Martin Personnel, a respected recruitment agency that operates across the entire recruitment spectrum, has cut the time it takes to process timesheets, payroll and invoices from days to hours. The company has also attracted new clients and made candidate CV selection and processing more efficient – with the installation on Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
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Bottlenecks preventing growth
“We had a number of bottlenecks in our system, particularly in the way we processed timesheets and invoices,” says Mark Douglas, owner and director of Martin Personnel.
"I predict our productivity will increase by another 50 percent in the next two years thanks to this software.”
Mark Douglas
Director
“Because we operate on a week-by-week basis for our temporary placements and can have up to three hundred temps on individual jobs, we would be busy for days validating the hours for individuals, transcribing the hours to invoices and then sending invoices to clients. It wasn’t difficult, just time-consuming. To build the business and stay competitive we needed more effective, quicker processes.”
The company needed to:
• Reduce time to process timesheets and payroll
• Speed up candidate selection processes
• Enhance employee productivity
• Provide clients with visibility of job and financial information
• Improve communication with and experience for clients and candidates
• Provide a framework for continued growth
A customised solution to meet all requirements
As Douglas investigated the solutions available on the market, he quickly realised that there was nothing that would exactly fit his particular requirements off the shelf. After speaking with Mark Smith and the team at Magnetism Software Solutions, a systems integration and development company specialising in Microsoft Dynamics CRM and xRM solutions, Mark Douglas was found a solution – an integrated and customised Microsoft Dynamics CRM solution to meet all of Martin Personnel’s requirements.
The first phase involved installing Microsoft Dynamics CRM and integrating it with the current financial system, then automating the timesheets and invoicing process.
“Because we have many different people all working different hours for different customers, at different pay rates – not to mention dealing with issues like holiday pay, sick days and KiwiSaver – no out-of-the-box CRM or payroll system came close to doing what we wanted. The Microsoft Dynamics CRM system allows us to perform all of these functions and also directly interfaces with our bank account and the IRD, and then emails payslips directly to candidates. Tasks that took days before can now be accomplished with a few clicks.”
“Once we had the basics covered for our own internal users, we concentrated on opening up the system to our clients via a secure portal, which includes customised dashboards, invoice history, candidate history, monitor KPIs, timesheet approvals, occupational health and safety submissions, and incident tracking,” says Douglas.
Through the portal, clients have more control over the whole process. This offers Martin Personnel a competitive advantage, by freeing up internal resources and offering a unique client functionality which no other agency offers.
An interactive candidate section portal was developed, so job seekers can build their own online CV and apply for appropriate jobs. This enables consultants to conduct searches quickly and easily to find candidates who fit specific requirements. This ‘pre-vetting’ saves hours of sorting through CVs to match the right combination of experience and skills to fill positions.
Microsoft Dynamics CRM has provided Martin Personnel with a solution that:
• Allows staff a snapshot of the business through Microsoft Outlook with one click
• Stops replication – data only entered once
• Is easy to use, more efficient and has less chance of error
• Improves accuracy through automation of payroll and invoicing
• Provides clients with access to job and financial information
• Allows candidates to update their own details
Saving time and improving communication
The benefits to Martin Personnel were immediate.
• 120 hours per week saved in processing time
• Payroll takes 35 minutes instead of 3 days
• More environmentally friendly (less paper)
• Clients and candidates have more control and visibility of each job
• Operational costs lowered and passed on to clients as savings
• Streamlined candidate selection process
• Consultants now able to interview 6 to 8 candidates per day compared with 2 to 3 previously
• Candidates can conduct tests online, saving travel time
• Candidates can preregister online meaning the time required in the office is reduced by significantly
“Our business is unique and finding an ‘off-the-shelf’ solution was not possible. But with the right foundation – Microsoft Dynamics CRM – we have been able to create a customised solution which is more efficient and enables us opportunities to grow. I predict our productivity will increase by another 50 percent in the next two years thanks to this software.”
Looking to the future
The next step for Douglas is to get other similar businesses on board, using the Martin Personnel infrastructure and software to help manage and pay their staff. This would allow a significant reduction in their overhead structure and allow them to increase their profitability.
Microsoft Dynamics has delivered the tools to Martin Personnel that allows the company to make smarter business decisions and brings a 20-year old company to the cutting edge of CRM solutions.