At Harvest HCM we offer a full suite of talent management products including performance management, compensation management, succession planning, and total rewards software. All of our new prospects come to us with very different needs. Some prospects are only looking for one module, while others need the entire suite. It is extremely common that organizations come to Harvest with a current performance management system and only need a compensation management solution.
We often get asked how difficult it is to integrate another performance management solution with our compensation solution. From our perspective, bringing over the performance score is as easy as bringing over any other field, such as first name or last name. Typically in a pay for performance environment the merit or bonus matrix is all based on the performance score. All of the calculations behind the scene in the merit and bonus matrix are typically handled in the compensation module.
So of course it is possible to integrate, in fact it is usually pretty simple to integrate performance management and compensation management solutions. There are hundreds of performance management vendors and we have found that the majority of those organizations don’t handle compensation management for a complex enterprise. So if you’re happy with your performance vendor, but their compensation module won’t work, don’t be overly concerned that you have to switch out both modules to find one vendor to fit all your needs.
Your organization’s IT department may tell you that the system has to be fully integrated, or that you have to use the HRMS modules. Typically, these suggestions only benefit the IT group. As an HR professional, it is always important to ask yourself the following questions when IT is trying to push you towards any integrated solution:
Will the system be purchased out of HR’s budget or IT’s budget?
Will the system be maintained ongoing by HR or IT?
If the answer to either of the questions above is HR, then your team should have a say in which system will benefit the organization the most.
Of course, as an integrated solution we would prefer our prospects use all of our modules instead of other vendors’ products, but it is absolutely not a requirement. Large HRIS and Talent Management Suite vendors are now in the business of scaring the buyer into thinking one solution is the only way. Unfortunately, there isn’t one vendor that does everything well. Many times best of breed is the best thing for the organizations and especially the end user.