The HR Software Dilemma: Best–of-Breed vs. Integrated Talent Management

Wouldn’t it be nice to buy everything you need at one store? You could pick up some produce, a fresh baguette, some Tide laundry detergent, a few Dutch cheeses and a nice California Cab. What actually happens is that you stop by the store and they have some of these items but not everything (or not the other items you really want). Maybe they have some basic cheddar but you really wanted something aged. Maybe you wanted a specific wine and the grocery store just won’t cut it.

The buyers of HR software are facing the same dilemma: debating whether to go with an integrated Talent Management solution, which has everything from Recruitment through Learning Management (though really “light” capability for much of it), or, using Best-of-Breed HR applications.

Integrated Talent Management Software  

In concept, it sounds great: go with one HR software vendor and get everything you need. The vendor has Applicant Tracking, Performance Management, Compensation, Succession Planning and a laundry list of other software modules. Sure, there are quite a few that aren’t great. Well, maybe it’s a bit worse than that. As you look more closely, it’s clear that a few of these modules are essentially a “shell” of what they should be and you can’t change a thing. You want to add a few fields, rename some categories and change the workflow to fit your current process. The vendor’s response? “Sorry, that’s not possible with our solution.”

You’re frustrated. You worked hard to develop an ideal Performance Management process for your organization and now you’re faced with scrapping it just because the vendor can’t accommodate. Do you sacrifice key functionality and lose the organizational buy-in you worked so hard to get for this initiative? Or, do you consider other options?

Best-of-Breed HR Software

Today, more organizations are realizing that they can have the best of both worlds: all of the HR functionality they really want in a fully integrated solution. Best-of-Breed vendors specialize in a particular type of HR software and you can clearly see the difference. These vendors not only have a high degree of expertise in this specific area of HR, but they also have tremendous experience implementing this type of software (and can subsequently advise on feature selection and functionality, given the organization’s unique culture). Most important, these best-of breed vendors have more flexibility so you can configure the system to meet your specific needs.

The viaPeople technology platform is very easily, and seamlessly, integrated with other HR software solutions (SAP, Oracle, Workday, and many others). Our software can even be branded to match the corporate “look and feel” in terms of color, graphics, etc.When our clients spend time mapping out their processes (whether it’s Performance Management, Succession Planning/9 Box, or 360 Feedback), they want the system to replicate their workflow, process terms and content. They don’t want to be limited by a vendor’s inflexibility.

Get what you really want. Contact viaPeople.