On Demand Workforce Management

Online Timesheet Solutions

2006-05-24T23:16:00.000-07:00

More and more companies are starting to prefer managing their timesheets online. In the race of delivering better online environment to them, service providers keep introducing new features in their product line. Enterprise CRM and salesforce.com is one such service provider. They recently introduced Timetrack CRM for salesforce.com's AppExchange. Last week iemployee.com in their newsletter announced new features in their product line. iEmployee is one of the leading online workforce management solution providers in U.S.

Challenge for HR professionals

2006-05-02T23:29:00.000-07:00

According to a survey conducted by the Business & Legal Reports (BLR) website, HR.BLR.com, complaiance with the state and federal laws is the most important challenge for HR professionals. The human resource professionals would definately find this information handy and the best part is the copies of the report are available for free on their website. Some of the paramaters of the survey are well covered in the latest article on tmcnet.com.

Money in the tip jar

2006-05-01T00:29:00.000-07:00

Do you know that you can take the money kept in the tip jar! Yes, however not to take the jar.
The money in the tip jar is considered as public money and only when the restuarant provide W2 form stating that they make income from the tips. Read on progressiveu.org for a true incident.

Don't play with your timesheet

2006-05-01T00:21:00.000-07:00

Manupulating your timesheet to increase your earning can put you behind bars. According to latest news on mcall.com, Charles Wistuba Jr., 40, of Newton, N.J., was sentenced by Superior Court Judge John Pursel to five years in state prison on two counts of theft by deception. Wistuba increased his overtime earnings on his online time sheet at a rate of 24 hours a day, seven days a week to obtain $336,348. Wistuba also used a vender number to charge his credit card bills to JCP&L to obtain $76,294.50, the affidavit said. Click here for more details.

Spring Cleaning advices

2006-05-01T00:15:00.000-07:00

After you pay your taxes and spring is about to arrive, the first thing that comes into mind is spring cleaning of documents. abclocal.go.com has published a detailed article on what to keep and what not to.
Like keep all current insurance policies- home, health, disability and auto, to hold on with your Pay Stubs- to match to the year-end statement. Then you may shred the stubs.
However do keep the year end paystubs for three years. Click here for more details.

Strong growth in demand for skilled workers

2006-04-25T20:19:00.000-07:00

The recent article on reliableplant.com indicates strong growth in demand for skilled workers in the month of April according to the findings of Society for Human Resource Management(SHRM) and the Rutgers University School of Management and Labor Relations, for the month of April in U.S. The stats are well explained keeping in mind the manufacturing and service industry.

HR as a Strategic Partner

2006-04-25T20:10:00.000-07:00

For all of you in the HR industry and are in & around Central Missouri, The Human Resource Association of Central Missouri is holding a program titled “HR as a Strategic Partner,” starting from Friday. Click here for more details.

Walker Prize 2006

2006-04-23T20:26:00.000-07:00

From the reports on chron.com on 21st, Thomas Sy from California State University and Laura Sue D'Annunzio from Booz Allen Hamilton, were announced the winners of 2006 Walker Prize by The Human Resource Planning Society (HRPS). In the year 1977, Jim Walker has helped establish this award named after him as Walker Prize. It celebrates the tradition of vision, quality and innovation exemplified. It is awarded annually to the paper, article or commentary published by HRPS that best advances state-of-the-art thinking or practices in human resources.

The Housing Authority to track workers where abouts

2006-04-23T20:15:00.001-07:00

The GPS system - that works on Sprint Nextel phones and walkie-talkies - sends location information from employee phones to a central computer, that inturn generates real-time maps and reports for employers. This information then gets imported into payroll or billing systems for time-sheet purposes. The Housing Authority is considering this technology to track their employees where abouts. Click here for more details.

Companies hire professionals to check accuracy of resumes

2006-04-23T20:15:00.000-07:00

From the latest reports on taipeitimes.com, The Human Resource Management did a survey last year that showed 40 percent of human resource professionals had increased the time they spent checking references since 2002, and 52 percent said they contracted out at least part of the background checking to professionals.
It is not new that employees lie on their resume about their work experience. More and more companies are hiring professionals to check their background to track the accuracy of the details mentioned in their resumes when they apply for a new job.

The Housing Authority to track workers where abouts

2006-04-23T20:09:00.000-07:00

West Bend Police suspended for falsifying time sheets

2006-04-23T19:58:00.000-07:00

West Bend Police suspended 3 offiers Andrew Adee, Kurt Bohn and Todd Yerges, on March 8th, accused of knowingly falsifying their time sheets over a two-year period. The West Bend Fire and Police Commission will reconvene on Monday to continue deliberations on the fate of these three city police officers. Click here for more.

Human resource professionals

2006-04-19T20:07:00.000-07:00

This article is worth reading for all human resource professionals in shrm.org that covers sharing quotes by Kimberly A. Wheeler, SPHR about alertness in finding hr solutions during natural disasters.
Some of her quotes were, “If there’s a loss of power, computer system failure, etc., the phones will not work if they are routed through your computer or other electronic systems,”
“We identified several areas in our building and installed stand-alone landlines [that] we were able to use during and after the storm,".

Reslove reported record sales of $31.1 million

2006-04-18T20:21:00.000-07:00

Resolve Staffing, Inc. a Human Resource (HR) Services providers, reported record sales of $31.1 million for 2005, an increase of 423% over 2004 sales of $6.0 million.
Ron Heineman, President and Chief Executive Officer, was quoted in the latest article on chron.com saying "We had a great 2005 and our business continues to grow. Not only did we report our first profitable quarter in 2005, our EBITDA was also close to breakeven for the entire year,"

Virtualization saves taxes for H&R Block

2006-04-17T20:42:00.000-07:00

H&R Block started applying virtualization software from EMC Corp. subsidiary VMware Inc according to reports on computerworld.com.
The firm's estimated savings because of this reached $1 million on hardware purchases since rolling out the technology in June 2005. About six years ago, they only had 80 servers. Now they're up to 600 or 700 servers. H&R Block now has about 25% of its data center virtualized, and have completely virtualized its in-house time-sheet application.

Steven Rodriguez moves to Senior VP

2006-04-17T20:30:00.000-07:00

Steven Rodriguez, working in Ceridian for 5 years, is named Senior Vice President of its Human Resources/Payroll Services division according to recent reports on tmcnet.com. Prior to joining Ceridian, he was vice president of sales with Automatic Data Processing (ADP). He would be responsible for national sales force that is selling HR/Payroll outsourcing solutions to mid-market companies.

Best Employers in Ohio 2006

2006-04-17T20:24:00.000-07:00

Ohio Society of Human Resource Management and Ohio Chamber of Commerce named The Connor Group, a Centerville company, among 20 named "Best Employers in Ohio 2006" on the small to medium-sized companies list. According to reports on bizjournals.com, The Connor Group, that is a real estate investment firm, had annual revenue of around $60 millioon.

Tax day

2006-04-17T20:14:00.000-07:00

For Americans 17th April was the tax day. Some who fill it themselves fill out the Unrecaptured Section 1250 Gain Worksheet, some who use software and fill their W2 form. The federal tax code includes more than 2.8 million words on more than 65,000 pages. This must be real ache for those doing it themself. Simpler taxes that would be easier to track and to file. Presidents Reagan and the current Bush have urged Congress to adopt an alternative.

Your financial documents

2006-04-17T19:58:00.000-07:00

Get some tips on your financial documents by Amanda Walker at wral.com. Walker says that you can throw out most of your financial documents after one year.
In some case where you deducted expenses or purchases from taxes, there you have to keep the documents like receipt, canceled check or credit card statement for 7 years. In the case of pay stubs, you only need the most recent ones.

Massachusetts Dental Society providing dental assistance

2006-04-16T20:33:00.000-07:00

Massachusetts Dental Society has recently worked out a dental program, helping children that do not have a dental insurance or are not eligible for government assistance.
According to them children of working parents are among the largest group of uninsured individuals in Massachusetts.
To qualify for the program, parents or guardians of the children need to complete a financial form and also include copies of financial documentation, such as their two most recent pay stubs or most recent W-2s or 1040 forms. If a child is approved, parents or guardians will receive a list of dentists in their area who are participating in the program. Children are eligible to participate in the program for two years.

Rhonda Houser, the HR Professional

2006-04-16T20:23:00.000-07:00

Want to know more about Rhonda Houser, here is an article on nwaonline.net about here.
She is co-founder and vice president of HR Factor in Fayetteville, as well as sister agency Staffing Factor. Houser has been recognized as Human Resources Professional of the Year by the Northwest Arkansas Chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management.
She was quoted as saying "Today, more and more companies are seeing the value of human resources,".

Hollywood to disclose pay-stubs

2006-04-16T20:22:00.000-07:00

US Securities and Exchange Commission is coming up with a proposal wherein hollywood would require to make public the pay-stubs, compensation of their employee's that were previously exempt.
In the recent article on the theaustralian.news.com.au, Media mogul Barry Diller was quoted as saying "I don't want to be a target more than I'm already a target."
According to them there are ways for needy producers to project an aura of extreme wealth and success without posting their pay-stubs on the internet.

WORKERS of the Davao City government complaining

2006-04-16T20:01:00.000-07:00

City Mayor's peace & order fund recently offered interest free loan to Davao city government workers. Most of them who have applied for it are now complaining about the documentation asked from them.

From the recent article on sunstar.com.ph, Human Resource Management Office (HRMO) chief Marcelino P. Escalada brushed aside their complaint. Accoriding to him it is perfectly normal for government, any entity for that matter, to have a set of requirements when giving out loans.

HR solutions

2006-04-13T20:07:00.000-07:00

If you are looking for a software assistance for human resource (HR) management, payroll solutions, time & attendance tracking systems, then here's the news for you. You have 2 websites to visit to one is of iSarla's www.iemployee.com & the other is of Pacific Data Marketing's www.pacificdm.com. iSarla also provides with free 30 days trial.

File returns by Monday

2006-04-13T19:54:00.000-07:00

Since 15th April is a saturday, income tax returns in U.S can be filed till monday. Internal revenue service states that around 47.3 million people have not filed their federal tax returns yet. So don't forget to attach your W2 forms, your SSN etc.

Austin kid’s health plan drops to 5 year low

2006-04-12T21:15:00.000-07:00

Let’s have some news from Austin on dentonrc.com. Kid’s health plan policy is at its lowest this year compared to last 5 years enrollments. The reason may be due to the change in policy by State Health and Human Services department such as the fee and making CHIP families submit pay stubs and supply more information when they apply for renewal.

Tax tops AOL

2006-04-12T21:11:00.000-07:00

15th of April would be the Tax Day for Americans and this feel is seen on AOL search. AOL has released their top searches related to tax, list available in latest article at searchenginejournal.com. Excerpts from the article “There are typically two big spikes for tax-related searches each year — first is the last week in January when employees first receive their W2’s, the second spike is during the week of April 15 as the deadline looms.”

Northgate HR bags £16 million contract

2006-04-12T20:04:00.000-07:00

Boots Group plc have signed a 7 year payroll and HR outsourcing contract with Northgate HR. Northgate is UK’s largest supplier of HR solution, payroll and pensions applications. The contract is estimated to be of £16 million from the news on paypershop.com. The contract covers the outsourcing of payroll services and core HR systems for Boots 65,000 employees.

Aylesbury College solving payroll & HR issues

2006-04-12T19:59:00.000-07:00

Aylesbury College were using DOS-based system’s functions for generating HR and Payroll reports for their staff but after it became slow and long-winded and staff found it to be a great hindrance in producing reports, they have finally introduced Topaz Employee Management System. This system has provided them with enhanced reporting and data tracking procedures with streamlined recording of variable staff hours linked directly to payroll.

Kevin Loo Joins CyberShift

2006-04-12T19:57:00.000-07:00

Kevin Loo comes to CyberShift from sanofi-aventis, one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. Cybershift is the provider of workforce management and expense management software. Kevin Loo has more than 20 years of experience in advanced commercial software solutions.

W2 request goes to court

2006-04-12T19:54:00.000-07:00

This is about a news in jaspernewsboy.com by Julie Webb, about a court ruling involving Mark Allen’s W2 form request, accusations of misuse of official information and abuse of official capacity have been made in the race for county judge, the statements and counter statements in the court.

Online expense management tool

2006-04-12T06:18:00.000-07:00

BMO Financial Group has introduced a new enhanced Corporate MasterCard that is offering businesses automated purchasing and management tools i.e. online expense management. Read the news on newswire.ca to elaborates on the benefits and usage of this new product.

How To Check a Timesheet

2006-04-06T00:30:00.000-07:00

Many managers are responible for checking the accuracy of timesheets and approving them before they are sent to the payroll department. Some managers find this a difficult task and just let mistakes, or deliberate errors, slip through hoping payroll will catch them.

Since most timesheets have columns for the days of the week and rows for the projects or tasks, you can follow the simple steps below to quickly and easily check timesheets yourself.

Difficulty: Average

Time Required: A few minutes

Here's How:

Pick a direction
You can start by checking either the rows or the columns. Since the columns represent the days of the week, it is more common to start there.
Check the projects or tasks
The left most column is a list of the projects/tasks worked on, the client worked for, or other account to be charged. Make sure that those listed are appropriate for the individual who submitted the timesheet. For instance, some one in sales should not be charging the account for "software design". Send the timesheet back to the supervisor, or discuss it with the person directly, if there are questions. Otherwise, continue to check.
Total Monday's column
Add up the numbers of hours listed in the Monday column for all the projects/accounts charged. The total should equal the total the employee put at the bottom of the column. This is know as "footing" the column. That total should not exceed eight hours unless the individual was authorized to work overtime. If the totals don't match, or if they show unauthorized overtime hours worked, talk to the individual. Otherwise, continue to check.
Total the columns for Tuesday through Friday
Check the columns for the other days as you did Monday's column. If time is charged for the weekend, that should be checked as well. Again, if the individual is not authorized to work overtime, there should not be time entered in the weekend columns.
Total the totals on the right
The last column to the right is usually a total of all the days worked for that project/account. Total that column as you did each day's total for Monday through Friday. If the employee recorded 10 hours on Project A, 20 hours on Project B, and 10 hours on Project C, their total at the bottom of the "totals" column should be 40 hours.
Total the totals on the bottom
Now that you have verified the total for each day, you need to total the totals across the bottom. This is often called "cross-footing". Usually, you can do this visually. If the employees time for each day totals 8 hours, then the total of all those 8's should equal 40 hours and it should match the total from the step above. If the total of the totals match, the timesheet is correct and you can continue. If they don't match, you need to check each row.
Total each row
If the total of totals didn't match, you now need to check each row, just like you checked each column in steps 3 and 4. Add up the hours the employee has entered on each row for a specific project/account to make sure they equal the total at the far right. Change any that are incorrect, or send the timesheet back to the individual to correct if this is a recurrent problem.
Check the timesheet form Make sure all required information has been filled in on the timesheet in addition to the hours. This could include:
- Full name
- Department number
- Employee number
- and employee signature

Approve and Submit

Now that you have checked and verified the accuracy of the timesheet, you can sign it and send it to payroll knowing that no one can question the accuracy of your approval.

Tips:

Note: Many companies use software programs for timesheets that automatically total the rows and columns as the employee fills out the form. If you have such a program, you do not need to do steps 3 through 7.

iEmployee's HRIS Solution to automate Ownit Mortgage Solutions HR, Benefits, & Time Off Requirements

2006-04-06T00:19:00.000-07:00

iEmployee announced today that Ownit Mortgage Solutions, one of the fastest-growing nationwide lenders, chose iEmployee to automate their HR, Benefits and Time Off requirements. As a top provider of HRIS Solutions, iEmployee worked closely with Ownit Mortgage Solutions on specific HRIS initiatives to support the company’s rapid growth.

Seekonk, MA (PRWEB via HRMarketer) March 25, 2006 -- iEmployee announced today that Ownit Mortgage Solutions, one of the fastest-growing nationwide lenders, chose iEmployee to automate their HR, Benefits and Time Off requirements. As a top provider of HRIS Solutions, iEmployee worked closely with Ownit Mortgage Solutions on specific HRIS initiatives to support the company’s rapid growth. Ownit selected iEmployee’s Online Workforce Management Solution to assist them in strengthening and managing their diverse national workforce. With its single database solution, iEmployee has an integral role in the evolution of Ownit’s HR Department, “People Solutions,” and its capability to support their growing organization.

The iEmployee solution allowed Ownit Mortgage Solutions to cut costs and increase employee satisfaction. Alex Rado, Director, People Solutions explains, “The iEmployee solution saves us time by reducing the number of calls to the department. We no longer need to focus resources on handling Benefit and Enrollment questions or Time off requests. Employees are pleased to be able to see their information online at any time. Overall, implementing this solution helps to automate our processes and reduce paperwork.”

Leveraging iEmployee’s technology allows leaders in management and the People Solutions Department at Ownit to focus on strategic projects and decisions instead of getting buried in the day-to-day operations and paperwork of HR related transactions. Web-based access saves time and money by reducing administrative workload and paperwork for front line staff, management, and executives. Employees appreciate the convenience of ready access to their information as well. Jennifer Armstrong, a People Solutions Generalist at Ownit, has this to say, “iEmployee is extremely user friendly. The system is quite intuitive, and we are continually impressed by its features and usability.” The next phase of their implementation will include introducing iEmployee Online Timesheets and Online Paystubs, rounding out the Workforce Management Solution.

iEmployee offers a complete suite of secure Web-based applications designed to automate business operations, including HR, Benefits, Time & Attendance, Expenses, Time off, Online Pay Stubs and W2 Forms and Employee/Manager Self Service.

About Ownit Mortgage Solutions:
Ownit Mortgage Solutions is one of America’s fastest growing wholesale mortgage lenders, with 2005 loan volume surpassing $8 Billion. Ownit is dedicated to providing cutting edge products that expand homeownership opportunities and help brokers earn lifelong customers. The innovative RightLoanTM Product Suite offers flexible solutions tailored to borrower needs – like the 45-year RightLoanTM and FamilyScoreTM. Own the American DreamTM with Ownit.

About iEmployee:

iEmployee is a leading provider of on-demand workforce management solutions, enabling companies to eliminate paperwork and dramatically reduce employee administration time. iEmployee’s suite of web-hosted Time & Attendance, HR Software with Benefit Solution, Pay Stubs/W2 and Employee and Manager Self Service applications offer cost-effective solutions, requiring no IT investment or overhead. Endorsed by leading payroll providers, iEmployee is the solution of choice for over 1600 companies.
For more information contact:

Darryl Cunningham, VP Marketing

iEmployee
Ph: 508-336-3332
Fax: 508-336-5894
Email: e-mail protected from spam bots
www.iemployee.com

Payroll, résumés, and more go online

2006-04-05T00:00:00.001-07:00

Smaller firms save by switch to Web

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."

Contact: seattle@bizjournals.com • 206-583-0701

The Truth About On-Demand CRM

2006-03-07T23:10:00.000-08:00

Stephanie Overby, CIO
08/03/2006 11:30:45

Hosted, on-demand CRM is sometimes cheaper and easier to roll out than the software that lives on your own machines. But if you think on-demand means that all you have to do is flip a switch, you're dead wrong

READER ROI

Why the rush to on-demand CRM
How to figure out whether on-demand is right for you
Why on-premise CRM remains the best choice for many

When Alex Marxer began looking at customer relationship management software, on-demand CRM wasn't even on his radar screen. As vice president of financial services for ResortCom International, a $US15 million business-process outsourcing company for vacation property developers and managers, Marxer was looking for an enterprise CRM system for sales, marketing, customer support, self-service and analytics. He needed software that was flexible enough to accommodate the changing needs of his sales and marketing staff yet would integrate well with the company's home-grown back-office applications containing all its customer contracts, invoices and financial transactions. So he had his sights set on traditional offerings from vendors like Siebel, Kana and Pivotal.

But then Marxer came across a hosted - or on-demand - CRM offering from RightNow Technologies that seemed to provide most of the functionality his business would need coupled with a particularly user-friendly interface. He was impressed with the price tag - just $US125 per user per month compared with the $US300,000 ResortCom would have to shell out for an on-site solution (not including implementation, infrastructure and support costs). So he signed a three-year contract with RightNow. "When we did the ROI calculations, it was an unbeatable value proposition," Marxer says.

Once the implementation began, however, Marxer ran into some problems. He wanted users to be able to launch RightNow applications as tabs within his back-office system. But that was impossible using RightNow's application programming interface (API) tools out of the box. RightNow sent a team to Marxer's San Diego office to work through a solution, which extended the implementation from the promised one month to three. Since ResortCom was entering its busy season (November through March), Marxer had to delay deployment until April. Since then, he has found that upgrading the RightNow software causes the integration with the back-office application to break. So he's had to hold off on upgrading to any new versions of the software - and forgo the valuable new functionality those upgrades would bring.

Marxer is one of thousands of executives who've made the decision to take a chance on the on-demand CRM model. It's a booming market - revenue from hosted CRM applications grew 105 percent last year, according to AMR Research. Small and midsize businesses and departments within larger companies have been drawn to these software-as-a-service solutions (payable on a monthly basis) because they're much cheaper than licensed on-premise software, which can cost anywhere from several hundred thousand dollars to several million up front. Salesforce.com, which created the model for hosted CRM in 1999 and developed a strong foothold in the mid-market, is now offering functionality beyond sales-force automation and trying to sell its product to much larger customers. And traditional CRM players like Siebel (now owned by Oracle) and RightNow have been forced by Salesforce.com's success to create hosted CRM solutions. Microsoft also recently announced plans to roll out an on-demand CRM product soon.

But despite the hype, the truth is that hosted solutions aren't going to take over the CRM world anytime soon. As Marxer found, implementing on-demand CRM software is not always as simple as vendors would have you believe. Customization can be problematic. Hosted CRM vendors' API tools cannot provide the degree of integration that is possible with onsite applications. Getting a hosted CRM system working shouldn't take as long as a traditional software package, but larger and more complex roll-outs can still take a year or more. And while the hosted option reduces the need for in-house technical support, upgrades can still sometimes be technically tricky, and ongoing business support of the software is critical. In addition, some companies with particularly sensitive customer data, such as those in financial services and health-care, do not want to relinquish control of their data to a hosted third party for security reasons. As a result, AMR Research predicts that by 2009, hosted CRM applications will account for only 12 percent of the total US CRM market.

"There's an expectation gap in the market," says Rob Bois, senior research analyst for AMR. Companies, he says, believe that "the on-demand model eliminates the up-front cost and effort required in implementing a CRM system; that it's just like turning on a switch. But the integration and customization requirements are not that dramatically different from traditional software when you get into more complex implementations. There's still a lot of work involved."

There are, of course, many situations in which the on-demand option will be the best choice: It should work well for companies that want to implement standard CRM processes, are able to use out-of-the-box data structures, have little or no IT support, or don't require complex or real-time integration with back-office systems. But as on-demand CRM extends further throughout the enterprise, it faces the same challenges as traditional CRM: ensuring widespread user adoption and integrating the system with other applications, says Rebecca Wetteman, vice president of Nucleus Research.

Some of the CIOs interviewed for this article chose an on-demand package, while others went with on-premise. They are candid about the pitfalls of either approach, but all agreed on one point: First you have to figure out exactly what your company wants from the CRM initiative and proceed from there. Price, they say, should be the last thing you consider.

"You have to have a strategic plan for what you want from your CRM initiative," agrees Paul Greenberg, president of The 56 Group and author of CRM at the Speed of Light. "Define your processes, figure out what your requirements are, decide who will execute on it. Then you can go through the costs of each model that actually meets your requirements and make a decision."

When On-Demand Is Worth Considering

Hosted software is nothing new. In the 1990s, hundreds of ASPs sprang up to offer customers enterprise software hosted over the Internet. But when the Internet bubble burst, many ASPs went belly-up, leaving customers in the lurch. But Salesforce.com focused on the niche need for sales-force automation, refined its technology and began racking up sales among small and midsize businesses that needed the functionality they could offer but couldn't afford the multimillion-dollar price tag that accompanied full-fledged CRM implementations. And as the number of expensive failures in the traditional on-premise CRM space grew, so did interest in expanding the hosted model beyond simple sales-force automation - to a full-fledged system that could give enterprises a holistic view of their customers and allow them to better target their marketing, sales and customer-service efforts.

Traditional enterprise software vendors soon struck back, attacking on-demand on the grounds that it wasn't scalable to more than 1000 users. But as it turns out, size is not what really matters in determining whether a hosted CRM implementation will be a success - it's complexity. And complexity makes it harder to implement a viable CRM package, regardless of whether it's hosted or on-premise. "It isn't a scalability issue," says AMR's Bois. "Typically when you're talking about an organization that will have more than a thousand CRM users, you're talking about a broad implementation that will touch more areas of the company and will involve more business processes."

Companies seeking to adopt established, standard practices on a particular function like sales-force automation are more likely to benefit from a hosted solution, while those seeking to implement highly customized customer-management processes would more likely value a flexible on-site option.

Take SunGard Data Systems, for example. For Bettina Slusar, SunGard's senior VP of global accounts management, opting for an on-demand solution in 2002 was a relatively easy decision to make. Although she had a user base of more than 1000 to consider, her plans to drive standard processes in the global sales function of her $US3.5 billion data-centre company led her straight to Salesforce.com. Having grown through more than 100 acquisitions, SunGard's scattered and independently operating sales force hampered the company's ability to get an accurate and timely enterprise view of the sales pipeline. In addition, SunGard was looking only for certain aspects of CRM - sales-force automation and some marketing and campaign tracking. So Salesforce.com was a good fit.

But Slusar admits it's not for everyone. "If you want one big system that's going to connect all the dots together - from talking to the customer to signing the deals to connecting to the accounting system - [Salesforce] is not the answer," she says.

IT support was also a factor in Slusar's decision. SunGard's business is built on running data centres for other companies, but there is no centralized IT function for internal support. "We never really seriously considered an in-house solution for this. Our sales force spans the globe, and administratively it would have been a big headache to maintain the application and keep servers up and running with people coming online in Hong Kong and Chicago," Slusar says. In addition, she says, there was "no comparison in terms of pricing". Traditional software would have cost $US18,000 per user over the course of a two-year licence, and though Slusar will not reveal how much SunGard pays for the Salesforce.com systems each month, she says the cost is "magnitudes" lower, ranging between $US1560 to $US3000 per user over the same period (not including training and customization).

When On-Premise Is a Better Fit

At Qosina, a medical-components distributor, the basic business need was the same as SunGard's: creating an enterprise-wide snapshot of the sales pipeline. Yet this much smaller company - $US25 million in revenue - chose an on-premise offering in large part because of the complexity of its business processes, according to COO Gerry Quinn.

The company had been using an old flat-file, DOS-based contact manager called Telemagic for years and, in 2003, was ready to replace it with a more modern, robust CRM package. Qosina, which markets its products (such as tubing, clamps and valves) through trade shows, catalogues and Web sites, has an inordinately long sales cycle as the components it sells are eventually incorporated into products developed in the medical and cosmetics industry. To encourage the purchase of its products, Qosina sends out samples of its 5000 products (some costing less than a cent a piece) at an average rate of 300 to 500 a day and up to 1000 a day after a successful trade show. For example, Qosina may provide samples during a customer's R&D process, and only when the customer's product is approved for production will Qosina make its big sale. Quinn wanted a dynamic tool to support the company's atypical marketing and sales process. "Our processes, while not totally unique, weren't anything that could be supported with an out-of-the-box package," he says.

Quinn looked into customizing a hosted solution to accommodate the company's elongated sales cycle, but ultimately rejected the idea because the company already had the technology infrastructure in-house to support an on-premise system (Qosina has hosted its own Web site for 10 years). Quinn also wanted to retain power over the application and the data in it.

Security concerns often can be a sticking point for CRM customers. "Will my information be secure in a hosted environment? Will I have access to it? Who will own it? Will competitors be able to view my customers? These are important questions," says Wayne Latterell, president and founder of CRM consultancy Portico Solutions. "Imagine - would you put your company's financial data on the same server as that of your competitors?" Some customers will be satisfied with the hosted vendor's security measures, while others may not want to risk it.

"We wanted more control," Quinn says. "We didn't want to put our sales pipeline out there in a hosted environment with someone else controlling the servers." He had heard horror stories about ASPs in the dotcom era, such as some closing their doors without giving notice to clients, leaving them with no system and no way to re-create one, and others selling the customer data they hosted. While he knows that most hosted CRM providers today are much more reliable, Quinn says, "putting our proprietary information outside our firewall, spam filter, intrusion detection and virus-scanning software would be putting a great deal of faith in the hosting company. We may not have the same global resources as larger hosting companies, but at least internally we can hold someone accountable."

Quinn looked at several CRM systems including Siebel, Saleslogix and Goldmine, but ultimately chose Microsoft CRM so that he could more easily integrate it with the Great Plains ERP package Qosina had put in place the year before.

Dialling into the Back Office

The level of integration required between a front-office CRM system and back-office systems is another factor to consider when choosing between hosted and on-premise CRM. On-demand CRM vendors are offering ever-more robust integration tools. But, says AMR's Bois, "integration is always going to be an issue with software-as-a-service because you don't own the application or have access to the source code". And more sophisticated real-time integration with back-office transactional systems isn't possible with on-demand CRM software - at least today. "There's movement in that direction, but they can only import flat files asynchronously in batches," says Bois. "Companies that need to do that kind of [real-time] integration are more likely to stick with licensed software."

"It's not that on-demand software can't integrate," says Greenberg of The 56 Group. "It's just that the integration tools in traditional on-premise software are better. The more complex the integration requirements, the better off you'll be with on-site software."

ResortCom's Marxer says the integration of the RightNow on-demand software with his back-office system is satisfactory, but not what he would call ideal. "RightNow delivered on all the integration points we needed and the performance was reasonable," he says. But to open up a customer incident report, which an employee does only when an incident cannot be resolved on the first contact, takes 10 seconds because of the back and forth on the back end. That's just fine for ResortCom's needs at the moment, but "there's some room for improvement", he says.

Mike Davis, CIO of Stewart Information Services, agrees. Like Slusar at SunGard, Davis had to think about the needs of the far-flung sales and customer-service organization supporting the $US2.2 billion title-insurance company he works for. With a requirement that the software eventually support at least 4000 and as many as 8000 users, Davis had the option of becoming one of Salesforce.com's largest customers to date (in fact, small pockets of people within the company had already started using Salesforce.com on their own). But unlike Slusar, Davis ultimately purchased a licence for Onyx's on-premise CRM product.

Davis wanted to tie the CRM to all of Stewart's "day-in and day-out" systems. "We needed the most flexibility we could get in integrating it," says Davis. "And [Onyx] seemed to have much easier ways [than Salesforce] to integrate our system with theirs and theirs with ours - three different levels of embedding and exposing the information. There were modules of code available to use within our systems to make it easier."

Salesforce.com also has ways to get data in and out of Stewart's applications, in an import-export fashion, Davis says. But it would have required users to manually initiate the imports and exports in a less-seamless fashion than he would have liked. "We might have been able to make it work," says Davis. "But it wouldn't be very efficient. And it wouldn't have made for a very good user experience."

Easy for You, Difficult for Me

One of the major selling points for on-demand CRM is its relative ease of implementation, particularly in contrast to the expensive and lengthy roll-outs that have plagued the traditional CRM customer.

Indeed, at Qosina, the Microsoft on-premise implementation took more than a year. And the biggest cost was consulting fees, which, at $US280,000, made up half of the implementation expenses. Davis of Stewart Information Services is just finishing his Onyx pilot (for six sales-force units), which also required the added expense of two full-time and two part-time consultants. It took seven months longer than expected because midway through the process, Davis discovered some additional functionality that would be needed for the regional sales offices.

"It's taken longer than I thought," he acknowledges. "The biggest hold-up just has to do with change in general," including getting users to adopt the systems and change the way they work. The integration that drove the decision to go with an on-premise product won't even happen until the next phase of the roll-out. "It's a long road," Davis adds.

For companies that can adjust to an on-demand CRM system out of the box, implementation takes less time. But it would be a mistake to assume that all hosted CRM implementations are quick and easy. In fact, most take time to roll out enterprise-wide and many require bringing in consultants to help out. "Some customers have the expectation that you flip a switch and you're done," says Bois. "But there are setup costs and training costs and ramp-up costs. There's getting the system customized to match the business context and then getting people to use the system. CRM implementations are still complex, even if they're delivered in an on-demand fashion."

At SunGard, a smaller and more narrowly defined roll-out of Salesforce.com took a full year. "We had to do a fair amount of work lining up what we wanted to accomplish with what [Salesforce.com] could provide," Slusar explains. SunGard also had to bring in consultants to assist with the roll-out and accompanying change-management issues. Some of that effort was devoted to standardizing data definitions in order to preserve data integrity. Because the company had so customized the software's template to meet the needs of its global sales force, there was no way Salesforce.com's online training would work. Slusar rolled out the system in phases until 90 percent of her user base was on it by the spring of 2004. "We still could do more to drive standardized behaviour and usage that we haven't," Slusar says.

Looking forward, Slusar has created a team to oversee the Salesforce.com product over the long term. They will work to increase user adoption and also keep track of new offerings from the vendor as well as from "the mushrooming number of partners that have popped up all over claiming they have something that works well with Salesforce.com", says Slusar. (Applications offered by companies partnering with Salesforce range from Web-based HR recruiting and screening tools to call-centre scripting and software that helps doctors take notes on wireless handhelds.)

"The good news is there are a lot of things you can do with this system," Slusar says. "The bad news is you need people to do it. And I already have a full-time job."

Different Delivery Model, Same Risks

Marxer is sticking with the hosted solution, even though RightNow had a clause in its contract that ResortCom could buy a licence and take the software on-site if Marxer wasn't pleased with the results. Although he's had to hold off on upgrades to date, he's hoping they won't pose a problem when RightNow adapts a true Web-services integration platform.

In the meantime, the on-demand system has yielded some solid ROI. The self-service function has reduced customer e-mails by 40 percent, and workflow has improved between back-office and front-office functions, resulting in a 40 percent improvement in productivity. And ResortCom has been able to introduce some automated marketing functionality that Marxer predicts will boost its bottom line this year.

Marxer credits the progress he's made with his on-demand CRM solution not to the technology itself, but to the two years he spent preparing the organization for the changes that would be required - preparation that would have been the same regardless of which delivery model he chose. "Back then, we didn't have the money or maturity to do a full-blown implementation. [As a result], I was able to do all the prep work necessary on a cultural level way before we even put out the RFP," Marxer says.

It remains to be seen whether more complex on-demand CRM implementations ultimately succeed or suffer the same fate as many large-scale on-premise CRM projects have. "Because most of these are monthly investments and in the past were smaller deployments, we haven't heard about the big disasters yet," says Bois. "The larger implementations will be the ones to watch," he says.

"On-demand CRM may be a less-expensive risk, but it's just as big a risk," says Greenberg from The 56 Group. "If you haven't planned everything out, customers will get lost. People will get fired. You will fail."

Weigh In

Is CRM Dead?

By Allen Bonde

Alive or dead, CRM is vastly changed from the acronym we once thought we knew

With the acquisition of Siebel by Oracle, many of us are pondering the question: Does this mean that CRM as we know it is dead? As a long-time industry watcher and former analyst, I actually do look at this deal as a potential endpoint in the evolution of a model that has developed over the past 15 years or so. But I also see it as further evidence of the sea change taking place in the overall enterprise applications market, which despite challenges and the potential changing of the "old guard", is in fact undergoing a bit of a renaissance - especially when it comes to bringing powerful new capabilities to the masses of business users and empowering customers to better serve themselves.

Customer relationship management or CRM as a model has its roots in three primary areas: call centre systems, help desk applications and sales-force automation, or what some have called the "front-office functions". In the mid-1990s several platform providers like Siebel and Clarify (now Amdocs) emerged, driven primarily by acquisitions, to offer consolidated functionality across the entire front office, while the "back-office" providers like SAP and Oracle generally remained focused on areas like finance, supply chain management and as it emerged, e-business.

In a way, the consolidation of front-office and back-office functionality under one umbrella - like we see with the Oracle-Siebel deal and saw before that with the PeopleSoft-Vantive deal - has been a long time coming. The benefit of having one database and common set of end-user tools is attractive. Plus, the return on traditional, stand-alone CRM investments has been mixed at best, especially when it comes to large-scale deployments. I know of several global organizations that have spent more than $100 million on CRM projects and are still uncertain what real value they have received!

It's (Still) About the Customer

Despite its name, one can argue that the greatest shortcoming of CRM is that it never really was about directly helping customers. Solutions were sold to executives running call centres or sales organizations as a way to wring out inefficiency, force standardized processes and gain better insight into the state of the business. In particular, what most CRM and CTI systems provided was a way to track customers, route and facilitate inbound communications and report on the progress of various marketing, sales or support activities.

But what these solutions generally did not address was the need to help organizations resolve customer problems, answer their questions faster or help customers solve their own problems. For this reason, we have seen a slow but steady shift in focus and investment from automating core internal front-office functions to streamlining edge processes like online customer support, product returns or account management.

In parallel, there has been a recent wave of innovation powered by Internet standards, open source software and on-demand delivery models, as well as a renewed interest in areas like knowledge management and what some are calling service resolution management or SRM. As defined by leaders in this sector like Knova Software, SRM aims to improve access to corporate knowledge by breaking down silos, simplify the authoring and capture of new content and provide more consistent answers across all sales and service channels.

Other innovators who are filling the gaps inherent in "old-school CRM" include e-commerce and personalization pioneer ATG; RightNow with its innovative on-demand customer support and self-service offerings; e-billing and online account management specialist Netonomy; Genesys and Talisma with their customer interaction management solution platforms; and content optimization specialist SafeHarbor. At the same time, several vertical solution providers like Astute Solutions and Chordiant have created next-generation applications which fill industry-specific requirements.

A New Model for CRM v.2

What is the future of CRM - or CRM v.2 if we decide that CRM v.1 is, in fact, dead? First, there must be a core driven by business rules and even knowledge management, rather than just a database. Second, solutions must address all modes of interaction, whether with an agent or salesperson, on the Web via self-service, or peer-to-peer via user forums and other collaboration techniques. Third, solutions must be adaptive, by applying analytics and personalization approaches, so that organizations can anticipate customer needs, proactively push out solutions, recommendations or offers based on who the user is, their skill level, what their preferences are, and so on.

More generally, the on-demand delivery model appears to be here to stay, although we feel that all deployment options should ideally be supported. The use of open source and developer source-based components such as those from Jive Software are also gaining momentum, especially for multi-channel "edge" functions like customer forums or enterprise instant messaging.

For the design centre, we look for CRM v.2 to be simpler to use, more open and more adaptive. It also must be inherently multi-channel, as Gartner's customer interaction hub model suggests. The customer adaptive solutions theme announced at Siebel CustomerWorld also seems on the right track. And there is the argument being made by Greg Gianforte at RightNow that on-demand delivery coupled with open source infrastructure may be the most efficient way to bring these types of applications to market, a view that has a lot of merit.

So, while CRM as a model is continuing to evolve, as a market it is definitely entering a phase where "big-bang" deployments are likely to be the exception, and ways to more efficiently reach underserved users and improve responsiveness via add-ons like user forums, a self-service knowledge base or customer analytics become the focus. Solutions will also need to be integrated, if not as part of one platform, at least in terms of common standards, and a common focus on the customer rather than only customer processes. The future of CRM as a viable approach and market depends on it!

Allen Bonde is the senior vice president of strategy & marketing at eVergance, a management consulting and systems integration company focused on CRM optimization and Web self-service

iEmployee

A More Promising Pay Day

2006-03-01T23:16:00.000-08:00

Imagine trying to run payroll for 800 employees only to learn that your antiquated computer system crashed again.

Elsie Bakley, payroll manger for Promissor, the professional testing subsidiary of publisher Houghton Mifflin, was frustrated. The company offers professional testing for nurses, real estate agents, and cosmetologists, among other professions, throughout the United States. Eight regional managers oversee about 75 permanent employees, and the bulk of the 800-member team is a mix of part-timers and temporary workers.

With employees on various pay periods, her team faced reconstructing lost time sheets constantly. In addition, they vigilantly weeded out duplicates sent in by employees who, having missed a paycheck before, didn’t trust the system. Bakley routinely requested manual checks to fix payroll errors. That meant phoning her counterparts at the Boston headquarters of Houghton Mifflin, which processed the manual checks.

“It was kind of a nightmare,” said Bakley from her Bala Cynwyd, PA-based offices near Philadelphia. “We knew we had to find another solution.” The drain on productivity and employee morale was too significant to ignore any longer. Plus, the costs of re-running payroll and re-constructing time sheets were getting out of hand—not to mention the additional mailing and printing costs.

Web-based Service Eliminates Paper, Gives Employees Control

Bakley developed a checklist to make sure the new provider met all of her needs. It included:

Automate time keeping (get rid of the paper time sheets)
Eliminate cabinets full of paperwork through online storage and retrievals
Give employees instant access and control of their information
Give managers the ability to run real time reports

In addition to her functional objectives, the system had to be flexible, easy-to-use and nearly self-sustaining.

After a little research and a false start with another vendor, Bakley turned to iEmployee, which sells a complete suite of web applications designed to automate business operations including HR, Benefits, Time, and Expenses.

Up And Running Again

With iEmployee’s web-based applications, Bakley was up and running quickly. With iEmployee,

no software or hardware needed to be installed
the workload eased in the payroll department because the responsibility of inputting data is shifted to employees, and
managers and employees enjoyed instant access to the information they need.

Because the system is hosted on servers run by iEmployee, Promissor doesn't need a dedicated IT person to manage the applications. The new iEmployee system worked seamlessly with their payroll vendor, ADP, because iEmployee has created interfaces for hundreds of payroll systems.

“We went live in September and had very few problems,” said Bakley. “Since then, we’ve opened a 90-employee call center in Maryland, and adding them was very smooth.”

iEmployee: Easy To Use

Unlike the out-dated desktop system Promissor used before, iEmployee’s Web-based system was intuitive and reliable. “One of the things I like about iEmployee, is that I can do most things myself,” she added. For instance, Promissor changed its pay week from Monday through Sunday to Sunday through Saturday. “It was only one day, but our time sheets needed to be reconfigured,” Bakley said. “I did it myself. It wasn’t a huge deal. And it didn’t cost us anything.”

iEmployee: Saves Promissor Money

Like other iEmployee customers, Bakley has seen improved data collection accuracy, reduced the time needed to complete tasks and seen a decrease in employee calls.

IEmployee’s Time “contributed to a big savings in time and accuracy,” said Bakley. “We’ve really cut down on the number of manual checks, and the fact that employees are getting paid correctly, accurately, and on time is very important.”

“It’s really worked great for me,” she added. “There’s no more collecting time sheets and storing all those records. Now I can keep an employee as active as long as I want.”

iEmployee’s Web-based HR applications are easy to use, flexible and the company delivered as promised, she said. “I’ve done payroll for quite a while,” Bakley said. Typically “you don’t find out all the bad stuff until after you’ve bought it, but I can’t say that about iEmployee. There hasn’t been anything to worry about.”

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Contact iEmployee about a custom, full-service solution for your organization. Call 508-336-4441.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology and HID collaborate to address RFID privacy concerns : Contactless News

2006-02-21T08:04:00.000-08:00

Monday, February 20 2006

Smart card solutions provider HID has partnered with tech-savvy MIT in Cambridge to facilitate a "dialogue" on RFID security, ID, and privacy issues while promoting an online RFID research resource. A steering committee of MIT researchers and industry veterans will develop content for the new web site.
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Goal is to Encourage and Facilitate Dialogue and Set a New Bar of Excellence for Privacy and Civil Liberties Protections Related to RFID

SAN JOSE, Calif.-- The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and HID have announced a joint effort to provide a public forum to discuss RFID and public policy, and to explore innovative RFID uses for personal identification that enhance privacy and security. MIT and HID are also creating a comprehensive online resource for industry, government and the general public, where they can learn more about RFID and privacy-related topics.

"As government and private industry expand their use of RFID, privacy concerns have emerged that deserve a neutral forum for dialogue that includes stakeholders from government, private industry and the public," said Dan Greenwood, an MIT lecturer and attorney. "We at MIT will provide that forum with support from HID, by inviting stakeholders to our campus and hosting a relevant Web site on our servers."

A Steering Committee, composed of MIT researchers and faculty and an industry Advisory Board, will develop content for the Web site. Advisory Board membership includes: Richard Varn, Senior Fellow, Center for Digital Government and Center for Digital Education; Daniel Combs, President, Global Identity Solutions; Jeff Staples, Managing Partner, Avisian Inc.; and Bill Newill, Acting Executive Director, International Association for Identification Technologies.

"MIT's Media Lab is researching and developing new RFID design opportunities that support and reflect well-balanced public policy," Greenwood said. MIT and HID will also collaborate to explore creative new uses for RFID which improve a wide array of transactions that take place in people's daily lives.

Steve Wagner, chief operating officer of Irvine-based HID Corporation, said his company welcomes the opportunity to collaborate with MIT. "We recognize the need to balance consumer privacy interests with the growing use of RFID across many sectors of the economy. Collaborating with MIT, a world-class educational institution, is a natural extension of our ongoing commitment to safeguarding individual privacy with the responsible use of RFID technology," said Wagner.

In addition to working with MIT, HID, the premier global supplier of contactless access control cards and readers for the security industry, established an industry-first set of corporate privacy policy principles governing the use of RFID. These privacy principles can be found on HID's Web site at www.hidcorp.com.

In December, the company also sponsored a major privacy policy forum in Sacramento that for the first time brought together state and federal policy makers, industry representatives, end users and government agencies to discuss RFID and privacy. The event was hailed among attendees as an important initial step in addressing major RFID policy questions.

About Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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Massachusetts Institute of Technology-a coeducational, privately endowed research university-is dedicated to advancing knowledge and educating students in science, technology and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century. The Institute has more than 900 faculty and nearly 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students, and is organized into five schools-Architecture and Planning; Engineering; Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences; Management; and Science-and the Whitaker College of Health Sciences and Technology. The MIT ECommerce Architecture Program (eCAP) at ecitizen.mit.edu, jointly housed at the MIT Media Lab and the MIT Design Lab, acts as the point of contact at MIT for this collaboration. eCAP is an initiative to explore the intersection of legal, policy, business and technology information architectures.

About HID
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HID is the premier global supplier of contactless access control cards and readers for the security industry. With over 250 million credentials (cards, fobs and keys) in use worldwide, HID leads the industry in 13.56 MHz and 125 kHz RFID card and reader technology for a wide range of applications including access control, IT secure authentication, time and attendance, digital cash/cashless vending, automotive vehicle identification, and biometric verification. HID's award-winning product line includes iCLASSr 13.56 MHz contactless smart cards and readers, 125 kHz proximity, magnetic stripe, and Wiegand technology cards and readers as well as the recently introduced VertXT CS central station managed access controllers. The company also provides specialized card manufacturing services including custom preprinted graphics, micro printing and anti-counterfeiting elements, holograms or ultraviolet ink for increased card security. HID's corporate offices are located in Irvine, California, with international offices supporting more than 100 countries. The company is an ASSA ABLOY Group company. To learn more, please visit www.hidcorp.com.

iEmployee and Relyco Declare Referral Relationship with All the Elements of a Classic Valentine's Day Romance Story

2006-02-20T00:23:00.000-08:00

February 3, 2006

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, this story has all the elements of a classic romance. Doug McGregor at Relyco, the Dover, New Hampshire-based global check printing and secure documents company, was just looking for time and attendance solution. He spotted iEmployee’s provocative ad in Paytech Magazine. Massachusetts-based iEmployee, he noted, prided themselves on eliminating unnecessary paper with Web-based HR applications, while Relyco makes necessary paper-based processes more efficient for their 7,000 customers.

He contacted Mike Runshe at iEmployee. When the two met face to face, they discovered that solving Relyco’s time and attendance desires was just the beginning.

“iEmployee understood our business,” says McGregor. “As a Web-based employee services firm, they are intimately involved in secure transactions just like we are.” Plus, the two firms discovered that their customer bases were also similar—organizations that value affordable, flexible, scalable, customized solutions combined with personalized service. “We’ve had other partners, but none offered the experience or understanding that iEmployee does,” McGregor says.

“iEmployee and Relyco are committed to the same business philosophy—we put the customer first,” says Runshe of iEmployee. “Relyco is the back office end—providing all the printing and distribution options a business could wish for. iEmployee is the front end—a full suite of Web-based employer solutions ready to work seamlessly with any payroll interface. Both of our offerings are efficient business tools that any company can implement in just days and see a real return on investment.

Recognizing a relationship was in order, the two companies inked an exclusive referral relationship just in time for Valentine’s Day. “The referrals have already started coming in,” says Runshe. iEmployee will also provide check printing and secure document referrals to Relyco.

iEmployee and Relyco are looking forward to sending notices of the new relationship to their combined customer base, which totals over 9,000 firms.

About iEmployee
-----------------------------

iEmployee (www.iemployee.com) is a leading provider of on-demand workforce management solutions, enabling companies to eliminate paperwork and dramatically reduce employee administration time. iEmployee’s suite of web-hosted Time & Attendance, HR Software with Benefit Solution, Pay Stubs/W2 and Employee and Manager Self Service applications offer cost-effective solutions, requiring no IT investment or overhead. Endorsed by leading payroll providers, iEmployee is the solution of choice for over 1600 companies.

About Relyco
--------------------

Relyco (www.Relyco.com) is a leading business solution provider for self-mailing forms, MICR laser check printing, laser forms conversion, and output management software and hosting. Based in Dover, New Hampshire, Relyco is a global distributor of value-added printed materials, business equipment and forms processing software. Relyco focuses on high security documents. Relyco also offers business forms and stationery, commercial printing, direct mail processing, labels and packaging.

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For More Information & Interviews
Mike Runshe
iEmployee
508-336-3332 x 180
http://www.iemployee.com

Valentines Day History

2006-02-13T23:53:00.000-08:00

There are varying opinions as to the origin of Valentine's Day. Some experts state that it originated from St. Valentine, a Roman who was martyred for refusing to give up Christianity. He died on February 14, 269 A.D., the same day that had been devoted to love lotteries. Legend also says that St. Valentine left a farewell note for the jailer's daughter, who had become his friend, and signed it "From Your Valentine". Other aspects of the story say that Saint Valentine served as a priest at the temple during the reign of Emperor Claudius. Claudius then had Valentine jailed for defying him. In 496 A.D. Pope Gelasius set aside February 14 to honour St. Valentine.

Gradually, February 14 became the date for exchanging love messages and St. Valentine became the patron saint of lovers. The date was marked by sending poems and simple gifts such as flowers. There was often a social gathering or a ball.

In the United States, Miss Esther Howland is given credit for sending the first valentine cards. Commercial valentines were introduced in the 1800's and now the date is very commercialised. The town of Loveland, Colorado, does a large post office business around February 14. The spirit of good continues as valentines are sent out with sentimental verses and children exchange valentine cards at school.

The History of Saint Valentine's Day
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Valentine's Day started in the time of the Roman Empire. In ancient Rome, February 14th was a holiday to honour Juno. Juno was the Queen of the Roman Gods and Goddesses. The Romans also knew her as the Goddess of women and marriage. The following day, February 15th, began the Feast of Lupercalia.

The lives of young boys and girls were strictly separate. However, one of the customs of the young people was name drawing. On the eve of the festival of Lupercalia the names of Roman girls were written on slips of paper and placed into jars. Each young man would draw a girl's name from the jar and would then be partners for the duration of the festival with the girl whom he chose. Sometimes the pairing of the children lasted an entire year, and often, they would fall in love and would later marry.

Under the rule of Emperor Claudius II Rome was involved in many bloody and unpopular campaigns. Claudius the Cruel was having a difficult time getting soldiers to join his military leagues. He believed that the reason was that roman men did not want to leave their loves or families. As a result, Claudius cancelled all marriages and engagements in Rome. The good Saint Valentine was a priest at Rome in the days of Claudius II. He and Saint Marius aided the Christian martyrs and secretly married couples, and for this kind deed Saint Valentine was apprehended and dragged before the Prefect of Rome, who condemned him to be beaten to death with clubs and to have his head cut off. He suffered martyrdom on the 14th day of February, about the year 270. At that time it was the custom in Rome, a very ancient custom, indeed, to celebrate in the month of February the Lupercalia, feasts in honour of a heathen god. On these occasions, amidst a variety of pagan ceremonies, the names of young women were placed in a box, from which they were drawn by the men as chance directed.

The pastors of the early Christian Church in Rome endeavoured to do away with the pagan element in these feasts by substituting the names of saints for those of maidens. And as the Lupercalia began about the middle of February, the pastors appear to have chosen Saint Valentine's Day for the celebration of this new feaSt. So it seems that the custom of young men choosing maidens for valentines, or saints as patrons for the coming year, arose in this way.

St. Valentine's Story
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Let me introduce myself. My name is Valentine. I lived in Rome during the third century. That was long, long ago! At that time, Rome was ruled by an emperor named Claudius. I didn't like Emperor Claudius, and I wasn't the only one! A lot of people shared my feelings.
Claudius wanted to have a big army. He expected men to volunteer to join. Many men just did not want to fight in wars. They did not want to leave their wives and families. As you might have guessed, not many men signed up. This made Claudius furious. So what happened? He had a crazy idea. He thought that if men were not married, they would not mind joining the army. So Claudius decided not to allow any more marriages. Young people thought his new law was cruel. I thought it was preposterous! I certainly wasn't going to support that law!

Did I mention that I was a priest? One of my favourite activities was to marry couples. Even after Emperor Claudius passed his law, I kept on performing marriage ceremonies -- secretly, of course. It was really quite exciting. Imagine a small candlelit room with only the bride and groom and myself. We would whisper the words of the ceremony, listening all the while for the steps of soldiers.

One night, we did hear footsteps. It was scary! Thank goodness the couple I was marrying escaped in time. I was caught. (Not quite as light on my feet as I used to be, I guess.) I was thrown in jail and told that my punishment was death.

I tried to stay cheerful. And do you know what? Wonderful things happened. Many young people came to the jail to visit me. They threw flowers and notes up to my window. They wanted me to know that they, too, believed in love.

One of these young people was the daughter of the prison guard. Her father allowed her to visit me in the cell. Sometimes we would sit and talk for hours. She helped me to keep my spirits up. She agreed that I did the right thing by ignoring the Emperor and going ahead with the secret marriages. On the day I was to die, I left my friend a little note thanking her for her friendship and loyalty. I signed it, "Love from your Valentine."

I believe that note started the custom of exchanging love messages on Valentine's Day. It was written on the day I died, February 14, 269 A.D. Now, every year on this day, people remember. But most importantly, they think about love and friendship. And when they think of Emperor Claudius, they remember how he tried to stand in the way of love, and they laugh -- because they know that love can't be beaten!

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any romance story for valentine's day

2006-02-09T02:44:00.000-08:00

Any romance story for this month....since valentine's day is around the corner.......

similarities between salesforce and iemployee

2006-02-08T03:48:00.000-08:00

i was wondering about similarities between salesforce and iemployee. Yeah they both are web based solution providers but beyond that what??? hoping for someone to shed more light on it.
i like http://www.iemployee.com and at the same time also like the agressive type of marketing by http://www.salesforce.com
As far as industry goes i find the human resource industry more vibrant as evident by the nice product information on http://www.iemployee.com/mkt/hrsolution.htm
You may also find http://www.iemployee.com/mkt/timesheet.htm and http://www.iemployee.com/mkt/timeattendance.htm useful.

Thanks,
theemployee93

iEmployee Becomes The First Mid-Size, Web-Based HR Solution Provider To Implement Storage Area Network (SAN) Technology

2006-01-04T05:20:00.000-08:00

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iEmployee, the leading provider of on-demand Workforce Management solutions, announces plans to implement a Storage Area Network (SAN) solution in first quarter 2006. iEmployee has chosen top-ranked EMC as their storage solution provider.

Employing SAN technology will save time for thousands of iEmployee users across the globe. Reports that once took a couple of minutes will complete in seconds, making iEmployee one of the fastest running Web-native HR solutions available. The SAN also provides enhanced disaster recovery and archive functionality, important concerns for iEmployees 1,600 clients.

We are adding new iEmployee users every minute. It is imperative that we do not compromise the performance of our Web-delivered HR solution, especially during traditionally peak periods like benefits enrollment, said Jeff Dumas, VP of Engineering at iEmployee. Our decision to purchase a robust solution from the top storage provider, EMC, underscores our commitment to the iEmployee users experience.

About iEmployee:

iEmployee (www.iemployee.com) is a leading provider of on-demand workforce management solutions, enabling companies to eliminate paperwork and dramatically reduce employee administration time. iEmployees suite of web-hosted Time & Attendance, HR Software with Benefit Solution, Pay Stubs/W2 and Employee and Manager Self Service applications offer cost-effective solutions, requiring no IT investment or overhead. Endorsed by leading payroll providers, iEmployee is the solution of choice for over 1600 companies.

For more information contact:
Don Woodard, Network Administrator
iEmployee
Ph: 508-336-3332
Fax: 508-336-5894
www.iemployee.com

This press release was distributed through eMediawire by Human Resources Marketer (HR Marketer: www.HRmarketer.com) on behalf of the company listed above.

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2006-01-04T05:07:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

iEmployee Becomes The First Mid-Size, Web-Based HR Solution Provider To Implement Storage Area Network (SAN) Technology
iEmployee, the leading provider of on-demand Workforce Management solutions, announces plans to implement a Storage Area Network (SAN) solution in first quarter 2006. iEmployee has chosen top-ranked EMC as their storage solution provider.

Employing SAN technology will save time for thousands of iEmployee users across the globe. Reports that once took a couple of minutes will complete in seconds, making iEmployee one of the fastest running Web-native HR solutions available. The SAN also provides enhanced disaster recovery and archive functionality, important concerns for iEmployees 1,600 clients.

We are adding new iEmployee users every minute. It is imperative that we do not compromise the performance of our Web-delivered HR solution, especially during traditionally peak periods like benefits enrollment, said Jeff Dumas, VP of Engineering at iEmployee. Our decision to purchase a robust solution from the top storage provider, EMC, underscores our commitment to the iEmployee users experience.

About iEmployee:

iEmployee (www.iemployee.com) is a leading provider of on-demand workforce management solutions, enabling companies to eliminate paperwork and dramatically reduce employee administration time. iEmployees suite of web-hosted Time & Attendance, HR Software with Benefit Solution, Pay Stubs/W2 and Employee and Manager Self Service applications offer cost-effective solutions, requiring no IT investment or overhead. Endorsed by leading payroll providers, iEmployee is the solution of choice for over 1600 com! panies.

For more information contact:
Don Woodard, Network Administrator
iEmployee
Ph: 508-336-3332
Fax: 508-336-5894
www.iemployee.com

This press release was distributed through eMediawire by Human Resources Marketer (HR Marketer: www.HRmarketer.com) on behalf of the company listed above.

iEmployee Newsline

2005-11-16T01:19:00.000-08:00

Holiday Greetings!

Paid Time Off Program

Give the gift of more time this holiday season – streamline frequent winter requests for paid time off with iEmployee's enhanced Paid Time Off program. It makes managing paid time off so easy and affordable; you'll have more time than ever to celebrate the season!
Learn more:

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Capture Holiday Hours for Exception-Only Employees

Typically, exception-only employees create timesheets only when they request time off. As a result, holiday hours have, up to now, only been captured when they occur during pay periods when these employees request time off. To help you keep track of all holiday hours, iEmployee now enables you to create holiday timesheets for all exception-only employees who do not ordinarily enter timesheets.
Learn more:

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How Much Time Off Can I Take?

Soon employees will be able to see their available time-off balances as well as their current balance information on iEmployee. How can you use all the time this feature will free up for you?
See how it works:

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Assign and Track Employee Policy and Calendar Assignments Easily

A new iReport will soon make it possible for you to check all employee policy and calendar assignments at once. Available to HR+ clients, the new module will list the business rules policies, pay policies and holiday calendars applied to each employee through a single iReport.
Read more:

Soon you will also be able to automatically assign policies and calendars to groups of employees through a new menu.

Check it out:

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Benefits Templates Prepare You For The New Year

Is sending information to your benefits carrier taking too much time and costing a bundle in labor? iEmployee has electronic templates for all major interfaces like Blue Cross and Aetna. Not only do the carriers give discounts for electronic submissions, but you save time and hassle by not submitting printouts. Once all employees enter their benefit enrollment information into the system, the company then sends this information to benefit carriers such as Blue Cross, United, Humana and Aetna.
Check out the list of templates and streamline your enrollment right away:

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Fingerprints Eliminate Two Costly Employer Issues

In a partnership with M2SYS, iEmployee now offers fingerprint-based time and attendance tracking. The unique profile provided by fingerprint sign-in makes "buddy punching" impossible and banishes the constant concern about remembering, reassigning and protecting passwords.
Read more:

- Contact Darryl Cunnigham, darryl@iemployee.com, an iEmployee expert, who can assist you in setting this up for your company.

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iEmployee Leads Industry in Ensuring Data Safety with SAS70 Review

iEmployee will become one of the first privately held workforce management companies to ensure client data safety by conducting a SAS 70 Type II Review. When the review is completed in summer 2006, iEmployee clients will receive a detailed description of their company's controls and processes for protecting client information and databases from loss, disaster, fraud and tampering.
Read more:

iEmployee 2005 Events

iEmployee experts participated in a variety of events during 2005! Check out this list:
We'd love to see you next year. Send us an invitation to present at your local SHRM, APA or information technology group meeting. Email Ab Gaur, agaur@iemployee.com, to invite an iEmployee expert to speak at your next event!

Tips from the Cheetah – Simplify Training and Track ROI
Training+ brings you a one-stop shop for all your training needs from course enrollment through class management and grading. New items include training calendars for students, managers and instructors. In addition, Training+ lists internal and external trainers, training costs and training locations to make scheduling programs easier still.

Another Seamless Payroll Conversion
iEmployee recently helped a client with every step of their conversion from Ceridian Source 500 to Ultipro.

To help an iEmployee client convert their payroll to the new system, customer service first created a test company and dummy data to discover any possible issues with the new interface iEmployee developed for the client. When none were found, customer support members worked with the client to test some sample company timesheets with their new payroll vendor, Ultipro, and worked with Ultipro's customer service to ensure correct coding. The company's first payroll on the new system processed with 100% success.

Your Payroll Vendor, Your Way

With hundreds of payroll interfaces, iEmployee can integrate with virtually any payroll provider your company selects. And, if you want to change to another payroll provider, iEmployee can help you do that, too. iEmployee gives you the flexibility and support you need in today's market.

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I hope you enjoy this newsletter. If you know colleagues who would benefit from receiving it, please forward this to them or send us their email address so they won't miss any future issues.

We would like to hear from you about how we can make upcoming newsletters even more useful to you. Please send me your thoughts.

As always, thanks for being an iEmployee customer and best wishes for a wonderful holiday season from your friends at iEmployee.

Sincerely,

Ab Gaur
Marketing Manager
Email : agaur@iemployee.com

699, Fall River Avenue,
Seekonk, MA, USA
Toll Free: 1-800-541-9670

http://www.iemployee.com

CIO COUNCIL RELEASES GUIDE FOR FEDERAL IT WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT

2005-10-27T01:22:00.000-07:00

10/25/2005

The Chief Information Officers Council Monday released a guide to help federal agencies comply with information technology workforce management regulations.

The guide was compiled by the Office of Personnel Management and the CIO Council Workforce Committee to “provide contextual information (in one document) to the CIO and human capital communities on IT Workforce planning and IT training guidance.”

The guide presents a timeline displaying previous IT workforce policies and initiatives and also lists upcoming important dates.

OPM and the CIO Council have also outlined federal IT managers’ goals and requirements required by the President’s Management Agenda, the E-Government Act of 2002 and the Clinger-Cohen Act.

The guide also contains a chart displaying the responsibilities of the CIO Council, OPM and the Office of Management and Budget.

The guide can be found at http://cio.gov/

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DOD, OPM TO RELEASE NSPS REGULATIONS TODAY
INTERIOR HONORS ENVIRONMENTAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD WINNERS
FIND OUT HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF UNUSED SICK LEAVE IN RETIREMENT.

2005-10-26T08:36:00.000-07:00

iEmployee's On-Demand Time and Attendance solution helps automate your time consuming, time tracking related processes; from employee's time hours worked to exporting data into your payroll system. Our solution helps organizations eliminate the paperwork and manual processes associated with time and attendance needs.

iEmployee is a leading provider of on-demand workforce management solutions, offering full suite of web-hosted Time and Attendance, HR/Benefit, Pay Stubs/W2 and Self-Service applications that are cost-effective, requiring no IT investment or overhead. iEmployee is payroll independent and can interface with any payroll system.

Employees can easily…

…enter time from virtually anywhere, anytime requiring only Internet connection and Internet Browser

…record time through multiple time and attendance solutions type like online timesheet, iClock timeclock, iSwipe slot reader, and through other biometric tracking hardware increasing greater flexibility and accuracy

…check and review their hours worked before submitting their timesheet, dramatically reducing errors while increasing efficiency

…integrate and auto populate approved time off and PTO resulting in a streamlined process that reduces data entry and costly errors

Empowering Managers to…

…track employee absenteeism with attendance time tracking that informs managers as to which employees are absent and helps reduce errors in actual Hours Worked

…by centralizing location of all employee time and attendance information making data easily accessible, reducing administration time and allowing Managers to focus on core business functions

…mass approve, reject, or auto forward submitted timesheets to alternate approvers increasing flexibility in approval process

…benefit from full suite of standard and ad hoc reports, which gives Managers the tools to accurately analyze employee time and attendance

Freeing up Administrators…

…by notifying missing time and attendance reports by email resulting in fewer calls to employees and helping in accurate payroll submissions

…accurately calculate overtime and shift differentials for wage rate variations and enforce policies such as attendance and rounding rules thereby saving time consuming and error prone calculations

…by allowing instant data updates to other solutions like Time Off, Expenses, HR, Benefits, etc. eliminating any and all synchronization issues

…by exporting all time and attendance data with a click of a mouse eliminating the need for any manual calculations or data entry- saving time and resources while increasing accuracy through automation

Time and Attendance Related links:

About Time and Attendance
Time and Attendance Software
Time and Attendance Solution
TimeClock iClock
About Time Tracking
About Employee Time Tracking Software

Wecome to on demand workforce management solutions

2005-10-24T02:20:00.000-07:00

iEmployee offers a full suite of on-demand, 100% web-hosted workforce management solutions including Paid Time Off, Online Timesheet, Project Timesheet, Time and Attendance, HR Software with Benefit Solution, Employee Self Service, Pay Stub/W2 and Expense Management. Endorsed by leading payroll providers, iEmployee has over 1600 satisfied clients. With iEmployee solutions, clients realize benefits that increase the bottom line.

Single Application Solution that instantly updates data across all applications with seamless integration for real-time information.

Flexible Solution, choose only one module or all the modules based on YOUR requirements.

Self-Service solution that empower employees with information anytime, anywhere.

Productive Solution which redirects resources so you can focus on core business functions.

Single Login Solution with a common look and feel across all applications- reducing training time and costs.

Low Risk, Low Cost Solution requiring no in-house IT investment and installation- resulting in low total ownership costs.

Smart Solution that eliminates paperwork and burdensome manual processes to reduce data entry & increase accuracy.