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Opinion please
Benefits & Compensation
Opinion please
Exchange ideas about health plans, retirement, work/life benefits, and employee assistance.
I'm an SPHR who left the profession and I'm doing research for a project. I'd love to get your opinions.
When you're investigating a potential vendor and you're on their website or even in conversa
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Forums » Topic Forums » Benefits & Compensation » Opinion please
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Opinion please
posted at 7/8/2009 11:13 AM EDT
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Posts: 20
First: 4/29/2008 Last: 7/16/2009 |
I'm an SPHR who left the profession and I'm doing research for a project. I'd love to get your opinions.
When you're investigating a potential vendor and you're on their website or even in conversation with a salesperson. How important are case studies in your decision process? Are they very important, slightly important, or not important at all? Are the case studies you see full of concrete information you find helpful in determining if a potential vendor could solve your problem or are they usually too vague and therefore not worth anything? I'm going to post these same questions elsewhere on the forum so don't be surprised if you see it more than once. Thanks very much for your thoughts. Winnie |
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Opinion please
posted at 7/9/2009 4:05 AM EDT
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Posts: 20
First: 4/29/2008 Last: 7/16/2009 |
Not really. By "case study" I mean a short paper that discusses a challenge, the strategy to handle it, and then the outcome.
So let's say there's an organization like Gates McDonald (handling your unemployment claims and admin). A case study on their website might talk about Company XUZ's problems with unemployment claims admin, the strategy & process GM applied to fix the problem, and the benefits / results obtained by Company XYZ. |
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Opinion please
posted at 7/9/2009 5:52 PM EDT
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Posts: 2146
First: 2/15/2006 Last: 9/14/2011 |
I'd rather talk to current and former clients as I feel case studies can be presented all rosy and reality often isn't. Plus I want to know how you can solve MY issues, not someone elses. I want the vendor to not pop me into their standard system.
But I tend to be a different client. I will be the one asking "crazy" questions and come up with weird situations, because I work for a CEO that often does things differently. I also tend to be more hands on....and want my vendor to understand that I want to know what and how they do things for my employees. I get frustrated when there is a lack of communication. I am not sure a case study could truly set the picture on how they would handle ME and my company. |
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Opinion please
posted at 7/10/2009 1:47 AM EDT
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Posts: 20
First: 4/29/2008 Last: 7/16/2009 |
rrupert, thanks very much for those thoughts. One point about case studies is they're SUPPOSED to be representative of the companies the vendor is trying to attract and the problems they can solve. I think parta of what your comments indicate is how completely HR vendors screw that up. They have no clear target market so the person reading the website doesn't feel as though the vendor is "speaking" to them.
Thanks again. Everyone who is responding (here and the other spots I've posted this to) is giving me really great comments. |
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Opinion please
posted at 7/10/2009 4:38 AM EDT
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Posts: 42
First: 7/13/2005 Last: 8/5/2011 |
To me, case studies sound canned and
market-y. There is no replacement for old fashioned vendor reference checking, especially from references that are not part of a list given by the vendor. What I do like on a vendor website is factual information about their area, such as pending regs, legal information, serious white papers. If I pull up a vendor wesbite and they have photos of models posing as employees (one black, one white, one woman, one gay, etc.) I dump the site immediately. |
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Opinion please
posted at 7/10/2009 7:42 AM EDT
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Posts: 464
First: 6/30/2004 Last: 11/22/2010 |
I thought I already posted my comment, but don't see it here so if this is a duplicate, my apologies.
I think vendor case studies are completely biased. They are a sales tool with very little to do with complete information. To put it in an HR perspective, it's like finding a candidates grandmdother on his/her reference list. You know what you are going to get and it will provide very little added value to the decision matrix. JMO |
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Opinion please
posted at 7/10/2009 10:06 AM EDT
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Posts: 20
First: 4/29/2008 Last: 7/16/2009 |
Thanks all for these great comments. If anyone else reading this thinks I have enough...far from it. There's always room for more.
Interesting that one of you mentioned white papers. That subject is on my research list too so I'll post a question about that topic soon. Thanks again for your help. Winnie |
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Opinion please
posted at 7/10/2009 5:14 PM EDT
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Posts: 2146
First: 2/15/2006 Last: 9/14/2011 |
I second white papers and serious articles that can teach me something I may not already know or that makes me think from a different perspective. That will be a vendor that gets my attention, business and keeps me there. |
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