You’ve probably never seen a corporate advertisement that reads “We don’t do anything better than before – we simply stick to the status quo.” Innovative companies, especially in the multibillion dollar Human Resources software sector, often strive to set themselves apart from their competitors through new features, faster services, and lower prices.
However, this was not always the case for the giants in the HR Technology space. Over the course of the past two decades,these “old-world” companies have actually embraced the software status quo. For years, ‘sticking with what works’ made sense, as these companies pulled in billions of dollars in profit every year from selling the same old ‘boxed’ software packages while charging for periodic upgrades, maintenance and deriving the bulk of their revenue and profit from services.
Today, these big software companies are really starting to pay the price for sticking with the status quo for too long. They are scrambling to catch up with both nimble startups and open minded corporations that have embraced new technologies and ways of doing business; most notably they’ve welcomed cloud computing from the very beginning.
Wharton recently published an article that provided some interesting cases of cloud computing chipping away at traditional software business models. From knowledge@wharton: “For example, Forrester calculated that Microsoft’s Exchange e-mail program will cost a company with 5,000 employees $28.22 a month for each user. By comparison, Google’s fully loaded corporate suite — including Gmail, calendar and productivity applications, along with technical support — for a company with 5,000 users will cost $8.59 a month for each user.”
The article also highlights the disruptive changes that cloud computing has brought to the various other corners of the software industry; including consumer productivity software, business services software, and video gaming software. In each of these sectors, the traditional models of selling ‘boxed’ software and charging for upgrades has slowly been eroded by ‘Software as a Service’ models that instead focus on monthly fees void of any long term contracts. Companies like Sonar 6 and Bamboo HR are offering customers #HRtech products that exist entirely in the cloud – making access as simple as signing up online.
Another software sector that has been drastically shaped by cloud computing and SaaS pricing structures is recruiting software. The days of a company needing to ‘unbox’ a recruiting software suite and install the program on every computer and server in the company are long gone. The days of having a company ‘tech guy’ walk downstairs and troubleshoot local server-side glitches are over. There are very few companies, if any, that continue to push the innovation envelope in the world on on-premise software.
Businesses now are able to utilize applicant tracking software that exists entirely in the cloud – including communication tools, customer service, data analytics and instant updates. Newton Software is proud to be the company that pioneered cloud-based applicant tracking software, having fully embraced a new age of delivering hiring technology from the very beginning.
Only recently have the corporations of old realized the importance of cloud computing – they’ve started rapidly buying up smaller companies and establishing their own cloud based applications. However, they may be too slow to catch up. Today’s world of software, one where online applications are easily accessed by anyone, is no longer about over-inundating a market and establishing a customer ‘choke hold.’ It’s about adapting to customer and providing the best possible solution for a specific niche.
The annual HR Technology Conference and Expo is a lot what the “Speech From the Throne” must have been like during the middle ages when the reigning monarch would lay out the condition of the nation and decree the agenda going forward. Read into this opening however you choose. All politics aside, this is an important event and really does serve to illuminate the trends and trendsetters in the HR Technology industry.
This year I attended the event specifically to connect with partners, to strengthen alliances, and to meet new people. And, while I didn’t have a lot of free time, I did get a chance to wander the expo floor, mingle in the press room for a bit, and towards the end of the show, just sit in the hall, observe and listen.
What happens in Vegas never really stays in Vegas. Here are some of my takeaways from this year’s conference.
On the lighter side
1. Viva Las Vegas. Ok, I personally both fear and loath “The Vegas”. It’s not a place for those of us with little self control. But, it is the perfect venue for an industry conference. It’s designed to get in and out of easily. It’s relatively inexpensive and there are plenty of places to meet, greet, eat and be entertained. The accessibility of the venue allowed me to cram in more meetings than I thought possible. Step into a lounge or a semi-quiet corner (there is no silence in Vegas) and you could get a private 30 minutes with that important someone.
2. Free Wi-Fi or rather Wi-Fi free. This is one of my only logistical gripes about the event. The availability of public Wi-Fi was a joke. I couldn’t get an email in or out over the free Wi-Fi brought to us by ADP (clearly not ADP’s fault) let alone try to demo Newton ( our applicant tracking software). If I were ADP I would have been steaming mad that I sponsored free internet access and it ended up being a huge failure. Given that just about every product at this year’s show is delivered over the internet, the organizers should have ensured that there was a big honkin’ pipe running to the conference.
3. You are What You Schwag. I am still sort of amazed by conference schwag. I guess I don’t really believe that vendors are going to lure, or even start a conversation with their next customer by offering free Smarties and flashing key chains. If you do feel schwag is still necessary, why not raffle off an iPad or Kindle Fire? Give away something that won’t end up as a chew toy or as instant landfill. For more on the state of schwag, read William Tincup’s most recent contribution to Fist Full of Talent.
The meat.
4.Get Ready for the Suite wars. I read one analyst’s review of the conference this week in which he predicts that suite adoption is in the “very early innings”. I agree. However, this space is definitely going to get more interesting over the coming months and years.
I detected a sense of urgency amongst the traditional suite vendors as many are gearing up for a multi-front war. The talent management vendors have gone on the offensive and are quickly encroaching on the more traditional HRIS vendors’ turf. Where they were once partners, now many camps are leery and concerned that they may be sleeping with their enemies. I predict competition for the same seats is going to get really heated as more vendors start extending their functionality in order to address the middle of the talent chain.
5. OnConsolidation: the Writing is in the Cloud. There was quite a bit of talk and speculation last week about M&A activities in the HR Tech industry. I believe this will continue to be driven by the aforementioned suite vendors and their fight to compete across the talent chain. It’s clear that several vendors have realized that they only have a few core modules that are in their suites that are complete features. And, they’ve realized that in their race to claim “we have that too” (I saw one group wearing shirts that said this) they’ve shipped some pretty “thin” modules.
More specifically, I predict that there will be strategic acquisitions made in the talent management space as most of the major suite vendors are pretty lean on both the very front (talent acquisition/recruiting) and late stages of the talent chains (secession planning). Given the target customer size of many of the suites( mid to upper-mid market), I am guessing that the most demand will be for talent management (performance, review, retention) applications that come later in the talent chain. Plus, as companies like Successfactors close in on the middle of the talent chain and gear up for a full confrontation with the HRIS establishment, the suites will continue to look for opportunities at the beginning and end of the talent chain (ATS and Performance respectively).
Finally, I want to give a special shout out to our partner OneSource VHR, the exclusive reseller of Workday for the mid-market. Thanks for letting me hang around your booth. You make the Newton team feel like part of your team. We are grateful.
Newton is modern, easy-to-use applicant tracking software designed to organize and improve internal recruiting programs for small and medium sized businesses (30-3000 employees). Newton features best-of-breed dashboards that create unparalleled visibility and transparency. And, Newton is the only ATS designed to drive the decisions that drive hiring taking into account all users in the corporate recruiting workflow. Industry leading adoption rates (+90%) ensure easy collaboration and powerful performance driven metrics allow HR and Recruiting users are always in control.
Kris Dunn, Founder of Fistful of Talent, the popular and influential blog devoted to human capital, recently sat down with Newton Software Co-Founder, Joel Passen. The interview uncovers the “HR Mafia”, Joel’s recovery and a recruiting methodology that Kris and Joel agree to agree on, “the funnel”.
I caught up with Joel this afternoon and asked him about the interview. “Kris Dunn is one of these guys in the industry that flat out knows his stuff. He’s been in the trenches. To have him say that ‘he respects our game’ is flattering and encouraging to say the least.”
Read more about the origins of “the funnel”, “the truth teller” and how Newton’s applicant tracking software is built to work the way the best internal recruiting work. Oh yeah… and about the rumor of this HR Mafia…..
Newton Software, the developers of smart, corporate applicant tracking software, just revealed another key feature aimed at helping human resources and corporate recruiting departments in the creation and improvement of their online requisition approval process. The new feature empowers organizations to better control recruiting resources with an automated, email-driven job requisition approval tool.
Job requisition management isn’t t just for large companies anymore. Now small and medium sized businesses can leverage Newton to create user friendly, effective job requisition approval processes. Designed by recruiting industry experts (like the rest of our product), our latest feature enhancement is our answer to the rigid, nonintuitive requisition management tools prevalent in most applicant tracking systems.
Our products team has been working on this feature for over a year and they’ll be the first to tell you that Job Approval Management is a full product in itself. Those of us on the marketing side of the house are proud of our product team’s effort and congratulate them on shipping their 4th major release of the year – unheard of in the HR Technology industry. And, they’re not done. Rumor has it (hint) they’ve started working on Newton Mobile and a host of other useful features that we know will be equally elegant and thoughtful.
Here is a preview of Newton’s Job Requisition Approval Manager.
Newton Software develops corporate applicant tracking software for small and medium sized businesses (SMBs). Unparalleled usability, industry leading user adoption rates and exceptional customer service set Newton apart.
UK-based Dylan, a marketing recruiting agency, collaborated with Tom Fishburne (a.k.a The Marketoonist) from San Francisco to create this comic. When we saw it, we couldn’t help but think about all the dollars that organizations poor into corporate recruiting and how few resources are actually spent cultivating a culture around retaining talent.
Apparently, Fishburne, who frequently speaks about marketing, is preparing for an event with Dylan where he’ll focus on how the best brands and businesses “market from the inside out”. His premise is that the HR Director is the new Marketing Director. Fishburne goes on to say, “recruitment is as important to how a brand is marketed as creating a marketing plan”.
Unfortunately, I don’t think our team will make it to London for the talk in September. Something tells me we’ll be in San Francisco hammering our new mobile functionality for Newton, our award winning applicant tracking software. Hopefully, the nice folks at Dylan will record the presentation.
One of the first things we tell any customer when they choose Newton, our popular applicant tracking software is, “If you don’t understand something, no matter how small, it’s our fault, not yours. Let us know.” We ENCOURAGE technical support emails and phone calls. Yes, we’re being serious. The hardline, old school enterprise software folks tell us that we’re crazy but we’ve always had a problem with authority and, frankly, we haven’t met too many customers that love their legacy vendor. Most importantly, having been customers of other ATS vendors in the past, we’re not fans of long hold times, negative attitudes and cookie cutter responses.
At Newton, we don’t expect you to have any problems getting started or running our applicant tracking software, however, we also make it our priority to provide fast, friendly and free technical support for all of our customers. Our motto has remained the same since the beginning: “If you don’t understand something, no matter how small, it’s our fault not yours. Let us know.” There, we’ve said it again.
Not only does Newton want customers to email or call when they have the slightest problem, but we also encourage customer feedback. Our “support driven” design team thrives on taking customer’s suggestions about making a better product and implementing them within each successive software update. We realize that our customers are the best gauge of how to improve our product – so we take suggestions seriously.
Given our commitment to customer service, we’re proud to see that our customers have some great reviews and feedback on our support system. Here are a few highlights of what they had to say:
Catia O’Neill, a human resources professional, commented on Newton’s ‘support driven’ design team: “During the implementation process we contacted Newton several times for assistance with application and customization inquiries. Newton’s team always assisted me promptly. They always tried to go the extra mile in order to accommodate our special requests. If the customization request was not possible, Newton always tried to develop it later on. The thank you letters and the EEOC compliance features are two examples of their proactive approach.”
Newton’s response time and commitment to customer service was very important for Hannah Adams, a human resources manager: “Newton has been extremely responsive and very helpful on the customer service side of things. When I contacted them originally I was pleasantly surprised that they provided such outstanding service.”
Ro Carbone, a VP of human resources, highlighted Newton’s general positive attitude when providing support for customers: “I tend to be a bit of a high-need client. To that end, I have dutifully pummeled the Newton folks with ongoing questions. And, yes, I have been known to ask the same question more than once. I have to say that I’ve never been made to feel technologically inferior or lazy when calling the Newton folks. And I can’t think of a time when someone wasn’t there to pick up the phone and give me relevant and accurate information in return. They are not only very responsive to clients, but tend to proactively reach out to see how things are going – for no other reason than to ensure things are going well.”
Many other applicant tracking vendors see their customer support as an ‘add-on’ to their software. At Newton, we don’t believe in add-ons for our software or our support system. Every applicant tracking feature built into the software is meant to be useful and integral, just as our support process is a central part of the system. Our customer support is built into our service to provide regular assistance as well as take customer feedback and utilize it to improve our product.
Our next applicant tracking review entry will concentrate on what customers have to say about utilizing Newton on a regular basis. Stay tuned!
This past weekend, our technical team made some final adjustments and now, Newton, our popular applicant tracking software, joins services from industry leaders like Microsoft, IBM and Netflix in Amazon’s AWS cloud computing environment. Our decision to move to the cloud was as much driven by the growth and success of our business (quite profitable) as by the operational efficiencies that the Cloud offers. Amazon Web Services provides us the scalability and agility for continued fast-paced growth and the reliability to continue to exceed our customers’ expectations.
This isn’t another one of those ‘all hat no cowboy’ marketing stunts. Newton’s product team has been testing and preparing for our Cloud activation since Amazon announced its public availability in 2009. We’ve anticipated moving to the cloud for since the beginning and our development team has meticulously architected our applicant tracking software to take full advantage of the cloud computing infrastructure.
Moving to the Cloud gives us a huge advantage over our peers. We will continue to innovate and scale with better infrastructure, fewer resources and less operational overhead. Translation: we will continue to offer cutting-edge, easy-to-use applicant tracking software to more customers with less effort at more affordable prices.
Why should Newton customers care?
Scalability:
Amazon AWS enables us to increase capacity within minutes, not hours or days. We can commission one, hundreds or even thousands of server instances simultaneously. This allows us to automatically scale Newton up and down depending on our customers’ needs. This scalability critical as Newton Software averages nearly 20 new customers a month and is by all accounts the fastest growing ATS in the marketplace.
Reliability:
Amazon AWS offers a highly reliable environment where database instances can be quickly and predictably commissioned. If a server fails (because they just do from time to time), Newton will just bounce to a server that is working without a noticeable service interruption. Amazon AWS service runs within Amazon’s proven, SAS 70 datacenters. That’s right, if you can buy a book on Amazon, you can status a candidate in Newton. The Amazon AWS SLA commitment is 99.95% availability in any Amazon AWS region. This means that Newton is ultra-reliable all over the world all the time.
Speed:
This is where our product team gets really geeked up. By switching to the Cloud, Newton has become even faster. And, it allows our team to do some really innovative things too. Most recruiting software bogs down when running complex reports. Not Newton! We leveraging extra computing power and read-only database technology to enable users to run complex customized reports instantly.
Security:
Amazon AWS has some of the world’s most trusted brands on the platform and Amazon takes security very seriously. Amazon Web Services’ security controls are evaluated every six months by an independent auditor in accordance with Statement on Auditing Standards No. 70 (SAS70) Type II audit procedures.
Newton Software has only begun.
We’ve worked hard to establish Newton Software as an innovator in a space that has for two decades purely focused on processing and storing resumes. Today, we stand, for the most part alone, as the only modern, pure-play ATS on the market. As our peers continue to drift (rather aimlessly) into talent management and human capital management, they now purely just maintain their applicant tracking modules, all but abandoning new development. Not us. We just invested in the infrastructure necessary to help us more effectively solve the problems that still linger in corporate talent acquisition departments, hiring managers’ cubes and executives minds. We’ve just begun.
In today’s always-online world, consumers utilize reviews for almost everything. Whether it’s locating the best pizza spot in Boulder, CO or finding a recommended place to stay on TripAdvisor people like to know what their peers have to say about a product or service before they jump into it.
The same goes for business software. Any human resources leader, corporate recruiting manger or company executive knows that an important purchasing decision needs to be properly vetted through research. Part of this research naturally must involve investigating what other similar business leaders are saying about a product or service.
This is especially true when moving forward with an applicant tracking software platform. At Newton we know that any potential customer wants to know “why Newton?” In other words: what makes Newton’s applicant tracking solution the best choice, and what do our customers have to say about the product and our team’s ability to deploy Newton quickly to any sized organization? It only makes sense to have these questions answered before moving forward with an applicant tracking solution.
For that reason, we’ve asked a couple of our customers to review their experience with Newton. Although these applicant tracking reviews are fully downloadable as PDFs on our Why Newton page, we’d like to highlight a few of them over the next couple of months through the Newton blog.
For this entry of Newton’s applicant tracking software reviews, we’ll concentrate on what customers had to say about getting started and setup with Newton Software:
Hannah Adams, a human resources manager, let us know how easy it was to get Newton setup in the first place: “I was definitely pleasantly surprised about how easy Newton was to get started with and how well integrated it is into our own website.”
Other customers like Brandon Thurman, a technical recruiter, spoke of Newton’s implementation simplicity: “Newton’s implementation process was very simple. Since it is operated as a software as a service, it is as easy as logging on to the site. Newton’s implementation team was helpful in establishing a foundation for us to work off of; including loading our jobs, current candidates, etc.”
Ro Carbone, a VP of Human Resources, put an exclamation point on the applicant tracking reviews with her experience in getting started with Newton: “Never has so little expended effort brought so much benefit!”
It’s not surprising that Newton’s customers are extremely satisfied with Newton’s activation methodology. After all, unlike our peers’ software, the Newton recruiting platform is designed around its deployment model. We make every effort to build Newton to be easy-to-use and intuitive and therefore easy to deploy to customers of all sizes.
We believe that a customer’s experience getting started with a product is reflective of the product as a whole. We’re glad our efforts to achieve this are apparent through what our customers are saying about the setup process.
Our next applicant tracking review entry will focus on what people are saying about Newton’s customer service – stay tuned!
Newton Software, the developers of smart, 
