Blowing its own trumpet
17 February 2010
When Talascend decided it needed to replace its creaking server-based systems, it turned to Bullhorn’s integrated software solution.
The Challenge
With a presence on three continents and employing more than 1,100 staff, Talascend, a global engineering and construction resourcing consultancy, was looking for a system where every piece of information coming into and out of the company could be shared, especially among the recruitment consultants.
Russell Dalgleish, managing director of Talascend Europe, said that following the company’s expansion and its takeover by MPS Global in 2008 (the combined company continuing under the Talascend name), it became clear that its recruitment system had several shortcomings, mainly in the lack of communication among recruitment consultants within the organisation.
“With the old email system, our consultants were spending 50-60% of their time in Outlook rather than in the CRM [customer relationship management] system,” he said. “Unfortunately, Outlook doesn’t share information.”
Talascend needed a system that would allow all employees to access real-time updated records, including the latest email communications, calendars and recruiting tools. And as well its application challenges, Talascend, also faced the problem of having to rely on a server to host its global operation. The system was non-SaaS (software as a service), and complex and expensive to run because being server-reliant meant the server needed hosting. “There was obvious cost savings to be made by removing the hosting of a server,” Dalgleish said, “as well as hopefully improving the speed of response.”
The Solution
Dalgleish, from an IT background himself, shortlisted five firms, among them front-office staffing and recruiting software company Bullhorn. He recognised the advantages that Bullhorn’s system offered.
Bullhorn sales director Peter Linas immediately saw a challenge in implementing its software solution to a predominantly UK and US-based company. “There are inherent differences between the US and UK in software usage” he told Recruiter. “For example, with the date field, the UK has day then month (ie 17/2/2010), but in the US the month is first, then the day (ie 2/17/2010). Then there is the postcode vs. zip code scenario, which could hamper searches, not to mention currency conversions and language regarding terminology.”
However, he said, Bullhorn’s SaaS system is highly configurable. “Bullhorn only serves recruiters’ businesses” he said. “Workflow in recruitment agencies is different to that in other corporations. The system can be changed to match an individual workflow.”
Because recruiters spend so much on email, the challenge was to stop them working individually – ‘owning’ the data – rather than sharing it. Bullhorn Mail replicates Outlook as well as integrating social media sites such as LinkedIn, “allowing recruiters to live in the product”. Bullhorn allows recruiters, sales staff and management to work together by having visibility of all activities from job orders to placement anywhere in the world and at any time. Dalgleish added: “Everything is linked, so managers can drill right down into a consultant’s file and see what’s going on.”
The cognos-IBM reporting software with Bullhorn ensures staff work to optimum efficiency. “And consultants can view contact details with previous clients online, seeing a history of dealings with that company,” he added.
Implementation was straightforward. “As we were replacing systems that were not fit for use, it didn’t take long,” said Dalgleish. He also discovered Bullhorn was a selling point in attracting the best recruitment consultants, “as we were one of the first to use this system in the UK”.
Talascend can now recruiter 24 hours a day. While the US and UK sleeps, the Indian Talascend team works to find suitable candidates. When the UK and US teams get to the office and log on, they then have suitable candidates for telecoms and engineering roles.
Linas said that users have to make a paradigm shift when using Bullhorn. “It’s a mental link to trust in the ‘cloud’ – because the server’s not in the office”.
