HR technology

Demo against your hardest case, not your easiest

Every system demos well against a permanent, monthly, single-site workforce. Ask instead about the part of your organisation that currently runs on a spreadsheet, because that is where the difference between systems actually lives — and it is the part that will decide whether the implementation succeeds.

Separate configuration from development

Ask which of your requirements are configuration and which require development. Configuration survives upgrades and is delivered in the implementation. Development becomes a bespoke branch that somebody has to maintain, and its cost arrives later.

Get integration answers in writing, per system

“We integrate with everything” is not an answer. For each system in your environment you want one of three: supported, achievable with defined work, or not available. The third answer is the one that protects the project.

Ask who does the implementation

The distance between the people who built the platform and the people configuring it for you is a good predictor of how the project will go. A reseller layer is not automatically bad, but it is worth knowing it is there.

Budget for data before you budget for licences

Almost every delayed implementation is delayed by data. Cleaning and de-duplicating the register is work that has to happen regardless of which system you choose, and it is cheaper to do it deliberately than to discover it mid-project.