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SUMMARY
Applicant Tracking Systems 2002: Industry Analysis & Buyer's Guide
(Enterprise Edition) by the Electronic Recruiting Exchange, Inc. (ERE),
brings together customer satisfaction ratings and a hands-on technical
evaluation of 13 leading applicant tracking systems currently being used by
internal staffing departments at large- and mid-sized organizations. The report
contains customer feedback and expert product analysis on systems being offered
by vendors like HotJobs Software, BrassRing, Webhire, Personic, Recruitsoft,
Hire.com and others.
In February and March of 2002, ERE surveyed its 20,000+ subscribers to determine
which applicant tracking systems staffing departments are using the most.
Results show that 85% of the 638 qualified survey participants indicate use of
an ATS purchased from a third-party vendor. Six percent indicated that their
organization built its own ATS, while eight percent indicated that their
organization does not currently use an ATS.
A further breakdown of the data shows that 59% of the participants indicating
use of a third-party vendor system are employed by mid-to-large size
organizations. This market sub-group is defined by ERE as "enterprise"
and includes organizations with greater than 500 employees.
Among that survey group, the following products received the most indications as
the organization's current, primary ATS. These products are featured in-depth in
the report:
- Alexus 5,
by Alexus International
- BrassRing Enterprise,
by BrassRing Inc.
- E-Cruiter Enterprise,
by Workstream Inc.
- Employ!
by Deploy Solutions
- Hiring Center 3.2,
by Hire.com
- Kenexa Recruiter,
by Kenexa
- Peopleclick Vision,
by Peopleclick
- RecruitingCenter,
by Recruiting Solutions International, Inc.
- Recruitmax Corporate HR Edition,
by Recruitmax
- Recruitsoft Enterprise Staffing
Solution,
by Recruitsoft
- Resumix 6,
by Resumix, Yahoo! Inc.
- SoftShoe 2.3,
by HotJobs
- Webhire Recruiter,
by Webhire, Inc.
In addition to the 13 products listed above, the
report also features brief profiles of the applicant tracking offerings of ERP
vendors PeopleSoft, Oracle, and SAP.
Customer Satisfaction: Key Findings
To compare customer satisfaction to actual system performance, Applicant
Tracking Systems 2002 (Enterprise Edition) focuses on feedback from
recruiting professionals at large- and mid-sized organizations, including many
top Fortune 500 companies. In addition to the feedback on the highlighted
products listed above, the report contains overall customer satisfaction metrics
that include all survey participants who indicated they are using an
off-the-shelf ATS.
While it has been a tough year financially for vendors and customers alike —
volume is down across the board — the good news is that the products are
maturing, and providing greater satisfaction for buyers:
- Customers are pleased with the overall
performance of their current ATS. Sixty-seven percent of the 545 respondents
using an off-the-shelf ATS claim to be satisfied or very satisfied with
their current product.
- Concerns about costs seem to have plateaued,
with more respondents claiming none, minimal, or reasonable hidden costs of
implementation. Last year, barely 50% of surveyed customers indicated
approval of their vendor's implementation time and costs; this year, that
percentage has increased to 64%.
| How
satisfied are you with your current, primary ATS? |
How
would you describe any unexpected or hidden costs from your current ATS? |
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| n=545 |
n=545 |
Feedback Measures
To measure how well vendors are meeting customer expectations for system
performance and service, ERE analyzed feedback from customers who indicated they
are current users of one of the 15 profiled products. ERE measured their level
of satisfaction on a variety of performance and service issues, including:
- Implementation time and costs
- Customer service, training and technical
support
- Ease of use
- Reliability
- Ability to customize
- Likeliness to recommend to a colleague
ERE also surveyed customers about their level of
satisfaction with specific ATS features, including:
- Requisition approval
- Job posting
- Resume processing
- Candidate workflow
- Reporting
- Scheduling
- Pre-screening
- Searching
- Communications
Product Evaluation and Testing
New this year in Applicant Tracking Systems 2002 (Enterprise Edition),
ERE introduces detailed product evaluation and testing of each product reviewed,
conducted by ATS technology consultant Ed Newman of Newman Consulting Group, who
has assisted hundreds of companies with ATS selection and implementation over
the last seven years. His in-depth technical evaluation of each system, covering
15 performance areas and over 40 specific ATS features, gives buyers of the
report an up-close-and-personal look at the top systems.
"The systems are improving. Many of the products are five years old or
less, and we are starting to see product maturity — there are more
configurable options," at the system level and the end-user level, said Mr.
Newman.
As an implementation expert, Mr. Newman also has first-hand knowledge of
customer demands and requirements — and of how well the vendors are
keeping pace. Among the general improvements in applicant tracking systems over
the past 12 months, Mr. Newman cites the growing number of complete solutions
that provide better support for front-end career site functionality, employee
career profiling and self-nomination, employee referral processes, and agency
management, in addition to the traditional requisition/applicant tracking
features. Customers, observes Mr. Newman, have started to think globally about
their talent management platforms and are increasingly demanding multilingual
support.
Conclusion
Whether your organization is evaluating current ATS offerings for the first
time, or evaluating competing products, Applicant Tracking Systems 2002
(Enterprise Edition) provides detailed product evaluations and in-depth
analysis that are critical to making a successful, well-informed decision.
Click here to order online!
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