to remember that technology doesn't place candidates.
Nigel: Recruitment companies are fast paced, high activity businesses with a wide variety of processes and legislative compliance requirements. On the surface its an ideal environment for technology to shine and improve process compliance, learning, productivity, communications, visibility and importantly profitability. Lets face it, in the last 15 to 20 years our industry has moved from having little or no dependence on technology to a point of total dependency and thats a huge shift in the way things are managed and done. What hasn't changed is the fact that technology doesn't place our candidates, we do. And I hope it stays that way!
Rod: One of the subtleties is that new technology needs to fit in with the way you work, just as the way you work needs to reflect the benefits of the new technology.
Nigel: Sounds so simple yet very few companies appear to get this right and gain the true benefits of improved speed and efficiencies. Technology can be pretty inflexible once you have it and getting expensive customisations created can create further problems if you really havent looked beyond the immediate horizon, often it needs another fix to get you where you wanted to be. Of course disciplined system usage is a very important factor in achieving great results and sadly many recruiters love to take short cuts which offer short term gain but then leave huge gaps in the quality of data in the system. It's the old case of rubbish going in and not much coming out! Sadly most systems impose a workflow methodology which is different to how you do it and this is where most users fall down.
Rod: Technology can destroy productivity if you get it wrong. Staff will work-around the systems or will just leave the organisation.
Nigel: I am not so sure we have really seen a gain in productivity, in fact when I look back in time its a fact that we placed more people and did it quicker. Some simple things can be overlooked when deciding on a system, thats the outcome of not checking off the system process against your own process checklist. A simple thing such as recording availability of temps and contractors and scheduling their placement has almost destroyed a market leader in their field. They have had to come up with alternative systems to track these events and their results suggest that they have lost market dominance through this glitch. Another area which appears to cause major issues is that of activity reporting. Many vendors have really missed the boat in this area and it becomes a very expensive task to get it right.
Rod: I think many business owners also under estimate how expensive technology projects can be.
Nigel: Thats so true, I know it can destroy cash reserves and create future cash obligations if you get it wrong and the pain of changing to yet another system is often so troublesome that people opt to stay with what they have. They then take a band aid approach to get close to what they want and this is never a cheap option and rarely delivers what was really wanted. I think the good old rule of getting it right first time is something that our industry has in most instances not achieved. Often the word of the vendor has been accepted without proper testing and due diligence being taken, this always leads to tears!
Rod: But when an agency gets its use of technology right ... there is research that shows the link between superior adoption of technology and the superior performance of the business within its industry. The reverse also applies poor use of technology has a direct linkage to underperformance within an industry.
There is no doubt that the sensible use of technology within a recruitment agency will can lead to an increase in equity value create efficient processes; develop your brand in ways that are relevant to todays market; execute business models that allow growth; better serve candidates, clients and staff and make more profit!
We should be happy with that conversation Nigel ,we didnt mention Cloud Computing once.