PlatformOne Magazine #1

Quarterly Publication - January 2014 - No.1EMPOWERING PEOPLE THROUGH TECHNOLOGY

Stop the E-mails!

Best-of-Breed vs.Best-of-Suite

PlatformOne Unveils

Visit www.PlatformOne.com and comment on the articles!

Magazine

Comprehensive Human Capital Management Suite

Improve your productivity!

Which one is the best?

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Stop the E-mails!

Page 8PlatformOne & cfactor Unveils Vibe HCM

Best-of-Breed vs. Best-of-SuitePage 10

Outsourcing Becomes StrategicPage 13

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Most profes-sionals will acknowledge that efficient use of time is a constant challenge in today’s corporate environ-ment. I recently identified my greatest opportunity for improvement in this area: Email Replies. As a starting point, I spent several weeks logging the quantity of email responses and their corre-sponding time commit-ment (Note: Incoming emails were excluded as I can only control what I send). It was, at times, a tedious process but I felt strongly that any and all short-term pain would yield long-term gain.

The results

were astounding… I was spending, on average, two hours per day replying

to emails! Worse yet, I deemed 80% of such replies were ineffective for a variety of reasons, the most common being the

infamous re-reply which typ-ically added another layer of

complexity not identified in the

original message (we technology

folks commonly re-fer to this as “scope

creep”). Furthermore, when replying to a distribu-tion group, the outcome can feel like getting singled out during a game of paint ball.

I arrived at a simple yet effec-tive methodology for govern-ing my email responses: “Only reply when my expertise is absolutely required and my emotions are entirely under control”. After two weeks, I had reduced my email re-

Stop the E-mails!

80% of such replies were ineffective

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challenge you to personalize the concept: Find the area in which you spend the most un-productive time and address it immediately. You might just unlock a wealth of time you never realized was avail-able.

Finally, the next time you go to reply to an email, pause and ask yourself, “Is my re-sponse necessary and are my intentions honorable?”

sponses by 75%. That trans-lated to nearly one full day per week (and one full week per month) of time to rede-ploy in a more productive manner! The most immediate results I experienced were an overall reduction in stress and a greater desire to interact with my co-workers.

It’s worth mentioning that reducing the number of email replies is not a “magic bullet” to increased time savings nor may it be an area you need or wish to address however I

By Eric Nazarian

3825 Henderson Blvd,Suite 205Tampa, FL 33629Phone: 813-282-0300www.duvosoftware.com

- Software Development- Search Engine Optimization- Website Design- Email Marketing

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The CarterHardin Show

Friday, September 21st at 11AM EST

Partnership With PlatformOne Rounds Out Complete HR, Talent Management, Payroll

PlatformOne& cfactor UnveilsComprehensive Human CapitalManagementSuite With ‘Vibe HCM’

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Since its inception, cfac-tor has been recognized by organizations like Ernst & Young, the Canadian Innova-tion Exchange and the SIIA for its game-changing human resource and talent man-agement software. Working primarily with mid-to-large enterprises that represent hundreds of thousands of employees across a variety of industries, cfactor consistent-ly delivers social enterprise products that are highly con-figurable, improve employee performance and deliver a proven ROI.

HCM space,” said Cary Schul-er, Co-Founder and CEO of cfactor. “Vibe HCM changes the game, bringing a unique focus on employee experi-ence, adoption, and compa-ny culture. HR technology is about much more than just transactions and back-office. It is about connecting people, creating excitement, effective communications, efficiency, job satisfaction, world-class HR Service delivery.”

“Clients are getting the very best of all options with Vibe HCM,” added Henry Hardin III, CEO and President of Platfor-mOne. “It serves as catalyst for communication, converg-ing next generation technol-ogies with the stability of an ERP foundation, all bundled within first-class managed services.”

cfactor will be showcasing Vibe HCM, at the HR Tech Conference in Las Vegas on October 7th and 8th. One component of the suite in particular, Virtual Day 1 takes center stage at the conference during Tuesday’s popular “Awesome New Technologies for HR” presentation.

cfactor’s main booth at the HR Tech Expo is #1045, with a second booth (#63) dedicat-ed to accommodate popular demand for product demon-strations of Vibe HCM.

SASKATOON, CANADAOctober 7, 2013cfactor Works Inc. (cfactor), developer of socially infused Human Resource technolo-gies, today unveils Vibe HCM – a comprehensive human capital management suite that delivers a complete HR, Tal-ent Management and Payroll solution. Through a strategic partnership with PlatformOne, an innovator and leader in the delivery of state-of-the-art Human Resources solutions, Vibe HCM brings a new, high-ly developed choice to the mid and large sized market.

Vibe HCM transforms HR Ser-vice delivery, providing a per-sonalized, interactive HRMS, Talent Management and Social Collaboration suite for your global workforce through:

•Highly engaging and revolutionary Onboarding

•Easy-to-use, socially infused HRMS

•Robust Talent Management

•Highly interactive and integrated Social tools

•On-demand actionable workforce Insight

•Transformative HR Service Delivery

“There is a new choice in the comprehensive Saas based

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Since the time when ERP software burst onto the scene, com-panies have been faced with making the all-important decision of going with a best-of-breed approach (standalone applica-tions that are superior at a single function) versus a best-of-suite approach (a single integrated system containing multiple modules with varying degrees of functional depth). The merits and drawbacks of these options have been well documented over the years. The best-of-breed approach boasts more feature-rich solutions that target specific areas of expertise (human resources, timekeeping, budgeting and fore-casting, etc…) while the best-of-suite approach offers a single, integrated system where all transactional processing is con-ducted. Personally, I’ve seen both success stories and colossal failures with both approaches and should you find yourself faced with making a similar decision, here are some important points to consider:

Best-of-Breed vs.Best-of-Suite

By Eric Nazarian

approach, you need to be comfortable with the people you align yourself with and trust that they will maintain focus and be flexible for your ever-changing business needs.

In recent years, there have been tremendous strides in Webservices integration which has provided organi-zations with a third option: Going with a hybrid approach. Whether you are a small busi-ness or large corporation, a successful systems model will most likely have a core tech-nology offering along with a select few, seamlessly inte-grated strategic applications, optimizing the user experi-ence without sacrificing scale and opportunity growth.

• Do you have the I.T. re-sources to create any nec-essary integration points in a best-of-breed approach? More than likely, a portion of data from multiple systems will need to be combined to create economies of scale. If performed incorrectly (or not at all), it could lead to frus-tration in both your internal workforce and customer base.

• What does the implemen-tation of both approaches look like? Some ERP systems that offer total integration are notorious for having extremely long and tedious implementation cycles. What good is an integrated solu-tion if it never gets “off the ground”?

• The wildcard in the equa-tion can be the potential long-term relationship with the vendor or vendors you choose. Whether it’s a best-of-breed or a best-of-suite

• Are the business leaders (i.e. c-level and economic buyers) in touch with the needs of the organization? Cost is the primary moti-vating factor of these indi-viduals but are they able to identify the true cost of both approaches, particularly the psychological damage that can arise from their employ-ees tasked with marrying information from multiple sources?

• Are there enough com-pelling business reasons to have all your data integrated? The idea of having everything in one system is extremely attractive but a cost-benefit analysis and ROI study are still necessary actions. An integrated solution will most likely lower your internal labor costs (not to mention licensing fees) but may sacri-fice functionality, leaving you in a win-lose scenario with your customers.

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Outsourcing, or subcontracting responsibility for complet-ing certain business functions, has been a fact of corporate life for a number of years. Traditionally, corporations have outsourced individual business functions, such as computer hardware infrastructure or payroll processing. Outsourcing decisions were made on the basis of whether the outsourcing vendor could provide the service more cost effectively than could be done with internal resources. With the changing busi-ness climate and the demonstrated success of outsourcing, companies have begun to ask for, and service providers have begun to offer, more comprehensive outsourcing solutions. Typically these solutions extend the focused outsourcing of a single task to encompass the entire business process of which that task is a part. This newer approach has become known as business process outsourcing (BPO). Outsourcing entire processes can be very appealing to corporations because it enables them to expand the scope of the outsourced services dramatically, while containing them within a scope that can be readily monitored and managed. This means the performance of the outsourcing provider can be more directly judged and the return to the corporation can be more clearly determined. The vast majority of BPO initiatives have been successful enough that corporations have chosen to continue and ex-pand their use of business process outsourcing. In fact, the creation and management of BPO relationships is becoming a recognized business discipline. While outsourcing information technology processes typically has been the first place com-panies implement BPO, savvy CFO’s have come to understand that even greater benefits can be realized in other parts of the corporation. The Outsourcing Institute reported in May 2003 that human resources processes are receiving more attention than any other area as a candidate for BPO.

OutsourcingBecomesStrategic

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Alpha House of Tampa offers homeless preg-nant women and mothers with young children safe housing and the tools they need to become self-sufficient and effective, responsible parents.

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Visit Humana Vitalityand get in shape in 2014

www.Plat formOne.com2435 Tech Center ParkwayLawrenceville, GA 30043Telephone: 770.623.9143