Strategies to deploy SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central

[00:00:00] Hi everyone, thanks for joining the podcast today. Today I got my first returning guest Nick Mackelman Nick you're the first repeat guest of my podcast so congratulations as kind of a big deal. Thanks for joining me

[00:00:16] Yep my pleasure I had no idea I was the first repeat guest so I must be doing something right so thank you Imran, I'm happy to be here

[00:00:26] Yeah, I guess it helps that we talk all the time on everything so yeah, all right so you know the topic today is going to be focused completely on employees have trouble right you

[00:00:37] Live and breathe employees central everyday Nick you talk to customers everyday you talk to partners you talk to our internal experts

[00:00:43] You know it's a huge part of what you do. I know you also focus on onboarding another things, but you know you see is where your heart is right That is true. Easy is my heart started talent started many things

[00:00:56] No, all right so my audience is actually pretty familiar with success factors. I think most people probably are familiar with employee central But you know it give me your your quick overview of the Nick okay, so I'll do a very concise overview of what employees and

[00:01:11] For list and I'm going to try to do it my first thing is well I'll do it in one sentence how about that a single sentence

[00:01:17] What is employees central then I'll elaborate a little but my my single thing the best core HR system on the planet right is that is that it? That's good. I'm in run that was good All right so here's my one here's my one sentence

[00:01:35] But what you said is true my one sentence all right, so employee sense Is designed to be the system of record for employee data and organizational entities Here it okay, so that's a kind of my my single sentence now

[00:01:51] I do want to talk about the fact that we call the product employee central But it is designed to handle total workforce management what might include the contractors and contingent workers and seasonals and volunteers and retirees it can be

[00:02:07] Bit and lots of things are many different types of workers, but yeah, so on the employee side Employee central can do the entire life cycle a higher to retire and everything in between and then handle some of the more complicated stuff like confirmed

[00:02:20] Employment and global assignments and the apprentices things like that And then on the organizational side yeah, EC is the system of record for organizational entity so You have positions and job classifications and salary structures and locations and the park mix and so forth

[00:02:37] And we have some visualization tools for both the workforce and at the organizational level of as well So I can see how my Departance and class centers roll up to one another so we've got some great visualization tools at both the employee level and the organizational level

[00:02:53] And of course, it's the best age or system of the world That's a good end So you know that we talked earlier about that being you know kind of the core or the heart of things

[00:03:04] I know that's something that we talked about on the last podcast that had you on was you know how employee central is Is the the key to a lot of things right because because it is that source of the data

[00:03:16] Not only the other systems like you're onboarding and you're cruding feed that But then everywhere else gets that as the source employee data, right now I like that you talked about the contingent workforce and the the others that are because now

[00:03:32] I think that's often something that people either forget about or consider kind of later in the project Yeah, no that's exactly right yeah, and we have yeah, so Yeah, so employee central really is the heart of really the heart of everything because every organization needs an HR

[00:03:49] Solution every organization needs to know well who are my people and then every corporate system needs that data too So employee central it's the heart of our talent management suite, but it's also the heart of the SAP ecosystem as well So if I if I have Esperaana

[00:04:07] I need HR data if I have to curb or rebar fill loss I need HR data every corporate system needs HR data and that's what employees have for us Yeah, for sure. I mean even from my standpoint right I'm focused a lot on time in payroll

[00:04:20] Solution well you can't enter the time on unless you know about who the employee is and you can't pay them without a lot of HR Even right that's 10.2 so And you know I just want more things like you not only do you need to know who they are

[00:04:37] Who they will is but also like who do they work for too in what location of the in what country and what union and like all that So and that stuff like all of that data it drives like the rules and the workflows and the approvals

[00:04:50] And reports in other systems downstream so HR touches everything it's really important to have a great Solid HR platform for sure for sure and you know I know like there's always an aspiration for companies to Have a single you know if they're a global

[00:05:08] And to teeth in a global HRIS system so I know sometimes though It's pretty overwhelming to do an entire HR project right for me I implemented SAP on premise and so I still often talk to a lot of on premise customers and you know

[00:05:24] There's a lot to it. There's a lot of reasons why a customer might pause or push or put that on hold Right there might be going through an acquisition They're actually pretty busy with the data day operations You know their internal change management or politics or complications

[00:05:41] Right and so this is not only true of big companies, you know even when I talk to a mid market customers or prospects They tend to have less dedicated resources on the IT side and HR side and that also

[00:05:55] Usually means smaller budgets for these projects right so how can companies Think about that differently or you know is there a way to for them to start their HR journey You know without Yes necessarily a huge big global transformation

[00:06:12] Yeah, yeah absolutely. Yeah, so so yeah, so I agree with that I think I think every organization Espires to have one single HRIS that covers all workers in all countries around the world I think that's what every every order

[00:06:29] Espires to that but a lot of them they're not there yet Said there's a lot of organization that have what did they've grown organically or they've gone through acquisitions A lot of organizations have multiple HRSs and that has

[00:06:45] And there's a lot of just challenges in in a situation like that In all those organizations they would like to get to one global HRIS like everybody But they don't have the budget or the political will or the bandwidth To make that jump

[00:07:04] But they don't have to and that's really what I wanted to talk about today is that it doesn't have to implement Employee central globally it doesn't have to be a big bang Ripon replace camera project it could be and some customers go down that round

[00:07:21] But it doesn't have to be you don't have to start there You can start small and just kind of focus on where the pain is and eventually get to that desired and Say and having one HRS the covers all workers all countries all legal entities

[00:07:37] Yeah, okay, so let's jump into that a little bit more so Give me some real examples of them right because yeah, of course everyone wants the global Plattform because you want to be able to get a singular head count report easily right I mean that's

[00:07:51] One of the goals of I know exactly how many people I have and then across those legal and two-bees and things And so you know that sometimes that might even seem unachievable

[00:08:01] So if I hear you right, what you're saying is okay, maybe we can kind of start this project in different ways So give me some of that Specifics of that what are different ways that you see EC being implemented?

[00:08:13] But you've seen actually with like some of our customers Sure, yeah, I can do all right, so let's take act me industry. So an example fictional organization they got Yeah, 10,000 employees there are 30 countries and They're trying to figure out their HR strategy so could be in that organization

[00:08:34] They they're US Central yeah, they started in the US and then they went global So they've got 10,000 employees the 7,000 of them are in the US Neither 3,000 or scattered around the world in 29 of the countries So in that case

[00:08:51] They have maybe they have a good HR solution in the home country, you know, where they started in the US But outside the US they just have whatever local solution exists in the back 30 different HR essence and maybe there's no

[00:09:07] There's no desire to do something new in the US because maybe whatever do doing the US is okay And it's fine, but the pain is the other is that they've got 30 HR Asses and every other country doesn't sell them thing and that in that environment

[00:09:23] What they could do is they could leave the US alone and just implement EC and the 29 other countries So they could just keep whatever they've got in the home country and implement EC elsewhere

[00:09:34] So in that case for act industry instead of having 30 different HR Asses at the end of the day They have two they've got one for the US because it's okay

[00:09:44] Things are fine in the US that pain was outside the US so we can solve for that and they go from 30 HR Asses to two HR Asses And then whenever the time is right they can migrate the US into that it's at that global EC instance

[00:10:01] That's not an uncommon scenario Okay, that makes sense. That makes sense So what are some other use cases? Sure. Yeah, there's there's there's Quite a few different ways that employees central could be used as as in journey yet and again Disolved for

[00:10:18] Specific pain points. So all right, so I'll continue that that same example so act the industries There are 10,000 employees 30 countries and maybe they have they've got a pretty good HR system in the US And for this 29 for this 29 other countries Maybe they have

[00:10:38] Maybe what they do is maybe they have all right, so in that example Maybe what they've done is they have Implemented whatever legacy HR is they have for all the countries where they have more than 500 employees

[00:10:53] So maybe in that case the US the US is in that instance and maybe Three or four or five other larger countries at act ministries are in their global HR Ass But for the whatever 25 countries that have less than 500 people

[00:11:10] Those countries are doing their own thing and probably with a local payroll provider So in that case What they could do is leave the countries with With more than 500 employees in whatever they've got today

[00:11:24] Because that's not the pain point the pain point or all the little countries that have 500 employees three hundred employees 15 employees that's where the pain is so maybe they start there It just to implement employee central where they have it's the long tail

[00:11:39] You know where they have less than 500 employees or less than 300 employees or whatever makes sense So that could be another approach just focus on idea as idea there. I mean, you know when you really think about like smaller

[00:11:53] Companies a lot of times you know when you first start out you don't really have a HR system of record and many cases Right you just have you know Manage your day-to-day operations and things like that and so that's the case in many different places

[00:12:09] Then I think what could make sense because you know it's also To some degree hard to get business business case justifications for implementing the HRIS and Just a few small countries, but if you kind of group that up then there there's a case to be made of hey

[00:12:26] We have these different Countries and people in it and let's go ahead and implement this HRIS and I think there's value to be had even from from that standpoint of having one for all the other places But even in terms of feeding all the the payroll

[00:12:43] Contributions that you have and different things like that too Right no exactly I think that I think that makes a lot of sense Yeah, that makes sense and then You know I know another one that I'm just thinking about is for you know

[00:12:58] Maybe certain parts of the organization right based upon what they might already be doing today is that another one Yeah, yeah, and actually no one more thought on this smaller country

[00:13:09] So one thing that I've seen in my current in my career in in HR systems is that a lot of legacy or older The HR solutions it just not cost effective to implement in this small countries

[00:13:21] That's why it never happens but with the boy central where it had to hide in the nimble and to move into a new country It's not a big deal. So that's why E.C. is actually good at tackling that long tail of

[00:13:33] Lots of countries with small user populations All right, so but getting to the next issue is Organizations an organization that has multiple HR Ss it may be so if so back to acne industries

[00:13:47] So maybe they have for whatever reason you know five or six or seven different HR Ss like cross-dewired Maybe it's a regional thing and that example it could be that some of the HR instances are through doing okay

[00:14:02] You know, maybe they're fairly new they're fairly modern and in it's okay and maybe in that example Let's say acne has seven different HR Ss and four of them are fairly new and modern not much of a problem

[00:14:16] But three of them maybe it's maybe it's a legacy on premise thing And that's the pain point in other budgeting for you know, they're gonna do it and upgrade and it's gonna be a big

[00:14:27] Project to upgrade some older technology so in that case, you know if if they have Some modern HR Ss for some part in some parts of the organization leave those alone

[00:14:38] But if there are other HR Ss that are their end of life or there's a costly upgrade that they're trying to plan for All right, well take those older HR Ss where the pain is move those to a bully sample and then the other ones

[00:14:53] That are okay take your time, you know when it's right through their organization they can move to employees and full as well So it could be just just for the parts of the organization that have you know older outdated HR technology

[00:15:06] Specifically, you know if there is a big sense that it's you know, or if there's a costly upgrade That's on our rise That makes sense and you know like I think what I'm hearing across these different examples is areas of need or areas of pain point

[00:15:23] Where it might make sense to do this and I have to also imagine right people Usually get to a place where they have multiple HR systems Through things like acquisitions over time by companies or you know different things like that

[00:15:40] You have different ventures that you go in or you expand to different regions and you try to move very Agile and Agile, I don't think that's word You try to move with agility Then you end up with this hotge podge a different system so you know

[00:15:59] I imagine that's another use case where it might make sense too, but I think the common denominator is that You don't have a central HR I asked and there's a pain point somewhere Right, all right well, let me let's elaborate on that

[00:16:12] So the first kind of example that I talked about yeah acne industries during 30 countries and they grew organically So they had you they opened up in Japan, they opened up in South Africa and whatever it is And they just went with some local HR peer provider

[00:16:28] But then it couldn't scale and they've got their challenges But the other one is In run but you just mentioned is maybe acne industries, maybe they didn't grow organically Maybe they've been acquiring companies to feed their their global expansion

[00:16:42] And those acquired companies they have their own legacy HR apps So it could so might be based on acquisitions, you know or joint ventures as well Subsidirees that are running their own solution

[00:16:57] So it should that so it could be that kind of thing where like we're the make maybe the corporate parent Has has an HRS But the the the pain point and the challenge is with an acquired company or JD

[00:17:10] And somebody can do is move those to a boy central And then and then later on when it makes sense consolidates unemployment center when the time is right So yeah, that's another way that that this plays out Okay, yeah, and they make sense

[00:17:25] And you know I also think if that's the case And you're looking at the ultimate goal of a global HRS sometimes people might not want to make that Big investment of you know a company wide transformation, right? Because there's always especially now

[00:17:41] You have to get the business justification the ROI that type of stuff So I think in many ways what you're talking about also could be a proof of concept all right across the organization

[00:17:53] Hey, we want to roll this out globally and I would hope that that the mindset that you have Ultimately getting to one HR system of record but you know I think proving it out for hey just this acquired company that we have on a burning platform

[00:18:08] Whatever the use case that you kind of mentioned that could also be a proof of concept toward More broader justification is that Do you agree oh, absolutely yeah starting a starting small you know and talking for particular pain

[00:18:23] Whether it be a country or a position whatever happens to be yeah I mean it's gonna use it as a pilot to prove one if it can work here it can work elsewhere So it'll in a lower your upfront costs for short

[00:18:35] And lower your overall risk and serve as as proof that Employment will solve your needs absolutely okay, okay That makes sense of it. I think you covered quite a bit of use cases right you have you know doing doing it by different countries

[00:18:51] Especially if that's how your HR operations are kind of laid out right I think some of it depends upon that We talked about you know parts of the org that might have different systems

[00:19:01] Then we talked about where you might be in a situation where you've acquired companies and so you're dealing with different legacy So I think that covers quite a bit of use cases any other ones that you might have

[00:19:13] Well, there's one outline or so all the ones we've discussed those are that that's the norm those are things that I see Happened all the time and there is one more use case which is a total odd that I've only seen a few times

[00:19:25] But but it has been used and that's where an organization They have whatever they've got for HR today is good enough. It's not a pain points not a challenge But the challenge might be around the total workforce it's the contractors and the contingent workers

[00:19:43] That the HR team doesn't have visibility So I have seen in a couple of cases where a customer and implement employee central Not for their employees, but only for their contractors just because the

[00:19:54] The team wants to see them like who are they where are they they want that visibility? So yeah, so that's a p we have you know field glass, which is the system to

[00:20:04] Yeah for sure contractors and pay them and invoicing and that's really the system that drives that But employee central can visualize those contractors. So you got you can see who they are

[00:20:16] And you can see who they report to when you got them the head you got the the reports and the metrics So I have seen again, it's not the norm. But I have seen and a few occasions customers start with contractors which is a little unusual

[00:20:29] But hey, you asked if there's anything else That's the last one I can think of with that one I would imagine that it has to be Someone who's existing HR platform just can't really handle contractors for one reason or not there because you know like

[00:20:45] I think the obvious use cases if it could they would just put them in that that system or I would imagine so at least Yeah, I think yeah, it's probably that whatever system they have can't do it

[00:20:57] You know or maybe for your risk or legal reasons they they really want them in two separate systems But the HR team still wants access Yeah, I've been unusual but hey, I thought in this podcast and because on the first of your first repeat guest

[00:21:13] Yeah, I wanted to add some value and talk about that stranger use cases that I've seen I like the off the wall stuff. Oh yeah, it's cool. And you know

[00:21:22] You obviously know this well, but you know we just had the press release go out for employee central over six thousand customers You know quite a big deal and you know in within that

[00:21:31] I guarantee we have a lot of different customers doing a lot of different things so you know I think it was a good discussion about you don't have to necessarily start a big global project

[00:21:42] And there are use cases where you can you know start a little bit smaller hopefully always with the intention of moving to One global platform right because that's really where the value is and then you you simplify a lot of

[00:21:55] the complications that can occur right across company hiring and all those different things that You want one single platform for Absolutely, if you have more than one HR system you've got challenges So every organization wants to get to one because that from that solves

[00:22:15] Relicional lot of complexities and solve a lot of problems But you don't have to start that that's the end state it doesn't have to be It doesn't have to be where you begin You can start small focus on the thing

[00:22:26] All right sounds good well, you know what I'm gonna give you a wild card question Nick give me your earliest memories of employee central Oh, that that is that is dangerous Because I Okay, so That's a great person Sorry there

[00:22:46] Yeah, I mean by surprise that's a wild card all right. I'm going to go way back To before employees central even existed This this is go back to God was a 2008 or 2009 I was asked to To talk to Lars Dougard or our CEO at the time

[00:23:07] To talk to him and make a pitch about hey Where talent management vendor wouldn't be great if we also had a core HR solution so I was asked to

[00:23:17] To make a pitch to Lars to say hey, we should build out a core HR solution to round out our talents We'd in you know Core HR that I mean that is the core of the system that drives everything and we should we should build that product

[00:23:30] And much as much to my surprise Lars said yeah, we're gonna do this Well that that was interesting because you know I wasn't expecting that I was expecting I don't know you to talk about the first customer or this but you actually went

[00:23:42] Pre-inception you pitching the business case to build employees central well done like I like I gotta keep you on your toes tomorrow I know You surprised me with a question so I want to surprise you with the answer All right, okay well cool all right

[00:23:58] I mean can you man can you just think about how far? You I mean must be amazing, you know I wish I could have been a fly on the wall in that room You know transport back to time and just kind of here that conversation but I can

[00:24:12] Tell me a little bit about you know the growth the maturity right going from pitching an idea to see it have 6000 customers tell me a little bit about that

[00:24:23] Wow, I can just like and say that it's been an an honor and a privilege and in the right of my life to Help launch a new global HRIS Would then see it today with over 6000 customers so it's been it's been an amazing and sometimes exhausting journey

[00:24:42] But yes, so back back in 2019 2010 to 2011. Yeah, it was it was hard. It was a challenge The product had a lot of limitations back then it was a young product We were

[00:24:56] Spiring to become a global product and we had some global capabilities too, but back then it was you know finding Customers with it with an early adopter mentality that were willing to partner with us to build out new solution Yeah, so it was finding those customers building relationship

[00:25:16] Getting their buying getting their support and and then building out the product and make sure that those first customers were successful So yeah, it was it was exciting for sure all the way from that to now you know We're talking about doing transactions with a jewel

[00:25:33] Artificial intelligence and gosh my goodness how far we've come right Yes, it's amazing and that we have over 6000 customers So I'm waiting for the day and I don't know when it's gonna be but I want the first I think I'm gonna

[00:25:47] Defraiment but whatever we have the press release that says they have 10,000 customers I'm gonna frame that and put it on my wall All right well, you know hopefully seem rather than later. All right, Nick well, you know, I cost you probably

[00:25:58] I've guarded the last two questions but you can't you join me always nice to hear your Expertise and I appreciate it Absolutely, well, thanks for having me back and maybe maybe it'll be three feet someday Yeah, maybe so all right, thanks. Bye. All right. Thank you. Bye.