When I owned my IT staffing company back in 2000, one of the main reasons we were successful in finding new business and placing more candidates was because of our business process. But if you think about it, if we all had the same business process, found the same candidates and submitted the same jobs, there would be no differentiators. Likewise, if we are all using the same process to collect time sheets and generate invoices, our customers would have nothing to compare us on.
With margin pressure like never before it is imperative staffing and recruiting firms run efficiently to remain competitive and maximize the bottom line. To achieve this you need to continuously be able to reinvent your business process and prove to your customers the value you provide.
One of the main components of your value comes down to the everyday software that you use to run your business efficiently. It has to support your ever evolving business process.
There are hundreds of software systems out there and most of them are capable of customization. But as a business owner or executive, do you have the time and resources to contact and request your various providers customize their software for you? Not to mention this customization ultimately disconnects you from their latest updates.
For those reasons alone, you need to be able to configure your solution, not customize. What is the difference?
Customizations are modifications that either you or your vendor will make IN the standard software to meet your requirements. This process makes you branch out from the standard software and will leave you behind on the older version of the software when there are new releases or upgrades. This is very time consuming and expensive and is typical of hosted software that is server based or “me too” SaaS systems.
Configurations are changes made TO the software, not IN the software. This can be achieved with a quick phone call to your vendor if you need help or can often be done on your own. Configuration can only be provided by platforms that are multi-tenant as to ensure that you are always on the latest version of software. AkkenCloud is able to provide you the capability to configure our software to your needs and is the only ‘True SaaS’ platform available to staffing and recruiting firms.
We’d be happy to discuss the differences between customization and configuration, so feel free to contact us to learn more!
