HR Tools To Tackle Top Tech Demands

But the major application vendors are hardly alone. Smaller vendors such as Halogen, Kenexa, and Vurv (formerly Recruitmax) provide suites of recruiting and talent management tools. Taleo, which originally focused on recruiting applications, is developing an employee performance management suit for debut in September.

There's also been some consolidation among the players within the last year. Kenexa acquired recruiting app vendors BrassRing and WebHire, for example, while talent-management software developers VirtualEdge and Unicru were bought by ADP and workforce management software vendor Kronos, respectively.

Many of the newer vendors offer their applications only as software-as-a-service. Some vendors only sell direct while others make use of channel partners. Earlier this month, for example, Vurv tapped Bangalore, India-based Esika Infotech to distribute its software throughout the Bangalore region. Halogen is actively seeking business partners to work with its employee performance and talent management suite. Success With People, an employee-management consulting firm, is developing a next-generation talent management solution specifically designed for VARs to both sell and use themselves. It's slated to go into beta test this summer and be generally available this fall.

"Channels are an important part of our strategy," says Susan Chenoweth, group vice president of global marketing at Taleo. The company generates about 20 percent of its revenue through business partners, including human resource outsourcers like Hewitt Associates and Veritude and recruiting process outsourcers such as Spherion. It also links its software with other on-demand services such as candidate screening apps from Accurate Background, ChoicePoint, HireRight and Kroll.

Selling and implementing HR apps requires "deep product knowledge [and] deep domain knowledge," says Michael George, a product evangelist at Vurv. Beacon Technologies has two HR business analysts on staff who examine clients' HR processes, such as how they manage employee benefits, as well as planning expected process changes as much as two years out, White says. Collins Computing also hires people skilled in HR to help with its Dynamics GP deployments.

Many customer projects undertaken by Collins Computing involves integrating the HR functions in Microsoft Dynamics GP with custom and third-party applications such as retirement management systems and employee certification and performance tools. One of Hagel & Company's specialties is integrating Sage's payroll application with time and attendance software from TimeCentre for job-costing purposes.

The ultimate goal for many businesses -- and the ultimate opportunity for solution providers -- is to tie employee recruiting, development, performance management and compensation planning apps together and allow them to share data. That way companies can link hiring to their business strategy by determining their talent needs for the next year and take the needed steps to find the right employees, says Vurv's George. "We're just on the front edge of making that a reality, but it's happening."

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David Russell, president of Success With People, contributed to this story

CHART: Who's Who In HR Apps