Robust Field Service and HR/HCM Cloud Solutions
The launch of any new company is exciting, but even more so when it is launching from a foundation that is already stable, well-built and primed for growth. Epiphany, an early pioneer in Software as a Service (SaaS), founded in 2002, is a well-established NetSuite value added reseller that offers both NetSuite’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution as well as its own comprehensive solutions for field service and human resource/human capital management (HR/HCM). At the December JRocket Marketing Winter 2014 Analyst Roadshow, Epiphany announced plans to launch a new company, Elysian Field Software.
This announcement represents far more than just a name change and rebranding effort. Epiphany will become a division of the newly formed enterprise, Elysian Field Software. While Epiphany will continue to serve the NetSuite community with an integrated suite approach, a brand new sister division, Elysian Field Services wil serve a broader market. Taking a “best-of-breed” approach it will offer comprehensive, affordable, cloud-based solutions to those running other ERP solutions, but suffering from gaps so often found in field service and HR/HCM functionality.
Epiphany: A Great Starting Point
Epiphany’s business will not change; it will continue to resell NetSuite’s ERP and serve the broader NetSuite community with tightly integrated, “best-of-breed” extensions. With 114 NetSuite deployments to date, Epiphany is one of the larger channel partners of NetSuite. The two companies have evolved over the years, as have their products. Looking at the NetSuite product through the eyes of their customers, Epiphany found some gaps in terms of field services and HCM. Using the NetSuite development platform Epiphany filled those gaps, and not just in a superficial way.
These extensions to NetSuite have grown into very comprehensive suites for field service and for human capital management that rival the most robust packages in comparable markets today. Typically these types of robust solutions are outside the budgets of small to medium size businesses, but Epiphany has been making these solutions affordable to even small customers since the early NetSuite days when most customers were just graduating from QuickBooks. Of course the average NetSuite customer has grown substantially over time, but Epiphany still serves the lower end of the spectrum (as well as larger companies) with products that could rival many of those sold into much larger enterprises.
About a year ago NetSuite acquired TribeHR, which brings a unique approach to the recruiting process and is integrated with NetSuite ERP in that it adds and provisions the employee upon hire. However, there is no natively built full HR/HCM solution. That’s what Epiphany brings to the table.
Human Resources/Human Capital Management Modules
These modules are currently sold as Epiphany products. While they will be re-branded under the Elysian Field Software label, they will also continue to be sold by Epiphany, along with NetSuite ERP.
Applicant Tracking: this is a comprehensive module that supports the entire process from Job description and requisitioning of positions, through screening and applicant processing, selection, employee record creation and on-boarding checklists.
Human Capital Management: supports “one click” hire process for setting up new employees, change management, separation, EEO data capture and organization charting.
Benefits: includes paid time off (PTO) management, Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) tracking, health insurance management and COBRA event management.
PTO: “Leave” management includes overview calendaring for all staff with group/subsidiary/location selections, including customizable color-coding, supervisor views, graphical portlets and dashboards.
Performance Management: Goals determination and tracking can include cascading goals, supervisor/employee synergies, Lominger Competencies assignment and performance review rating calculation methodology.
Compensation Management: Salary ranges, job grade assignments, employee change tracking and compensation conformance.
Manager Self Service: includes employee data, PTO requests, review/update employee qualifications, job description/requirement definition, open applicant management, selection of applicants and property distribution management.
Employee Self Service: for qualifications, certifications, skills, licenses, leave and PTO requests, performance review participation and goal management.
Third-Party Integration: Integration to career sites, compensation planning, organizational modeling, payroll, resume parsing, etc.
Customized Report/Search Templates: Pre-screening, scoring, posting success rates, time to fill analysis, cost per hire analysis and more.
Customers can choose to use TribeHR along with Epiphany’s modules, or rely exclusively on Epiphany for HR/HCM functionality.
Business Expertise to Get the Job Done: Mantra Teams
However human resources and HCM projects, particularly in smaller companies, are challenged in a rather unique way, beyond the typical budgetary constraints. Seldom can small companies afford to hire a seasoned veteran with experience in implementing comprehensive HCM solutions, leaving the implementation in the hands of younger workers with little experience in driving an implementation to completion. And of course when staffed with younger workers, companies may experience a higher degree of turnover in the position. And even if a small company can afford and attract a seasoned veteran, this HR leader must wear many hats and is often consumed by overseeing compliance requirements and handling the occasional personnel crisis, causing the implementation to stall.
After spending 12 years deploying enterprise cloud solutions at other firms, Epiphany CEO Brenda Brinkley observed many incomplete or functionally deficient solutions, as well as inadequate resources to take full advantage of more robust solutions, even when available. To address this she came up with a concept of what she calls “Mantra Teams.” Rather than leaving the implementation to full-time employees, these teams will be available on demand, on a contract basis.
The Elysian Field Mantra Teams will be largely full time consultants and/or retired HR/HCM professionals who are experts in the field, but available for as long or short an engagement as required. These experts will be:
Screened and vetted by Elysian Field Software for their expertise and understanding of HR/HCM best practices
Trained on how to use the software
Affordable because they will be contracted directly by the customer with no middle man mark up
Motivated by the customer’s priorities but able to advise on how best to leverage the solution quickly and efficiently
In other words, this is a team of experts that customers can bring in simply to get the job done expeditiously.
Addressing the Complexities of Field Service
While HR/HCM modules are a big part of Epiphany’s business, remember it also provides a comprehensive suite of field services management modules as well. NetSuite’s early successes centered on professional services businesses, then moved into distribution and light manufacturing. It has been very successful in attracting manufacturers of consumer products, but has more recently targeted manufacturing of more industrial products. With this move, repair and maintenance of manufactured products becomes more complex. And again, Epiphany filled a functional gap with a robust, integrated suite of Field Service Management Modules.
Field Services Management Modules
These modules are currently sold as Epiphany products. While they will be re-branded under the Elysian Field Software label, they will also continue to be sold by Epiphany, along with NetSuite ERP.
Work Order Management: technician/equipment assignments, time/expense/part tracking, rapid billing and mobile management
Rentals Management: pricing rates, equipment repair, pick-up/return, route delivery management, time utilization of rental assets, financial utilization of rental assets, fleet age and apportionment, inventory management
Depot Repair: Parts/returns/repair, advanced replacement, warranty visibility, repair orders with equipment tracking and inventory availability
Job Costing: job profitability, work in progress, cost and profitability reporting
Contract & Warranty Management: auto-create and renew contracts, manage service contracts, co-terminate multiple contracts, revenue and profitability tracking, manufacturer and custom warranty tracking, convert warranty to contract, bill warranty overages
Scheduling & Dispatch: dispatch center, drag and drop technician scheduling, non-sequential work order scheduling, team scheduling, PTO, schedule by skill and availability
Technician Skill Management: skills, licenses, education & certifications, qualifications, tied to HR
Mobile Tech: offline and online, calendar view, daily & weekly expenses, signature capabilities, attachments, complete view of configuration, tasks, contracts, notes, photos, time, expenses, etc.
Field service solution implementations also have the potential of suffering from lack of fully functional solutions and also lack of attention. Not only has Epiphany made a robust solution to a complex problem quite affordable, but it also wants to address what might be a “commitment issue.” While a good field service department is likely to have deep and broad expertise, the very nature of the job means the customer is always the first priority. This makes a software implementation even more challenging. As a result, Elysian Field also intends to add Mantra Teams for Field Service deployments.
And these teams of seasoned experts will also pave the way for introducing more leading edge technologies into the field. Elysian Field intends to aggressively pursue “machine to machine” capabilities, supporting the concept of the “internet of things (IoT)” and new technologies such as 3D printing and mobile wearable devices. While these types of technologies might seem like “pie in the sky” overkill for some industries, they are particularly relevant for field service. Think what a portable 3D printer could do to supply repair parts in the field. Think about the value of providing diagnostics or schematics built right into safety glasses, leaving the technicians’ hands free to trouble shoot and repair. Think about the possibilities of remote diagnostics by tapping into machine data.
Beyond NetSuite
While all these existing products and new plans are potentially exciting for NetSuite customers, Elysian Field Software would like to bring these exciting capabilities to a broader audience – hence the new sister division to Epiphany. This could spell a huge opportunity for the newly formed umbrella company. While the HR/HCM modules could be a good fit for virtually any NetSuite customer, today the Field Service Management modules are a better fit for NetSuite’s target manufacturing customer, rather than its current installed base. Making these modules ERP-agnostic represents a huge opportunity for Elysian Field Software.
However, it also represents a technical and development investment. Currently Epiphany’s solutions are built with the NetSuite development platform. It is very likely that Elysian Field Software will need to re-architect these solutions on a different platform to best meet its goals. Will this be Salesforce’s Force.com platform? Will it remain on NetSuite’s? Will it use another, different platform? Right now, Elysian Field Services is evaluating all different possibilities and has not ruled any out.
But given the effort involved, is it worth it? Is there sufficient market, beyond the NetSuite base to merit such an investment? Mint Jutras believes it is, provided Elysian Field Services chooses wisely and brings the new product to market fairly rapidly. New technology and rapid application development tools will be key, as the market will not patiently wait. The vast majority of companies have a strong preference for an integrated end-to-end solution. However, for every company that has an overriding preference for a tightly integrated solution from a single company, two will not sacrifice functionality for ease of integration or dealing with a single vendor (Figure 1). The best of both worlds obviously will be robust functionality that is easily and seamless integrated.
Figure 1: Preferences for a Suite?
Source: Mint Jutras 2014 ERP Solution Study
Both field service and HR/HCM functions have historically been underserved in smaller companies. The Mint Jutras solution study found only a 42% adoption rate of any kind of after market service functionality installed in manufacturing companies, and where installed, it was twice as likely to be a separate application that was loosely integrated or not integrated at all (28%) versus embedded or tightly integrated (14%).
HR capabilities were more pervasive at 66%, but this adoption rate did not distinguish between a robust suite and marginal HR capabilities, but still those not well integrated by a wide margin.
2015: A Year of Transition
As talent management, both in house and in the field continues to grow in importance, if Elysian Field Services can fill those gaps, and also provide seamless integration, not just to NetSuite’s ERP, but to other players in the small to midsize market, it should be a winning combination. Watch for some important milestones in 2015, including an official launch of Elysian Field Software in the second quarter, followed by the choice of a new independent platform.