HR on cloud (SAP SuccessFactors) Is Known Primarily As A Provider Of HR Suite Of Products For Large Enterprises (LEs), But It Is Slowly But Surely, Is Gaining A Lot Of Momentum In The SMB Enterprises.
Increase user adaptability with great User Experience
HR on cloud (SuccessFactors) for SMB market – Part 1
One of the main objectives of HR Transformation is to improve the effectiveness of the process. And the processes only can be effective if a number of people use the process. We have seen in the past that great processes remain largely underutilized as wider user adaptation hasn’t happened.
For the SMB organizations, it is essential that they have a great user acceptance and the process/product that they are using is highly adaptable without much user training and change management effort. These organizations simply don’t have those additional dollars to spend here.
Extensibility
You may have often heard about the fact that cloud-based solutions are configurable but not customizable. Let us understand the meaning of these two words in this context. Customization is a feature or extension or modification of a software feature that requires custom coding and/or some form of implementation. A configuration is where you use native tools in the system to change its behavior or characteristics.
With the advent of SaaS/cloud-based products, there has been a shift in the industry in the last few years. A far-reaching and important shift in how we fundamentally think about software, specifically purchased software. Software that is purchased tends to be based on the industry’s best practices and is suitable for very large to very small companies.
SAP SuccessFactors is a SaaS product and is highly configurable to fit in your business-specific requirements.
It is understandable that not all functionality can be delivered ‘out-of-the-box’ and that most innovations aren’t delivered through a single vendor. We also know that our customers need to evolve with the changing and demanding needs of their business. Hence, SAP SuccessFactors has taken Extensibility, a core design principle in software development very seriously. Extensibility enables customers to deliver new and differentiating capabilities in their organizations.
The Metadata Framework (which we also refer to as MDF) is SAP SuccessFactors robust extensibility framework that enables customers to extend HR cloud functionality to create company-specific objects that support their unique business processes, without the need to code.
Often, a single screen, field, or UI, such as requesting time off, managing pay structures, or company assets can be a differentiating business process in an organization. The Metadata Framework enables customers to deliver differentiating capabilities without the need for extensive customization or integration with third-party applications.
This also helps SMB organizations to future-proof their HR solution.
Integration – Why should you worry about it?
As we discuss why flexibility and Extensibility are important for all SMB organizations looking for their next HR system, it is very crucial that the solution they purchase coexists with their existing and future Core HR, Talent, Finance, or any other internal or external systems.
We have also discussed an organization’s ability to purchase and deploy SAP SuccessFactors as per their business needs (Start anywhere, go everywhere), hence there is no denying that integration in the cloud world is crucial for business continuity and success.
The ultimate goal of cloud integration is to avoid silos among processes and systems within the organizations. Users should be able to access and manage applications, data, services, and systems seamlessly across the organization. Cloud integration saves a lot of maintenance hours for your IT team.
As a customer, you have multiple choices. You can either use the “Integration Center (IC),” a functionality offered to you by SAP SuccessFactors. It comes with the product or uses SAP Cloud Platform Integration (SCI), which is also complimentary if and when you purchase Employee Central (SuccessFactors Core HR or HRIS).
The Integration Center enables HR business analysts to build, run, schedule, and monitor simple file-based inbound and outbound integrations. You can build integrations quickly and easily through a guided workflow. Predefined templates are available, and you can also create your own templates.
Depending on the size of the organization and types of business/industry in which they operate, they may need a more robust and sophisticated integration platform such as SAP Cloud Platform Integration (SCI). SCI allows you to easily exchange data in real-time between cloud apps, third-party applications, and on-premises solutions with this open, flexible, on-demand integration system running as a core service on SAP Cloud Platform. Key benefits include:
- Accessing a deep catalog of integration flows
- Integrating both processes and data through unified technology engineered for the cloud
- Getting an integration service that is secure, reliable and, delivered and managed by SAP in SAP’s secure data centers across the globe
- Lower TCO with an affordable, pay-as-you-go function
Cloud integration or integration platform as a service (iPaaS) is not restrictive to only IC or SCI, but you also have a wide choice of third-party integration tools, such as:
- MuleSoft Anypoint Platform
- Dell Boomi
- IBM App Connect
- Cleo Integration Cloud
- Microsoft Azure BizTalk Services
We recommend SAP’s tools as a lot of investment has been made to make these tools incorporate all that you need in an inbound or outbound integration from SAP SuccessFactors. This also offers a lot of pre-built templates, which save costs and help in keeping the implementation cost down.
Superior and Large Partner Community – So, a wide range of partners to choose from
Unlike its competitors, SAP’s strategy is to go to market exclusively with its partners, based on the market, product expertise, and industry knowledge. Hence the partner ecosystem is extremely important to them, and the value and knowledge these partners have about specific industries is the key to success in the SMB market.
You have a choice of many such SAP SuccessFactors partners who are completely focused and dedicated to the SMB market. The more extensive selection of partners gives you the ability to choose the right one for your business. This also makes the partner offerings very competitive. SAP SuccessFactors has more partners in almost all geographies compared to its competitors.
Data-based decision making with SAP Analytics Cloud
Most SMB organizations decide to implement an HR system when their employee base grows; they add locations, or the business gets more complicated. SAP SuccessFactors offers embedded insights and analytics out of the box and SAP Analytics Cloud with the option of customers using the powerful all in (BI, planning, and predictive) SAP Analytics Cloud to their advantage. This offers SMB organizations a means to get a higher level of business analytics than previously available.
For further details, please refer to our blog on HR Analytics, which highlights the advantages of using SAP Analytics Cloud for SMB Customers.
Post Implementation Support
In the world of cloud computing, the HR Transformation journey does not start and stop with the implementation process; rather, it continues through the life cycle of HR processes throughout the year. SAP SuccessFactors offers four quarterly updates, which often than not brings in market-leading innovations; this is the distinctive advantage cloud software has over on-premise software. Most importantly, everything comes as a part of your subscription cost so that the SMB organizations can enjoy the benefits of SAP’s R&D investments.
It comes with a big challenge of how to maintain the system post the go-live. The SMB organizations typically don’t have a large IT team; hence most of the support has to be managed by the business users or administrators themselves.
SAP SuccessFactors offers two types of support for its products. Enterprise Support, cloud editions: Foundational engagement support with a focus on customer interaction and issue resolution and SAP Preferred Care (billable): An add-on to SAP Enterprise Support. These cloud editions include strategic guidance and customer-specific best practices to help drive user adoption and value realization.
The SAP SuccessFactors Customer Success Organization wants to be your partner in business execution. They’ve got everything you need to start strong and see results sooner.
Also, there are regional and national user groups and annual SuccessConnect events.
SAP Partners also offers innovative, affordable support options that can coexist with what SAP offers and what the client can have internally.
Increase User Adaptability with excellent User Experience
One of the main objectives of an HR Transformation is to improve the effectiveness of the process. And the processes only can be effective if more people use the process. We have seen in the past that significant processes remain largely underutilized as broader user adaptation hasn’t happened.
For the SMB organizations, they must have excellent user acceptance, and the process/product that they are using is highly adaptable without requiring much user training and change management effort. These organizations simply don’t have those additional dollars to spend here.
Increase User Adaptability with excellent User Experience
One of the main objectives of an HR Transformation is to improve the effectiveness of the process. And the processes only can be effective if more people use the process. We have seen in the past that significant processes remain largely underutilized as broader user adaptation hasn’t happened.
For the SMB organizations, they must have excellent user acceptance, and the process/product that they are using is highly adaptable without requiring much user training and change management effort. These organizations simply don’t have those additional dollars to spend here.
This is where a great UI can help with distinguishable and predictable actions, which is crucial when offering a great product experience. A great UI’s job is to simplify things so that users can easily interact with the product.
As the users become more acquainted and become regular users, they begin to trust the product more and use it more willingly. Here the end goal is to provide users with a consumer-like UI that needs no explanation.
SAP SuccessFactors’ design-thinking-based approach enables you to deliver an exceptional experience to all your people, no matter who they are and where they work. SAP SuccessFactors’ user-focused design is based on the following:
- People-centric: built around how people best engage with technology across mobile and Web
- Flexible: intelligent and adaptable to each of your people
- Holistic and Connected: continuous, connected, and tied to key business outcomes
SAP SuccessFactors leverage user research, partnership with consumer brands (e.g., Apple), and powerful SAP technologies infused across the SAP SuccessFactors suite, to help ensure that your peoples’ experiences are at the heart of your business transformation.
Digital Buying Experience
Large enterprise customers with complex requirements, previous enterprise buying experience, larger team size, and bigger pockets, are used to a long drawn process of buying software for HR. But the same is not true for SMB organizations. They want the digital buying process to be faster, cheaper, and better.
SAP has streamlined its digital buying experience to match something we are very familiar with, i.e., going on Amazon and purchasing what they want and when they want it. With SAP’s ew Store and SAP App Center, business users can buy some existing and some new digital technology and services on their own—all without the help of SAP or one of its partners.
The SAP App Center provides customers with real-time access to nearly 1,500 innovative partner solutions that complement and extend their SAP solutions, enabling the digital transformation of their business. SAP App Center customers can buy solutions directly from partners and centrally manage purchases, billing, and vendor communications.
Please click here to read the first part of the blog.
- The employee benefits lifecycle - 04/08/2023
- Why Flexibility, Configurability & Extensibility matter for Benefits Administration? - 02/08/2023
- The communication challenges - 31/07/2023
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