Today, companies of all sizes have the opportunity to transform their talent management operations to be more effective and efficient. In the area of hiring management systems, small and medium-sized companies now can leverage technology and process improvements once only available to large enterprises. Great gains come from the combination of best practice processes, software as a service technology, Internet connectivity, and on demand availability.

This technology is here to stay, but what of the names and acronyms used to describe it? Are the terms application service provider (ASP), software as a service (SaaS), and on demand interchangeable? As you explore the implementation of a solution for your company, it is valuable to be conversant with both the definitions and benefits.

Definitions

ASP stands for application service provider. This model has shrunk in scope. At best, it is now merely synonymous with hosted application management. ASP is limited to hosting applications for companies that were bought and web-enabled. This is a halfway alternative to traditional on premise license, packaged software and an evolutionary step towards total outsourcing. The limitation is that it is single tenant: it is not the same line of code supporting all clients.

SaaS stands for software as a service. Many define the concept as a software solution that is designed specifically for a web delivery and supported by a vendor as a service. It is multi-tenant: all clients are supported by the same line of code. That is a great benefit since true economies of scale can be achieved.

On demand has been called a business model that is agile, fast to react, and that leverages a shared infrastructure and a subscription model.

Advantages

Regardless of the nuances of the terms used, the on demand model of software delivery has important benefits. The first benefit is mainly in the cost-effectiveness to a company for the service – especially in comparison to the total cost of ownership (TCO), the true costs of owning software.

The on demand model reduces the IT resource allotment for implementation and maintenance, and avoids the pain of needed upgrades. It takes all the weight off of the customer and allows the vendor to manage all the complexity and take ownership. IT resources are freed up to manage other projects, rather than hosting an application.

Since service is delivered through a web browser, users can access the application from an Internet-connected computer anywhere. Additionally, contracting for on demand software results in faster implementations and lower risk.There is no software to buy. For staffing, you can cost-effectively contract for a complete online eRecruiting service—including an easy-to-use hosted career site on the Internet. Set up and configuration is quick so you can process applicants almost immediately.

Competing for Talent

In our current competitive business environment, small and medium-size companies require a successful candidate sourcing strategy to compete well for talent. A strong sourcing strategy produces numerous candidate applications and information, and requires filtering and assessing candidates to make the right hire.

Up until now, managing the hiring process has created an administrative burden for SMEs. Today, SMEs can improve business performance by streamlining those hiring processes with self-service talent management applications delivered on demand, as software as a service.

This can be the platform for:
 

• Requisition management
   
• Careers website management
   
• Job postings
   
• Approval processes
   
• Candidate management
   
• Campaigns by email
   
• Contact management
   
• Employee referrals
   
• Prescreening and ranking
   
• Interview management
   
• Reference and background checks
   
• Reporting and analysis

Big Benefits for SMEs

Without making a large technology investment, SMEs can land top talent quickly and reduce cost per hire. In the past, only large organizations could afford the resources necessary to deploy enterprise applications. Now small and medium size organizations can reap the same benefits by sharing the same infrastructure and code as their large enterprise counterparts. They can leverage the years of development and refinement focused on large companies to meet their needs.

SMEs today can post their job openings on the web, network for candidates, manage their hiring processes with ease and compete for quality talent. SMEs can be the best at what they do in a more local market with limited resources. They can build a strong employer brand and use technology tools such as Taleo Business Edition to support quality talent management just like big business.

About Author

Alice Snell (asnell@taleo.com) is Vice President of Taleo Research . The specialty research practice analyzes the best practices and economics of talent management. Taleo Research focuses on critical issues and key trends in talent management that impact organizational performance. Taleo Research is the strategic research division of Taleo, which provides on demand talent management solutions for organizations of all sizes, worldwide.

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