Have you heard of a best-of-breed approach to choosing a software solution? Well, we recently held a webinar where our panel discussed best-of-breed HR, payroll and recruitment solutions and how they can help to streamline your business processes and hopefully (fingers crossed) make your job just that little bit easier.
What is a best-of-breed system?
Imagine a tool which offers all the features you need and does it at the top of its game – that’s what a best-of-breed software is.
Software that falls into the best-of-breed category are industry leaders who have tools and features which are top quality, but they’ll usually only specialise in one area. They should also be able to integrate really well with other solutions to make a tech stack which provides users with everything they need.
Best-of-breed vs an all-in-one solution
When choosing software providers, especially for payroll and HR you’ll probably find a lot of ‘all-in-one’ providers who offer you everything in one platform. An all-in-one approach is great for convenience, but what you’ll likely find is that the quality of the software is not as top-notch as a best-of-breed product would offer you.
This is why many businesses are now choosing to swap from an all-in-one solution to a best-of-breed. If you consider how many features an all-in-one solution is trying to offer at once, it’s going to be almost impossible for them to really make each feature the best it can be.
Why should you choose a best-of-breed approach?
We’ve found that more and more people are making the switch to a best-of-breed solution for their employee data platforms. Payroll, HR and recruitment are all quite complex processes and using a solution which is purpose built for each of these processes can help businesses save time, resources and make the process much smoother!
Best-of-breed solutions provide future proofing and flexibility as they tend to offer new features regularly to meet the market needs, it also means if you need to swap one specific software, you won’t need to start completely from scratch the way you would with an all-in-one solution.
Another reason why many businesses are choosing a best-of-breed solution is that it can ensure businesses have access to the latest innovations. Because the companies behind the software are only focused on one subject area, they are able to provide more frequent product updates and a deeper expertise.
How to choose a best-of-breed provider
It can be a little intimidating knowing where to begin when choosing a best-of-breed provider. There are quite a few different options out there and it can take time to figure out exactly what would suit your business. Let’s take a look at what you need to consider when choosing a best-of-breed provider.
Considerations
- Where do you see your business going? When choosing a provider it’s important to look forward and select a software which can grow (or shrink) with your business. If you see that in 3 years you might have twice as many employees, then it’s important to check that they can handle this, and what the costs might be.
- Take a look at your business goals, needs and wants. You might already have a clear understanding of your needs, but also stop to think about what you might want in a new system which can help you meet your businesses goals. It is a good idea to talk to the teams who will be affected by the change and get an understanding of how a best-of-breed system can help them.
- What does the software do, and does it integrate? Of course, when it comes to selecting a new software, you’re going to take time to figure out everything it does. But don’t forget to get a full understanding of the additional features you don’t need but might come in handy. You should also look at what systems they integrate with and ensure that when you’ve selected all the software you want, you’ll get everything you need included.
- Be open to a change in your processes. Just because you’ve always done something one way – doesn’t mean that’s how you’ll always do it. If you find a software that offers everything you need, but the only downside in the process is something new, then don’t write it off! A new process could make your payroll, HR and recruitment much easier.
Questions to ask a potential provider
Once you’re at the point of meeting with potential software providers you should prepare a few questions to ensure you’re getting the full picture of the product. Start with:
- What features does your software include?
- What other platforms do you integrate with?
- How do I report on the data in your software, and does it pull through integration data into reports?
- What is the scalability of this product should my business grow or shrink?
- How do I transfer the data from my current all-in-one solution?
- How would your solution help me meet my business goals?
Our best-of-breed offering!
At Cintra, we offer best-of-breed software which integrate with each other! We have specific products for your HR, Payroll and Expenses needs, and we work with partners for recruitment and workforce management.
Cintra Pay
Let’s, start with our cloud based payroll software which allows you to manage your payroll in-house. Our platform offers workflow management, auto-calculations, data driven data, powerful reporting, statutory rates, automatic enrolment and is HMRC and GDPR compliant.
Cintra Pay is an exciting product because not only is it ever evolving, but we offer seamless integration to our HR platform, CintraHR.
CintraHR
CintraHR is our HR Software. With CintraHR you can gather continuous feedback from your teams, create performance management processes and reports, and automate many of your manual processes. We use AI-powered analytics to provide you with valuable insights on your people.
Capture Expense
Our sister company Capture Expense is a powerful expense management software. With Capture Expense you can snap and store receipts, we have real-time document scanning, automatic VAT and mileage calculations.
Our Partners: Humanforce, PinPoint
Finally, we partner with Humanforce who offer workforce management services. We also integrate with Pinpoint to bring you a best-of-breed applicant tracking system.
The great thing about having so many amazing best-of-breed products which can work together is that you can pick and choose exactly what your business needs. We have a dedicated team of experts who would be happy to provide a demo of the software, and give you some advice on what you need to meet your business goals! Get in touch today.
The Best-of-Breed Blueprint for HR and Payroll Transformation Webinar
We recently hosted a webinar with our partners at Humanforce, intelliHR and PinPoint talking about how a best-of-breed approach can help your business.
