What is most valuable?
The integrated business intelligence tool (IBM Cognos) is by far the absolute best reporting tool I have ever used in my 15 years of being in HR. The tasks that can be accomplished in Report Studio, plus the delivered reports that Ultimate has already put together, can allow any user, HR or otherwise, to make an instant impact.
Ultimate Software also provides organizations with the ability to make a positive impact from the very beginning of the employee life cycle. From recruiting and onboarding, employee self-service and benefits enrollment, performance management and career development, organizations can create a meaningful employee experience that will last throughout their career.
The UltiPro application will also work to create efficiencies that will make any-size HR department the hero of the organization.
How has it helped my organization?
The UltiPro application's configurability allowed us to create a more impactful and meaningful performance review process, allowing us to align competencies with the company's core values, as well as each individual position.
The built-in alerts, plus the alerts that we have put together, have worked to help us achieve a completion rate for our performance reviews that we've never seen previously.
What needs improvement?
The Time Management module currently lacks the same look and feel of the UltiPro application and the other modules that Ultimate provides its clients. While the functionality is there, and it gets the job done, it is the only area that I feel needs to be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been live on the UltiPro application since 10/1/2015.
What was my experience with deployment of the solution?
We have not encountered any deployment issues. In fact, we had possibly one of the most successful activations that I have ever been through putting an HR/payroll system in place. Our activation consultant went above and beyond to ensure our activation went as smooth as possible. She shared reports with us that assisted immensely with running dual payrolls and comparing one payroll to the other.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
No issues with stability or reliability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
No issues with scalability. In fact, we've grown by approximately 100+ employees since we first went live on the application and we've not run into any issues with the growth or expansion.
How are customer service and support?
Customer Service:
Customer service is excellent! Outstanding! Exceptional!
The support channels that every client has access to are probably the most powerful assets that clients have when partnering with Ultimate. First, after activation, every client is assigned an Account Manager (AM). This person is intimately knowledgeable about your application and all cases get routed through this person. In addition to your AM, clients have consultants related to the other modules they may have, including Time Management, Talent Management, Business Intelligence, ACA tracking, payment services (taxes & garnishments) and also accounts payable. Clients also have a Customer Success Manager, who will work as your advocate from the support side of the business, as well as an Executive Relationship Manager, that will work as your advocate from the strategic side of the business. For the times that creating a case is just not timely enough, clients have access to the Rapid Response line. For those situations when you need a resolution quickly and need assistance with something, Rapid Response is available to you as well.
The entire support group works as your partner, not as your vendor. You are a name to them, not a company ID, not a PSID or whatever the other HCMs classify you as. To Ultimate Software, I am Jack Klott, from Independent Bank.
Technical Support:
Technical support is excellent! Outstanding! Exceptional!
Whenever I do have to call the Rapid Response line, I don't have to worry that the person on the other line may not know my version, or may not know my setup or may not know about the module that I am asking about. When I create a case, either with my AM or through Rapid Response, I am confident that the case will be reviewed and a solution will be presented in a timely manner.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
The previous solution we were using did not fit with the goals and values that we felt would be necessary for us to grow as an organization. We wanted to align with a company that matched with our beliefs and would allow for us to configure a system that worked for us, not a system that we had to work around.
How was the initial setup?
Ultimate has the activation process down to a science. From the time we had our first call with the activation team, they said we should expect about a 90 day (+/-) time frame. We went live in 93 days. And we not only activated the Core HR, payroll and time management, we also activated the recruiting module, benefits admin and performance management modules all within roughly that same time frame.
What about the implementation team?
We activated in-house. Additionally, we experienced turnover within our staff during activation. We never missed a beat thanks to the process that Ultimate has in place for activation.
What was our ROI?
We've not had a true measure of ROI; however, we have measured the time savings between our previous payroll provider and Ultimate. Through our go live date of 10/2015 and 12/31/2016, we have seen a savings of approximately 16 hours in payroll processing time. For a payroll staff of 1 full-time payroll specialist, this is huge for us because it allows for her to complete other tasks that were otherwise needing to be completed by other HR staff that already had little to no capacity.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
At the end of the day, most HR/payroll applications are pretty much the same. Each system is going to have its quirks and each system is going to have it's strong points. However, no HCM you partner with is going to match the support you receive from Ultimate. If pricing is the only thing standing between you and partnering with Ultimate, work with your Sales partner. Tell them that the pricing is a concern. They will work with you as much as possible. But again, the value added from the Ultimate Software support model will always pay dividends.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
During our evaluation, we looked at Workday, Ceridian Dayforce, Paycor, ADP Workforce Now and Paycom.
What other advice do I have?
Stop waiting on hold and partner with a company that values you as a client and as an organization.
*Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Hi Jack, thank you for providing us with feedback. We're happy to hear you are enjoying your experience with us. It was great to see you at Connections. Enjoy your day!