The document provides 5 tips for picking the wrong labour-hire software and 5 tips for picking the right software. The tips for picking the wrong software are: 1) Don't follow your competitors blindly, 2) Make a criteria list and stick to it, 3) Don't sign long contracts, 4) Ask lots of questions about support terms, and 5) Don't assume the implementation will be done for you. The tips for picking the right software are the opposite - do thorough research, make a criteria list, avoid long contracts, thoroughly vet support, and get commitment to a solid implementation process.

1. 5 Ways to ensure
you pick the wrong
labour-hire
software

2. The software you use to run
your recruitment or labour hire
business makes all the difference. Sure, you
can continue with manual work arounds
and tedious, outdated processes,
but that’s no way to do business if you want
to scale your customer service. The better
way as most of us know is to streamline
your processes and functions with
technology. There are a lot of options out
there that say they do just that, only to let
you down in the long-run (EntireHR is not
one of them obviously). With this dilemma
in mind, we’ve created a list of 5 things you
should do if you want to pick the WRONG
labour-hire software. So you can avoid
them.

3. COPY WHAT EVERYONE
ELSE IS DOING
1.
Choosing a software just because that’s what your
competitors are using is a bad idea.
We can’t stress that enough (Unless your
competitor is using EntireHR… then it’s actually a
good idea to follow suit, but we digress). Using
what your competitors are using is generally one
of the worst things you can do, because
your competitors are not you! And you don’t want
to be like your competitors. Every
time you’re talking to a client, do you say, “We’re
just like our biggest competitor”? No. Of course
you don’t. So why would you pick the same system
that your competitors use? In all seriousness
though, the big reason most people copy the
competition is because then they know it
works. It’s a fear factor, they’re trying to pick
something that “they know works”, because the
devil you know is better than the one you
don’t. It’s an attempt to mitigate risk. Well, we can
tell you that there’s much bigger risk.

4. 2. GO SHOPPING WITHOUT A
CRITERIA LIST
Your competitor got suckered in by the same
speech and flashy demo you had and when they
got their software, it wasn’t as good as they’d
hoped (they won’t admit otherwise though). Now if
you buy it too, you’re both in a heap of
trouble, but you’re stuck on the same contract
longer than they are. Instead of copying, the
solution is to do the research yourself and find a
software that is customizable to your business
and your way of doing things.Which brings us to
our next point.
Have a set decision making criteria list,
and don’t waver from it. Make the list before you
start searching. Break the list into the 4 key
departments of your recruitment business,
normally: Sales, Recruitment, Placement &
Finance. Don’t get distracted unless you find
something that’s absolutely out of the box you
had no idea existed. EntireHR offers a mobile app
that can allow your clients and workers to easily fill
out digital time sheets from their phone.

5. Beware the dazzling little bells and whistles on the
interface or dashboard, or the pretty colours and
formats of the reports. Because odds are that
when you actually launch the systems later on
after getting hooked in by some “nice to have”
bonuses, you’ll quickly find that your core list of
needs are suddenly is being ignored, and now
business critical functions aren’t running.
We’re not saying you shouldn’t have a great
looking software with bells and whistles, we’re just
saying don’t get so caught up in that, that you miss
the real meat of what you needed in the first
place. Salespeople know what looks great
usually sells, and will happily avoid discussing core
requirements if you seem to be enjoying the
pretty graphs.
We suggest making a “Must list” and a “Major
list” and “Bonus list”.Assign a number value to
each of the 3 categories and go from there. This
gives you a simple way to use basic data to make
the right decision and remove our human
emotions from the equation (we all have them!).

6. Decide what you absolutely MUST Have
and don’t budge from that no matter what the
salesman tells you. To enforce this list, use an
excel sheet to create a scorecard that you can use
to grade each software you evaluate. Make sure
the same person does all grading, otherwise you
could be prone to different ways of
evaluation. However, if you can afford
it, it’s even better is if you have 2 people do
the entire grading independently (this lets you
triangulate better and removes bias).
This makes it easy to eliminate the software
that don’t have what you need right off the bad,
and then quickly choose between the remaining
options based on the grades you’ve assigned. If
you need a template for looking through and
evaluating Recruitment and labour hire software,
let us know. We have one we can give you, free of
charge just ask.

7. Our honest opinion is that in today’s world of
subscription-based software, there’s absolutely no
need to have a contract. Some companies are
trying to sign customers up for
a five year contracts or something like that. To be
honest, we think that’s unethical. We totally get it
gives some security to a company, and there’s a
small argument to be made for those that ask for
a short-term contract and provide a discount to
do so. But there’s still too many providers that run
with 3-5 contracts as the default in our opinion,
especially dangerous for small business that can
afford the massive payouts.
The question is WHY are they requiring a
contract? The business software needs to work,
correct? If it doesn’t work, you’re not going to use
it, correct? And if it does work, you’re going to
keep using it, correct? So, why do you need the
contract? If it’s not working for you, you shouldn’t
have to pay for it, you should be able to leave for
something that does work and if it is working for
you, you’ll gladly keep paying. We don’t believe in
making people pay for something they don’t want
or aren’t actually using. Call us crazy.
3. SIGN A LONG CONTRACT

8. Software without good support is like a good
burger without fries and a Coke!
When you’re shopping for a new system, make
sure the software comes with high-quality and
comprehensive support. Or at least support that
is customizable to what you need and want.
If you’re tech savvy and can do a lot yourself,
great! But, for the rest of us, we want to make
sure there’s someone there when we make a
phone call, if we really need it. Software providers
should offer things like 99% uptime guarantees
and 24/7 emergency service. Look into the fine
details and ask what is included and what is not
included with your support package. Is support
included in the overall license?If not, how much is
it? When does it kick in? What’s the guarantees on
commitment? What do their current clients say
about support (probably the biggest clue). Will you
be charged for support when you are
merely emailing in a bug (believe it or not I’ve seen
it in contracts before). Ask lots of questions, so
you know what you’re getting. Otherwise, you’ll be
stuck with a burger and no fries and Coke!
4. FORGET TO ASK ABOUT
SUPPORT TERMS

9. The last thing to make sure you’re taking into
account is the track record and ability your
software provider has to get you up and
running.You will need their help, and you will also
need to put in more effort than you think. Most
people greatly over-estimate their ability to get
work done, and this is twice as true when it comes
to implementing software. I repeat, this is an issue
every company has (yes even software
companies). When you implement software for
your own business over more than a month, it
quickly falls off the last priority of everyone in the
actual business, unless you make an active effort
otherwise. Because we have customers to take
care of and things to do!
This is notoriously an area of struggle
for software suppliers, who are often great at
building and selling their software, but not so
much at getting it running with a new
client. It’s why a lot of major providers completely
outsource that function to third parties (looking at
you Salesforce!). This is has both pros and cons,
and probably a discussion point all on it’s own.
5. ASSUME THE IMPLEMENTATION
WILL BE DONE FOR YOU

10. Why is this the case? Well it’s important to note,
when you are looking at a software demo,
you’re looking at the finished product. And the
finished product looks great! It has data in it, it’s
been configured properly, it’s users have been
trained to perfection and the automations are all
running seamlessly in the background. If the
finished product was a racecar, you’d be looking at
it about cross the finish line in first place, after
smoking the competition, champagne already on
ice ready to go, who wouldn’t want to be in that
car! But, for you to get that racecar to the
podium first you need to buy the chassis, then you
need the tires, the seats and of course the
steering wheel. Finally the car is built! But then you
need to have a driver trained to drive the car. That
takes a while, and then he has to practice, a lot,
and keep himself fit as well. At the same time, the
racetrack needs to be analysed for the best route
given the environment and take account for
multiple weather conditions. The pit crew needs to
be trained as a group to do those crazy fast pit
stops. As you can see there’s a lot of moving
parts! All this takes a lot of hard work, training,
practice, repetition and most importantly – time.

11. Now imagine you’re doing that process by yourself
for the first time. Ouch. Compare that with doing it
with an F1 team of over 20 years’
experience guiding you and provide resources at
the right time? That’s the difference with a
great software onboarding process. Now back to
software, it’s important to keep in mind that the
more “complete” a software is, the more complex
the process is, but it doesn’t have to be difficult or
confusing for you as the customer. At EntireHR,
we guarantee to have you transitioned to the new
software and up and running within a specific
amount of time, or your license fee is free
until you’re up.
So, if you’re in the market, ask your provider what
they need from you to guarantee you’ll go live on
the date you want. You’ll get them excited as a
dream client with this question! Additionally, since
this will be near the time of signing something
(hopefully not one of those massive
contracts), you can ask to talk with a recently
implemented customer, similar to your size and
scope. You can also ask for a visual chart, rollout
roadmap or guide of milestones to expect.

12. Most software companies (in fact all good ones)
use some sort of rollout map internally, and with
some tweaking will be happy to share. Finally, ask
them for their guarantee. If they won’t guarantee
you will go live, what can they guarantee.
If it’s nothing, then that’s another red flag, even
bigger if you’re signing a contract. As it shows their
commitment to you actually being able
to using the software functionality is very
low. Some simple questions to ask, but if you skip
this step you’ll often end up stuck with a half-way
implemented software, an empty checking
account and a non-responsive software
salesperson at the end of the day.
And as a final warning, if the salesperson seems
super confident about the implementation being
“easy” but hasn’t really asked many questions then
that’s always a red flag for me. There’s
a HUGE difference between being confident in
your teams ability to implementing by following a
proven process and saying “yes, yes, yes” to a
client’s questions to get them to sign the dotted
line. As always, ask for examples if possible.

13. Don’t follow your competitors blindly
Make a criteria list and stick to it
Don’t sign long contracts
Ask lots of questions about support
Get commitment to a solid
implementation process
If you want to pick the WRONG software for your
labour hire business, make sure you follow the five
bullet points above. However, If you want to pick
the RIGHT software for your company, learn from
the mistakes others have made and follow the
below 5 steps:
If you have any questions about picking theright
labour hire and recruitment software for your
business (and yes it does really depend upon your
business!) we’re always happy to answer any
questions you have at EntireHR.
IN SUMMARY