Welcome to new HRchitect Client, OMNIBANK

OMNIBANK  joins the growing list of top companies worldwide who rely on HRchitect, the Leader in HR Systems Strategic Consulting, when they need HR technology and HR strategy consulting assistance.

OMNIBANK, N.A., was founded in 1954 in Houston, Texas. As a locally owned, independent commercial bank, we focus on providing responsive, personal service and creative solutions for your personal and small business financial needs.

We now have four branches serving the Greater Houston area, three full-service branches in Austin, one location in Lockhart and one in San Antonio.

While OMNIBANK’s industry experience, management stability, and conservative fiscal approach are fundamental to our credibility in the marketplace, we believe our success is the direct result of the relationships we’ve developed with our clients. These relationships allow us to respond to your specific needs with tailor-made products that larger, “one-size-fits-all” banks simply cannot offer.

Welcome, OMNIBANK!  We look forward to helping you solve The Puzzling World of HRtechnology!

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays from HRchitect!

Dec 10 HRchitect WebMingle Featured HRmarketer.com; Next Up is Newton Software

 

Our weekly WebMingle is designed to give you some insight into the puzzling world of HR technology, discuss news from around the world that we find interesting, talk about upcoming events in our industry, and provide insightful interviews with people of our industry – who they are, what they do and why you should care. The WebMingle has become the most popular live weekly Internet show in the HR technology industry!

So what is a WebMingle? It is a meeting over the web where we do some business, socialize and yes, we mingle over the web. Thus, a WebMingle.

The 60-minute WebMingle on December 10th, the 46th in our WebMingle series, and our one-year anniversary show, featured Kevin Grossman, President of HRmarketer.com. Kevin has tremendous passion and insight around marketing and publicity, social media marketing, social networking, and everything in between. We touched on a bunch of issues related to all of that including: 

• Highlights of the latest HR buyer survey
• Biggest misconceptions about social media marketing
• Recommendations for suppliers to generate more publicity, traffic, and leads
• Best practices in Press Release Distribution options
• Difference between pure-play marketing and content marketing
• Is there an “easy” button in marketing?
• Acquisition of HRVendors.com and the HR Vendor Phonebook
• …and so much more

About HRmarketer.com

HRmarketer.com is a division of Fisher Vista LLC, a marketing software and services firm focusing exclusively on the human capital industry. Through its marketing and public relations services, the company has worked with nearly 700 human resource and employee benefit service providers, helping them generate publicity, website traffic, sales leads and improved SEO.

About Kevin Grossman, President of HRmarketer.com

Kevin W. Grossman has over 20 years of marketing experience working in the HR, high-tech, and higher education. His marketing and PR knowledge, and thorough understanding of the HR marketplace, helps suppliers develop and implement effective direct marketing activities. Kevin has a BA in psychology from San Jose State University.

If you missed this past week’s WebMingle, or any of our past WebMingles, please visit our web site or www.HRWebMingle.com. You will see a complete list of upcoming guests and will be able to listen to past shows.

Our next WebMingle will take place on December 11 with Joel Passen, Co-Founder and VP of Marketing with Talent Acquisition Systems vendor, Newton Software. We look forward to welcoming Joel to the HRchitect WebMingle on Friday.

We hope to have you join us!

Matt Lafata, HRchitect

Don’t Miss This Friday’s HRchitect WebMingle with Joel Passen of Newton Software

 

The weekly HRchitect WebMingle is designed to give you some insight into the puzzling world of HR technology, discuss news from around the world that we find interesting, talk about upcoming events in our industry, and provide insightful interviews with people of our industry – who they are, what they do and why you should care. The WebMingle has become the most popular live weekly Internet show in the HR technology industry!

This Friday’s guest will be Joel Passen, Co-Founder and Vice-President of Marketing with Newton Software.

Newton is easy-to-use, web-based applicant tracking software that uses smart technology to simplify and improve recruiting.

Joel leads Sales and Marketing for Newton® Software. Prior to starting Newton®, Joel co-founded Gravity Technologies Inc. and served as Chief Operating Officer and Vice President of Business Development, heading sales for Gravity’s recruitment outsourcing business unit. During his tenure, Joel led Gravity to be named to the San Francisco Business Times “Top 100″ for fastest growing companies in 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008.

Visit www.HRchitect.com/Knowledge/WebMingle to listen live on Friday, December 11th at 1pm CST to the 47th show in our WebMingle series, and the final show for 2009. If you missed any of our previous WebMingles, you can also access them from that page.

Below is a list of some of our upcoming guests: 

Jan 7 – Rosette Cataldo, VP of Business Development with KMS Software, an Onboarding Systems vendor

Jan 14 – Morne Swart, VP of Product Management with CyberShift, a Workforce Management vendor

Jan 21 – HRchitect will provide a look back at the world of HR Technology in 2009 and a look ahead to 2010.

Jan 28 – Tim Giehll, CEO of Bond Talent, a Talent Management Systems vendor and Author of “Human Capital Supply Chains”

We look forward to welcoming Joel Passen from Newton Software to the HRchitect WebMingle this Friday and hope to have you join us as well.

Matt Lafata, HRchitect

Don’t Miss This Week’s HRchitect WebMingle with Kevin Grossman of HRmarketer

 

The weekly HRchitect WebMingle is designed to give you some insight into the puzzling world of HR technology, discuss news from around the world that we find interesting, talk about upcoming events in our industry, and provide insightful interviews with people of our industry – who they are, what they do and why you should care. The WebMingle has become the most popular live weekly Internet show in the HR technology industry!

This week’s guest will be Kevin Grossman, President of HRmarketer.

HRmarketer.com is a division of Fisher Vista LLC, a marketing software and services firm focusing exclusively on the human capital industry. Through its marketing and public relations services, the company has worked with nearly 700 human resource and employee benefit service providers, helping them generate publicity, website traffic, sales leads and improved SEO.

Kevin W. Grossman has over 20 years of marketing experience working in the HR, high-tech, and higher education. His marketing and PR knowledge, and thorough understanding of the HR marketplace, helps suppliers develop and implement effective direct marketing activities. Kevin has a BA in psychology from San Jose State University.

Visit www.HRchitect.com/Knowledge/WebMingle to listen live on Thursday, December 10th at 1pm CST to our one-year anniversary special and the 46th show in our WebMingle series. If you missed any of our previous WebMingles, you can also access them from that page.

Below is a list of some of our upcoming guests: 

Dec 11 – Joel Passen, Co-Founder and VP of Marketing with Newton Software, a Talent Acquisition Systems vendor

Jan 7 – Rosette Cataldo, VP of Business Development with KMS Software, an Onboarding Systems vendor

Jan 14 – Morne Swart, VP of Product Management with CyberShift, a Workforce Management vendor

Jan 28 – Tim Giehll, CEO of Bond Talent, a Talent Management Systems vendor and Author of “Human Capital Supply Chains”

We look forward to welcoming Kevin Grossman from HRmarketer to the HRchitect WebMingle this Thursday and hope to have you join us as well.

Matt Lafata, HRchitect

HRchitect Welcomes Our Newest Client, Cognizant Technology Solutions!

Cognizant Technology Solutions joins HRchitect’s growing list of top companies worldwide who rely on Frisco-based HRchitect, when they need HR technology and HR strategy consulting assistance.

Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH) is a global IT services and business process outsourcing solutions provider headquartered in Teaneck, N.J.  Cognizant was founded in 1994 as an IT development and maintenance services arm of The Dun & Bradstreet Corporation.  The company was spunoff as an independent organization two years later.  Since 1996, Cognizant has worked closely with large organizations to help them build stronger, more efficient and more agile businesses.

By leveraging highly flexible business processes, a seamless global delivery network and deep domain expertise, Cognizant delivers a better “return on outsourcing.”  Cognizant was one of the first India-centric IT services companies to organize around key industry verticals and horizontals.  This enables Cognizant to establish extremely close partnerships that foster continuous operational improvements and better bottom-line results for clients. 

From its founding, Cognizant was built with a global mindset.  With headquarters in the U.S. and a rapidly expanding delivery footprint which extends from India and China to Europe, North and South America and the Middle East, Cognizant has the geographic presence and mix of onsite and offshore resources to be the preferred global services partner acrossthe industry.  Because clients see globalization as a key element to their success, Cognizant’s “born global” heritage is viewed as a significant market advantage.

Welcome, Cognizant, we look forward to helping you solve The Puzzling World of HRtechnology!

Don’t Miss This Week’s HRchitect WebMingle with Grant Gordon from EnticeLabs

The weekly HRchitect WebMingle is designed to give you some insight into the puzzling world of HR technology, discuss news from around the world that we find interesting, talk about upcoming events in our industry, and provide insightful interviews with people of our industry – who they are, what they do and why you should care. The WebMingle has become the most popular live weekly Internet show in the HR technology industry!

This week’s guests will be Grant Gordon, Product Director with EnticeLabs.

EnticeLabs designs technology to empower HR departments to recruit top talent. TalentSeekr, the flagship product, is an automated one-stop platform that is redefining the recruiting industry, using targeted ads and advanced artificial intelligence to engage active and passive job seekers in the websites and communities where they spend time. TalentSeekr provides dramatically better results at lower costs than traditional methods, making EnticeLabs the new standard for a growing list of Fortune 1000 companies.

Grant works at the intersection of business, technology, and art. His broad range of skills and talents, ranging from software engineering to graphic design and business strategy, make him uniquely effective in his current role. Grant manages the development of our brand and the creation of our company’s face to the world.

Visit www.HRchitect.com/Knowledge/WebMingle to listen live on Friday, November 20th at 1pm CST to the 45th show in our WebMingle series. If you missed any of our previous WebMingles, you can also access them from that page.

Below is a list of some of our upcoming guests: 

Dec 4 – Kevin Grossman, President of HRmarketer.com

Dec 11 – Joel Passen, Co-Founder and VP of Marketing with Newton Software, a Talent Acquisition Systems vendor

Dec 18 – Rick Fletcher, President of HRchitect, the leading HR Systems Consulting firm

Jan 29 – Tim Giehll, CEO of Bond Talent, a Talent Management Systems vendor and Author of “Human Capital Supply Chains”

We look forward to welcoming Grant Gordon from EnticeLabs to the HRchitect WebMingle this Friday and hope to have you join us as well.

Matt Lafata, HRchitect

Change Management and User Adoption of an HR or Talent Management System

HRchitect understands that any human capital management system is not fully implemented until the target audience understands and is utilizing the new system to the company’s expectations. Vendors using an ASP (Application Service Provider) or SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) model, will encourage clients to get the new system up and running quickly so they can begin collecting recurring monthly subscription fees. Although it is possible to get these hosted systems up and running very quickly, be careful not to declare victory too early! Some companies begin to revert back to their old way of doing things over time and never achieve company-wide utilization of the new system. As a result, these companies may not obtain the anticipated ROI.

HRchitect has implemented dozens of systems in this hosted deployment model and has a unique understanding of what it takes to be successful. As a result, HRchitect provides the following adoption services, which can occur before, during or after system implementation:

Management Expectations
Understanding up front what management is expecting from your system is critical to your success.  Oftentimes, particularly with hosted systems which can be implemented quickly with less up-front investment, this process is eliminated to expedite the implementation process.  If management expectations are unclear and executive sponsors are not identified, projects can flounder in search of direction.

As part of HRchitect’s Strategic Planning services, our senior-level management consultants interview upper and middle management to understand and document their expectations for the new system.  We will then work with the project team to ensure that communications are directed toward management to assure that their expectations are being met.  Through our Business Process Redesign and Optimization, we work with the project team to identify key metrics and success factors and to demonstrate the ROI to management.

Communications
A key area that is often overlooked is the communication plan for the project. Many new systems do not produce the anticipated ROI due to the poor internal marketing of the system prior to, during, and following the system go-live date. Our consultants can provide you with template emails, letters and publications that help to peak user enthusiasm as well as market the benefits of the new system. Launching new self-service applications (such as employee self-service and benefit enrollment applications) to a wide casual user population can be thought of like a consumer product launch. Effective marketing collateral is critical along with tried and proven techniques like brown bag lunches, training sessions and Web-based FAQs to familiarize your users with the system.

Manager and End-User Training
While excellent training is available through most software vendors, the standard training often does not fully meet the corporate need. This can be for a variety of reasons, but mostly it is due to the lack of customization of the training. HRchitect provides additional training, which is customized to reflect your actual data and specific processes. Since we have consultants located throughout North America, we can provide on-site training services in the United States and Canada.

Please do yourself a favor and if you are implementing HR or Talent Management Software, or planning on doing so in the future, let’s have a conversation.

And remember, while we didn’t invent HR and Talent Management related software, we do make it better, more efficient, and ultimately a stronger asset to your organization and your people.

Helping you solve another piece of the puzzling world of HR Technology…

Matt Lafata, HRchitect

Nov 13 HRchitect WebMingle Featured Aquire; Next Up is EnticeLabs

Our weekly WebMingle is designed to give you some insight into the puzzling world of HR technology, discuss news from around the world that we find interesting, talk about upcoming events in our industry, and provide insightful interviews with people of our industry – who they are, what they do and why you should care. The WebMingle has become the most popular live weekly Internet show in the HR technology industry!

So what is a WebMingle? It is a meeting over the web where we do some business, socialize and yes, we mingle over the web. Thus, a WebMingle.

The 60-minute WebMingle on November 13th, the 44th in our WebMingle series, featured Lois Melbourne, CEO and Co-Founder for Aquire. Lois has tremendous passion and knowledge around workforce planning, succession planning, workforce analytics, organizational structures, and more. She also is a great example of giving back by mentoring others on careers. We touched on a bunch of issues related to all of that including: 

• Why most succession planning solutions may be overkill
• How mergers and reorganization activity impacts succession plans
• How organizations are using automated organizational charting solutions to more effectively manage their workforce
• Why it is critical to maintain the most effective organizational structure and how it translates to better talent management
• Why more HR professionals are turning to Workforce Analytics
• How companies can use modeling solutions to improve workforce productivity and profitability
• Recommendations to HR professionals who are formulating their workforce planning strategies for 2010
• …and more

About Aquire

Aquire is a privately-held, woman-owned company that was founded in 1994. Today, more than 2,700 organizations in 125 countries have selected Aquire solutions to manage data for 10 million working professionals worldwide. From organizational charting and reporting to workforce analytics, reorganizations, mergers and succession planning, Aquire provides easy-to-use tools that increase information visibility, expedite decision making and streamline HR activities.

About Lois Melbourne, CEO and Co-Founder of Aquire

Lois Melbourne, GPHR and co-founder of Aquire, is a regular blogger, speaker and author on industry trends and issues.  She is a member of the Young Presidents Organization, as well as many other HR and HR User Group Associations. She is an active career mentor and serves as an adjunct faculty member at the University of Dallas as part of the PRAXIS program.

If you missed this past week’s WebMingle, or any of our past WebMingles, please visit our web site or www.HRWebMingle.com. You will see a complete list of upcoming guests and will be able to listen to past shows.

Our next WebMingle will take place on November 20 with Grant Gordon, Product Director with sourcing vendor, EnticeLabs. We look forward to welcoming Grant to the HRchitect WebMingle next week.

We hope to have you join us!

Matt Lafata, HRchitect

HRchitect Welcomes our Newest Client, Shaw!

Shaw joins HRchitect’s growing list of top companies worldwide who rely on Frisco-based HRchitect, when they need HR technology and HR strategy consulting assistance.

Shaw got its start in 1946 as Star Dye Company, a small business that dyed tufted scatter rugs. The events that transformed the company into the world’s largest carpet manufacturer are too numerous to write…or even fully know. But the philosophy guiding those events meeting customers, determine their needs, and supplying those needs hasn’t changed much through the years.

In 1958, with $300,000 in sales, the company expanded dramatically and soon started finishing carpet as Star Finishing Company.

In 1967, a holding company was formed to acquire Philadelphia Carpet Company, founded in 1846. The holding company added Star Finishing to the fold one year later, marking the company’s first move into carpet manufacturing. The holding company went public as Shaw Industries, Inc. in 1971 with approximately $43 million in sales and 900 employees. In 1985, Shaw made its first appearance on the list of America’s largest corporations–the Fortune 500–with more than $500 million in sales and close to 5,000 employees.

Continually differentiating its service and adding value for customers motivated every major move in the company’s development, among them:

•  Generating its own yarn supply with the 1972 purchase of its first yarn plant
•  Seeing the potential of newly developed continuous dyeing processes and acquiring its first continuous dye plant in 1973
• Creating its own trucking subsidiary, dramatically improving shipments nationwide
• Significantly expanding direct sales to retailers beginning in 1982
• Establishing regional distribution centers across the United States
• Modernizing plants and equipment in the early 1980s, allowing it to respond quickly to such breakthroughs as stain resistant carpet
• Decreasing the consumption of fuel, water, and electricity in the manufacturing process and finding innovative recycling solutions for manufacturing waste
• Acquiring Amoco’s polypropylene fiber production facilities in 1992 and providing consumers popular Berber styles
• Starting the rug division in 1993 and the hard surfaces division in 1998 with the launch of Shaw Ceramics

The desire to be the industry’s low-cost provider was also a determining factor in Shaw’s decisions, namely the acquisitions that brought such respected names as Cabin Crafts and Sutton under the Shaw umbrella. It also played a role in one of the largest and most significant moves in the company’s history: the merger of Shaw and Queen Carpets.

On January 4, 2001, Shaw began a new chapter in its long and varied history with the completion of its sale to Berkshire Hathaway Inc., the holding company of renowned investor Warren E. Buffett. Berkshire Hathaway is known for buying and holding businesses that have a dominant market share, have strong management teams, and are considered undervalued in the stock market. With the move, Shaw ended its tenure as a public company.

Today, with the leadership of Vance Bell, CEO, and Randy Merritt, President, Shaw is a full-service flooring company with more than $5 billion in annual sales and approximately 26,000 employees. The employees’ daily efforts illustrate their commitment and their determination to stay on top in an ever-changing and highly competitive marketplace.

Welcome, Shaw, we look forward to helping you solve The Puzzling World of HRtechnology!