Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle) - March 31, 2006 by M. Sharon Baker Contributing Writer Payroll Manager Angela Visdal shaved a day from her work week and nearly eliminated costly checks at Swedish Physician Division thanks to Web-based software that lets employees enter their own attendance.
At Seattle's PopCap Games Inc., accountant Rachel Green no longer flips through stacks of paper résumés in order to weed out unqualified applicants, or types rejection letters. She now performs those tasks online.
And John Brondello III, president of Bellevue's Time Equipment Inc., helped one client save $10,000 to $12,000 a month by moving the 100-person company to an online system that keeps track of hours worked and vacation time.
These local companies are cutting costs, saving time and streamlining operations by moving processes such as payroll, health benefits administration, expense management and recruiting to the Web.
Although visionaries began talking about Web services more than five years ago, many software providers initially targeted only the largest organizations with their products, realizing that they would be the first to see major cost and time savings due to their scale. In the past three years, however, a wide variety of large and small organizations are adopting such services, as well.
Surprisingly, however, "a majority of companies are still using pen and paper," said Brondello. Smaller companies tend to stick to traditional methods until they start growing and "the pain is unbearable," he said.
Concur Technologies Inc.'s president Rajeev Singh said recently that Redmond-basedConcur initially targeted large companies with its software, which automates and streamlines the expense reporting process. Smaller organizations now are realizing that they can save time and money by automating expense reporting, he said. However "there are still companies out there that don't know you can automate the process today. We've got a tremendous opportunity."
Offering online services improves accuracy and reduces the number of calls to human resources and payroll. Electronic forms that can be processed online can cut printing and distribution costs. Not only do companies implementing such Web services become more efficient, but often such cost-cutting efforts flow to the bottom line.
At Swedish Physician Division, Visdal saw a huge increase in the accuracy of payroll when the division began using iEmployee's time and attendance Web service. Based in Seekonk, Mass., iEmployee offers Web-hosted services including Time and Attendance, HR Software and Paid Time Off.
Visdal oversees payroll for the 800 or so employees who work at Swedish's 40 medical clinics in King and Snohomish counties. Previously, employees would fill out paper time cards that managers would total and check to make sure appropriate time off was included. Then the managers would load the data into a spreadsheet, which was sent to payroll. This process meant many managers were saving copies of leave requests, or they were often calling Visdal for the information. Visdal would then double-check the information before loading it into the payroll system.
Typically, the day after payroll, Visdal would be flooded with requests for manual adjustments, which were costly.
"We were cutting 15 to 20 checks every pay period" to correct errors, she said. Now, employees enter their information online, managers can check time-off balances online, and accuracy has jumped dramatically.
"It's taken a whole audit day away," Visdal said. "We've shifted ownership (of the data) back on the staff, and employees' hours are much more accurate."
Brondello's Time Equipment has been around since 1928 and offers everything from old-fashioned punch clocks to sophisticated software from Mangrove Software Inc., based in Tampa, Fla.
"Using employee self-service (or ESS) and payroll software can save 80 to 90 percent of the time it takes to process payroll, especially if you have hourly employees," Brondello said. "With ESS, on payday there is no paper at all."
Employees enter their time online, and managers pull up reports with the Web-based system. Direct deposit employees can view their pay stubs online, review benefits and see how many vacation days they've used, he said.
"There's also some real savings on the personal side," Brondello said. "They can call up the system for proof of employment, and get online pay verification while filling out an application for a mortgage."
Brondello has helped Seattle's Space Needle Corp. and Argosy Cruises and Bellevue-based Silver Cloud Inns & Hotels all move from manual to software systems.
At PopCap Games, Green is using a Web-based application from Silkware Technology Inc. that lets her organize, track and streamline the recruiting process.
The software links to the PopCap's Web site job posting and gives applicants an easy way to submit résumés. Green can quickly search the résumés to see who is qualified and may be a good fit. She can also choose from a number of templates when she needs to write an offer or rejection letter. Various reports allow her to see how the company is complying with equal employment opportunity requirements.
Managers can access the online bank of resumes and select interviewees.
"It's definitely been a big time saver," Green said. "And we're saving a lot of paper."
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