HRMS is a leading UKG consulting partner that consistently goes above and beyond their peers to achieve ultimate customer satisfaction, which can be seen through their customer reviews. Boasting a 4.9 out of 5 Raven profile rating, it’s no secret that HRMS is making waves and has successfully adapted to the digital communication channels that COVID-19 has brought upon us.
This week, we spoke to Mike Maiorino, Founder & CEO and Sunshine Brown, Chief Services Officer about how HRMS is making waves in the HCM software and consulting partner market with high customer satisfaction rates.
The HRMS Difference
The HRMS team differentiates themselves from other UKG consulting partners with expert teams, extremely thorough scoping workshops and having the ‘hard conversations’ upfront. This difference in approach can be seen in their 9.45 out of 10 partner satisfaction score, as compared to the industry average of 7.7 and UKG Software average of 8.1.
According to Raven’s research, there is often a correlation between a change in the project team and poorly rated projects. Mike and Sunshine spoke out about what they look for in team members and potential consultants as their team environment plays a large role in customer success:
“For us, the prerequisites would be that potential HRMS consultants are former practitioners of UKG software. They’re people that have been out in industry, been in real life and had challenges working with the workforce. They often have heavy HR payroll backgrounds and have experience dealing with UKG,” says Mike.
Mike noted that sometimes they even find clients who have used UKG for a period of time and feel confident in their capabilities and want to make some sort of career change and join their HRMS team to apply their knowledge and help others in the same situation. These people can empathize with the client because they’ve been there before.
Sunshine also mentioned that their team members all love UKG software and the products they implement, and their team’s satisfaction is tied directly to the customer’s success. “There’s no way to shortcut that experience; they all bring unique value, recommendations and tips and tricks along the way,” she said.
What is HRMS doing differently?
It’s no secret that HRMS has strong industry performance and customer reviews. In fact, HRMS is outperforming the industry in key service metrics and Sunshine attributes this performance to two things:
“One, we’re really trying to identify that we are the right fit for the client to begin with. We want them to have a good experience in the beginning with sales and making sure that we assess what they really need and that we can deliver on those promises. Secondly, a lot of our consultants are former practioners, so I think they have empathy and drive to make sure that the customer has the experience that they would have wanted, which is something that I can’t teach and that the consultants take the work on personally. Naturally, they’re going to have a better experience because they have someone that has sat in their shoes and is invested in their success,” said Sunshine.
HRMS has solid scoping accuracy at almost 100%, as seen on their Raven verified reviews (a big difference from the 60% industry average.) Their scoping process is extremely thorough and establishes the tone for the customer/client relationship moving forward into the project, which HRMS also attributes to their success rates.
“We take an incredibly thorough approach, and we’re finding that a lot of the clients that are working with us or select us for help is because of their experience, or lack of, from a previous vendor. When we articulate our approach and what we do, they see the value in that and willing to spend the money to have it done right,” said Mike.
“We are asking a lot of questions upfront about why they are actually wanting to use a partner and we are looking for the clients that really need our services and that we can make success. We want to make sure the expectations are right, what they need from a partner we can actually deliver, that we are not making promises we cannot keep,” commented Sunshine.
How does HRMS deliver on time and on budget?
As a result of their extremely thorough scoping process, HRMS comes prepared with an implementation plan that answers every question and need the customer’s organization is facing. Compared to industry averages, HRMS is 20% more likely to deliver projects on time and on budget.
When asked how the team stays on top of timelines and budgets, Sunshine state that having difficult conversations in the moment helps to keep goals on track. Frequent conversations occur throughout the process to ensure that both teams are aligned and if something comes up, they discuss if the goals have changed and if they will still be able to meet the agreed upon go-live date.
What does the typical customer look like for HRMS?
While HRMS does not have an industry that they specialize in, their frequent customers are those who have already utilized their first HCM solutions and in the implementation experience.
Mike defines their “sweet spot” as customers who have used their first HCM product and know what they want moving forward.
“Many times, the clients haven’t even decided they want to go to UKG yet, but they’re talking with us as part of that to validate that they’re going to get what they want,” Mike says.
What should customers be asking when evaluating a UKG consulting partner?
HRMS advises customers to be looking at the portfolio and methodology of each consulting partner and where is the partner’s focus. Try to understand the philosophy behind the partner’s implementation approach, use references to validate what you a being told against what is actually delivered.
“Customers should be looking for someone who is absolutely committed to the partnership and does not have a diverse portfolio,” says Mike. “Some implementation partners have decided to diversify and represent multiple vendors, but but we have made the decision that we are going to dedicate ourselves 100% to UltiPro. We have resources to cover the complete aspect of the product, and I think that puts us at a real advantage because all we’re thinking about 100% all day is UKG and their product, and how to make their product the best.”
Additionally, Raven recommends that you look for independent reviews of your potential consulting partners on websites without bias. Look for reviews that answer the questions of:
> Did the project succeed?
> What was the team like? Did it stay consistent throughout the entire project?
> Was the project delivered on time? On budget?
> Was it scoped properly?
Learn more about other stats that Raven is measuring the industry’s consulting partners on here.
What changed for HRMS as a result of COVID-19?
From a business perspective, HRMS did experience changes from COVID-19 – however, these changes are not the reduction in project queue that others experienced. While some of HRMS customer projects have been put on hold, other segments of the economy have seen acceleration and many of HRMS’ other existing customers sped up their implementations trying to pivot to digital solutions faster.
“We saw a few clients and industries go on hold, but the majority of clients actually accelerated their timelines and desires to go digital because they recognized the importance of being able to continue their business remotely and virtually, so that was really important for us to move quickly with them,” says Sunshine.
HRMS noted that they’ve seen more video conferencing and that most of their customers are comfortable with the digital communication tools connecting their teams. Instead of being able to physically be present with their customers, video conferencing has become a part of a new project collaboration process, including the important blueprinting workshop. In the not-so-distant past, this 2-3 day in-person session and starting point in customer deployments helped establish the intimate trusted advisor relationship with the customer and now is done almost entirely remote.
“We absolutely like to get together to form an intimate relationship with the customer,” says Mike. “Today, our design analysis workshops are not 100% remote. We are having some clients who are allowing us to come in and have this collaborative session for about two days, but about 95% of our customers are asking us to conduct these sessions completely virtual.”
For the HRMS team itself, the company is 100% virtual. Working from home has not been driven by the pandemic, it is how Mike established the company and has been part of the HRMS business model from the beginning
What’s next for HRMS?
With the merger of UltiPro and Kronos, HRMS intends to build a Kronos Time Labor Management division to support customers who are interested in this service. I think we’re all looking forward to seeing what comes next for UKG in terms of new service offerings.
“I am concerned about those organizations in the industry who continue to commoditize the value of services,” continued Mike. “Some will take approach of artificial intelligence and other technology tools to pre-fab the implementation and automate to remove the people portion out of it and remove costs. If you can find your way in terms of creating value, there will be a spot for firms like us moving who need our depth and experience.”
When referencing the future of implementation, Sunshine concludes:
“It is going to be that much more important for companies to identify how to automate and go digital and for implementation partners like ourselves to be agile and move with the client needs.”
Bonus Insight into HRMS Solutions – Something people won’t know unless they ask.
The HRMS culture is driven by the motto ‘Do the right things and the right things will happen’. At HRMS they treat their employees that way, their relationships with their clients and vendors that way, and even competitive partners. They try to do the right thing because it helps deliver a better experience for everyone.
Watch the full video interview with Mike & Sunshine here:
Program Guide:
1:26 – HRMS Introduction
3:13 – How has the COVID-19 situation impacted the current UKG projects that you have in flight?
6:50 – What is it about the way that HRMS approaches the customer relationship that is causing customers to rate you higher than other partners?
10:38 – What do you attribute your project scoping accuracy to?
13:14 – How are you ensuring your customer success process is repeatable?
15:52 – Who are HRMS Solutions’ ideal customers?
17:59 – What should a UKG Software customer be looking for in a partner?
22:14 – Where is the future of HR software deployment going?