Can you tell us a little about your business?
We’re a specialist recruitment agency with a team of 3 people who focus on contract and permanent resources in the Oracle and PeopleSoft markets. So, for example, when a new Oracle or PeopleSoft implementation or upgrade takes place, we find the specialist skilled resources the client need to successfully deliver each project on time and within budget, whether it’s in house or working on client site. It’s a competitive market with a number of big players. In branching out on our own as a small, niche agency we moved away from the ‘big company’ culture to push a small firm ethos built on strong customer relationships.
What were you looking for in your choice of technology platform?
A key criterion was a platform that would cut the amount of admin we needed to do. Why? Admin isn’t a strong point in our business sector. We are essentially sales people with a focus on our customers, not on the admin required to manage all the different layers of information and contact. Thus the ability to integrate the Invenias database with our LinkedIn contacts was a big draw. We were able to download 2,500 LinkedIn contacts automatically, drastically reducing the time spent on admin.
Invenias is also highly intuitive with all the tools in the right place. For example, we can simply click on a tab to Skype a client or candidate, whereas previously we had to cut and paste a phone number before we could use Skype. So again, we’re saving time and effort. The Connections Tab is another useful tool that we use a lot. When we add a candidate to LinkedIn from automatically identifies and links us with similar candidates and projects. This is the type of functionality that makes a big difference to how we work.
How important is the support you get from your technology vendor?
Technology is changing so fast and you have to constantly update things, such as your website and ways of engaging with clients and candidates. And we know that digital engagement is only going to get more important in terms of how we work – and how our clients and candidates expect us to work.
Yes, it can be difficult to stay on top of things, but technology is an enabler as well as a challenge. For example, we’re able to access our Invenias database in the cloud via our mobile devices, which means we can work freely and remotely, wherever we are. We also automatically get regular updates from Invenias, so we don’t have to think about whether we’ve got the latest software, because it’s all done for us. That’s an important asset for a smaller search firm like us.
What’s the main challenge for a smaller firm when replacing their existing technology platform?
I’d say the main concern would be similar to that of ours when we first thought about moving to a new platform: the challenge of migrating our data. We work in a niche area, searching for and managing candidates with unique and highly sought-after skills. The thought of losing our candidate database and having to start again sends shivers down my spine. That’s why a partner with proven migration expertise is so important.
We can’t operate without our database, so we were impressed at how quickly Invenias moved our data from our old system to Invenias. We worked with the Invenias Migrations team to ensure the migration went smoothly. It was so straightforward that we felt we only needed to maintain our old system for a couple of weeks as back up before switching entirely to Invenias.
Can you define the value that your investment in technology brings to your business?
We’re already seeing the benefit of a cloud platform from an internal perspective with the removal of our server. This has cut our IT support costs, but that’s not the only area of cost saving. Because Skype is integrated in Invenias, we’re not using business phone lines and have seen a reduction in our monthly call costs of between 50% and 60%. This quickly adds up for a small company, especially in our case because we make frequent calls to the Middle East and throughout Europe as we help to resource major Oracle and PeopleSoft projects.
To watch a brief overview video of the power of Invenias please click here, or visit www.invenias.com or www.globalcityresources.com
