Amerit Consulting Software Implementation

Overview: Amerit Consulting

Amerit Consulting, powered by Evergent Group is a national, Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned full-service staffing company based out of California. Amerit advises and connects Fortune 500 companies and other growing businesses to an elite workforce of high-quality executives, managers and employees. Formed in 2002, the company offers employers and job seekers assistance with positions in professional, production, skilled trade, and technical fields.

Amerit previously underwent a very difficult HRIS software implementation with a large publicly traded software company, only to discover afterwards that the software they had implemented did not meet critical business needs. More and more money was being wasted in dealing with inefficiencies, hiring additional staff to operate the software, fix the software and develop business critical features. The software was unable to deliver or adequately handle the pace and volume of applicants, orders, assignments, and most importantly payroll processing needed on a weekly basis. Amerit needed to dedicate staff just to perform data audits because the software did not have enough built in controls.

In sum, the cost to run and maintain the software was not reasonable given the size of Amerit and the margins typically earned by staffing companies. This pain point, along with ongoing software issues, created a strong desire for Amerit to find a vendor they could partner with for the long-term, and a staffing software solution that would meet their day-to-day and long-term business needs.

Key Facts

Amerit has offices based in San Diego, Northern California, Ohio and 20 off-shore recruiters in India. They service over 80 users and 1700 employees both corporate and contingent; therefore, process over 1700 payroll checks in-house each week.

The decision to implement the former HRIS software was a management decision made for the group of related companies that Amerit and Evergent are a part of. Several of the companies within the group are not in the staffing industry, thus their software needs are very different than Amerit.

The implementation process with the former HRIS software took 1.5 years and was very difficult. The post implementation process took several more months and there was an extended timeframe to get stabilized. Software licenses were also too costly to maintain, with less operational efficiency being realized by the staff. Essentially, they had to hire an in-house developer and more HR operations staff to work with a less efficient result. The software also did not have the functionality, efficiency, or intuitive features like calculating taxes, local tax and W2 processing, API, accurate reporting tools or search functionality that Amerit needed.

The Scenario: Overcoming a Difficult Implementation Experience

The Amerit team began looking to upgrade software capabilities and were focused on finding a software solution that was “built from the ground up for staffing companies.”

The team looked at dozens of staffing software components to compare modules and features. They didn’t want a module from another large software provider that would be able to “handle” the staffing industry—they wanted a staffing software that was built for a staffing company’s needs. Equipped with knowledge gained from the previous implementation, a strong group of subject matter experts and their baseline criteria, Amerit went shopping.

Amerit compared companies like: Avionte, TempWorks Software, and Bond’s AdaptSuite. The more in-depth look was with Avionte and TempWorks. The Amerit SME team voted for TempWorks with 100% agreement. The selection wasn’t a management-based decision this time, rather a solicitation of needs from the staff who would be doing the core work. The team picked TempWorks for how customizable it was, intuitive/easy to use, and the front and back office functionality. Amerit signed in September of 2016.

The TempWorks implementation process lasted six months with a live date of April 24, 2017. Lisa Cvecko, VP of Finance at Amerit, said that from the first week she felt our implementation team was “Amazing!” She commented that the Amerit staff didn’t have to add more time in their day jobs to be the new “implementation or IT experts.” Moreover, undergoing a major software implementation and not falling behind in the process is one of the hardest things a business can do. Every week employees still needed their paychecks and customers their invoices.

Lisa said she and Andy Thoren, IT Director (also the in-house project manager of the TempWorks Software implementation process), did have concerns regarding how smooth the go live would be considering their previous implementation experience. However, they were blown away within the first week. Lisa and Andy exchanged texts the end of the first week indicating they were on “Cloud 9!”

With the TempWorks implementation team on site, the trainers and staff were exceptional at setting expectations, prepping Amerit staff on each step in the process, and according to Lisa:

“The TempWorks implementation team is a passionate group of people that really care about our business. They helped us find the best way to use the software and the right solutions to most efficiently and effectively execute our day to day needs and tasks! The team really listened to us. We didn’t feel we were put in a cookie cutter ‘TempWorks Customer Box’ on how things should be done.”

– Lisa Cvecko, VP of Finance, Amerit Consulting/Evergent Group

Overview: Amerit Consulting

Amerit was focused on selecting a best in class staffing software that would allow them to service customers and employees at a higher level. They approached the project with a strong sense of trepidation given the difficulties with their former HRIS software and their last software implementation. However, after learning about our software and attending our client appreciation event, Amerit was ready to make the switch.

Our implementation team quickly began the implementation process and worked with Amerit to implement their new software and services through data conversion, parallel, on-site training and going live. We delivered on our promises far beyond Amerit’s expectations and they feel the value the software is bringing to their staffing business is tremendous.

Lisa remarked on how ‘smooth’ the experience was and how appreciative she was of the effort each one of our team members put into making that possible.

According to Shawna Bradt our Implementation Manager at TempWorks: “our implementation team is there to support you 24/7 – holding your hand through each step in the process. Our trainers are there to parallel and shadow you, and give you all the coaching you need to fully function your business day-to-day. Paired with our online TempWorks University of videos and tutorials – we provide an informed and supportive implementation.”

The Outcome: Hire Better People. Faster.

With 80 users, Amerit loves our software’s robust capabilities, intuitive and highly functional front and back office, and ability to provide payroll processing for more than 1700 weekly paychecks. Amerit was able to process and send out their first invoices and paychecks within one week after going live. Amerit is extraordinarily appreciative of our implementation team’s efforts, partnership, support and delivering as promised.

With software that works for your business and implementation processes that go smoothly; you don’t have to work so hard. Your business can be more productive and profitable so you can get back to doing what you do best. In Lisa’s opinion, ‘teaming up with TempWorks was a decision that will take Amerit/Evergent Group to a new and higher level.’

With the efficiencies of our software, Amerit recruiters now work at a higher performance capacity and faster than before –from tracking KPI’s, using the enterprise software to make follow-up calls, loading and processing document information, to performing intuitive searches and getting reports out of the system, they now have a more productive work environment.

Lisa’s Testimony

“We are one month in from our Go Live date of April 24, 2017. From week one of implementation we are more efficient at doing business with the same headcount. We plan to rollout HR Center with TempWorks next, switching from our current onboarding product. With our former software we needed to have an intricate data entry audit process in place and staff dedicated to executing the audits. Now we are thrilled that TempWorks Software comes with features already in place to assign the correct tax codes and rates from complicated local taxes to state taxes based on an employee’s jobsite and residence. This is genius! The software is intuitive and comes with features like assignment restrictions, which enable us to reduce data entry errors tremendously. From interest and contact codes for customer management, to the ease of mass mailing invoices, to the web portal where invoices can be downloaded by customers, TempWorks has so many features to love! With all of this, and more, I am confident in our abilities to find more efficiencies across the board.

The true measure of partnership with a vendor rests not in what they do for you when all is going well, but how they stand behind their product. After the first week, we have hit some bumps as we get completely stablized on the product. However, TempWorks is working hand-in-hand with us to resolve the root cause, set up and training issues, so that not only will our historical data be correct, but our users will also be very clear on what steps they need to take going forward. We were looking not only for a piece of staffing software, but for a long-term partner and I truly believe we have accomplished both with TempWorks.”

Lisa Cvecko, CPA, CGMA
Vice President of Finance
Amerit Consulting / Evergent Group