For those in the HR Department, there are common criteria for choosing relevant software for your organization. Always remember the saying, “One man’s medicine can be another man’s poison,” and this probably rings true here. Depending on your budget against your needs, you can start sourcing for vendors and conduct your selection based on the following standard criteria (not in order of importance):

What is available in the market?

There is a plethora of HRMS providers in the market, ranging from top-tier vendors to more affordable options flooding the marketing. With numerous choices available, the preference is often to select a solution based on one’s needs and that fits within one’s budget.

You may have heard of some prevalent ones in our Malaysian market, including Kaizen, Peoplesoft, PeopleTime, FlexHR, BOSS, WorkPlaze, InfoTech, Kakitangan, Awantec, and the list goes on.

Note: Rymnet Solutions is one of the top 2^nd-tier vendors (in terms of pricing) that provides solutions for enterprises and SMEs. It is affordable and caters well to your needs.

What to look for in your search?

1. Company stability
   • You wouldn’t want to engage with a new software house that has been established for less than 5 years. It could be a fly-by-night organization, and the next moment, they are gone.
     
     Reliability is the key, along with commitment and a presence in the market. Do ask around if any of your business associates, ex-peers, or friends know about them. Engage with people who are familiar with such software to understand better. If no one has ever heard of them, forget about them.
2. Support system
   • Are they utilizing cloud technology, or are they still employing the traditional method of storing all data on a server? In this era, relying on remote servers could pose greater risks, as it is people-dependent for management and susceptible to other risks, including breakdowns or being hacked.
3. Client Support Management
   • Do they have a dedicated team to cater to your needs for guidance, reference, or when you have a new team handling HRMS matters and payroll? Don’t let this become a setback after you sign up; it can be critical for your organization.
     
     On another note, you may want to check where the vendor’s office is. Imagine the difficulty if they are based overseas, and worse still, or they are home-based.
4. Industry savvy
   • Does your vendor know your industry well? It can be dicey if they don’t. A vendor familiar with the industry will understand your needs better and could cater to your HR needs without you even asking. Readily available solutions will save time and reduce administrative tasks. Peek at their list of clients (who and in which industry). Get a reference or two from those companies. That will help.
5. Flexibility
   • By mentioning this, we mean in all aspects. This is of paramount importance as you may decide to make changes and corrections to your process flow, authority level, terms and conditions in your HR policies as you progress after implementation. Most vendors call this process as customization.
     
     The selected vendor must be able to cater to your unconditional requests as and when required. You will face considerable difficulties if your vendor is unable to fulfill such requirements or takes too much time to perform it. Sometimes, the vendor is dependent on a third party to do this.
     
     Note: Usually some minor charges may apply for change requests being made after the implementation stage.
6. Upgrades and Updates
   • Find out if any upgrades will be conducted by the vendor after selection. Is it free? Good vendors continuously upgrade the existing version of the system for improvement. Their R&D is an investment that must be committed. There are no two ways about this.
     
     Updates must also be done. For example, the terms stipulated for changes in the Employment Act 1955 (Amendment of First Schedule) Order 2022 must be readily updated by the vendor (without charges). This is an important element for HR business continuity in any organization.
7. Pricing
   • It will still boil down to this for consideration. How to decide?
     
     Remember the saying, “Good things are not cheap. Cheap things are not good”? A good HRMS system requires good planning. Planning includes R&D, which would require resources. After development, maintenance and support are very essential.
     
     Low-cost software means the above is not included; hence the engagement between the vendor and the client will be minimal.
     
     Good HRMS software should address all the factors above and cater to your organizational need at a reasonable price. Usually, the pricing is determined by the overall needs, modules chosen, the level of customization required, the size of data required to support, and the headcount in your organization.
     
     Another important point is the training cost for HRMS implementation claimable from HRDF funds.
     Yes, this is claimable!
8. BPO – Payroll Outsource services
   • For those organizations that need an HRMS in place but do not have a staff/team to execute payroll or opt not to handle a non-value-add piece of work in generating payroll, does your vendor provide the option of outsourcing?
     
     Good vendors provide expertise in this matter of importance, yet mundane and purely administrative. This will be an ease of mind while tending to more vital areas such as sales and operations of your business.
9. HR Consultancy & Advisory
   • This is even more crucial for some organizations that do not have an HR expert to begin with. Business owners rely on HRMS vendors to advise and consult them on matters such as people management, performance measurements, yearly appraisals, terms of the employment act, HR policies, and more.
     
     All these factors, options, and enhanced services form part and parcel of your considerations for a relevant system to be in place. Commitment, variation of capabilities and services, stability, progressiveness, responsiveness, and continual development by vendors are the key essence.