5 Oct 2018
“It’s one thing for us to think we’re doing a great job in the market and quite another when the market independently confirms it”.
So says Nick Southcombe, CEO of Frontier Software, when asked to comment on results published in the latest Australian HR Technology Survey, conducted by Navigo Research. The study reports that respondents named Frontier Software the most common payroll system and the most common HRIS system in Australia - again. Frontier Software is no stranger to this accolade, having achieved the same results in earlier Navigo studies released in 2014 and 2013.
The 2018 survey analysis recognised a trend toward SaaS and hosted deployment models. With 13% of respondents reportedly using this model, a further 41% expressed a preference to transition to it. One of the perceived barriers to transition is concerns around data security, which was cited by approximately 50% of respondents. Also integral to the decision is the physical location of data, with 22% of respondents having rejected a proposal where their data would be hosted overseas.
Southcombe agrees, “The concerns raised by survey respondents are typical in our experience. Frontier Software has been careful to develop rigorous data security practices, which supported the attainment of our ISO 27001 accreditation. Coupled with our Information Security Management System and onshore data storage; we have the experience and practices to satisfy the most stringent of requirements”.
The report also provided an insight into the number of systems that send or extract data from the respondents’ HRIS. Amongst the respondents, 59% reported that they integrate with 1-5 systems, with a further 20% of respondents reporting data exchanges with 15 or more systems. Respondents considered the capacity to accept data feeds and to develop insights based on multiple sources of data an important requirement. Notably, 18% of respondents reported no data feeds to or from their HRIS platform with a higher concentration of those responses coming from respondents deploying a SaaS model.
“We are seeing this trend as well”, notes Southcombe. “Our integration specialists have assisted countless clients in connecting important business systems. They understand how the ichris solution can accept data to become the source of truth or extract data in a format acceptable to multiple business intelligence systems. That’s irrespective of the deployment model they adopt”.
Core HRIS systems that meet client product expectations have a direct impact on reported client satisfaction levels. Of the survey respondents, 61% of Frontier Software clients indicated they are satisfied or very satisfied with the product. These results are nearly 40% better than our nearest competitor and reported within a landscape where vendors are merging to gain ground.
Southcombe adds, “We are very pleased with these results. It’s great to know we’re doing well compared to our competition, but we are always working with our internal teams and clients to improve product and service experience even further. Of course, I would have been delighted to gain an understanding of reported satisfaction levels for just payroll alone. I expect we would have done very well indeed”.