Have there been any significant changes in recruitment practices over the last 12-18 months that have influenced software development?
The economy has had quite a big impact on recruitment practices over the last couple of years and the ease and cost effectiveness of software and technology has helped many organisations find new ways to cut costs. This has led to an increased trend towards RPO and Vendor Management models and many of our clients using web technology to offer innovative 'added value' services to their clients, to help set themselves apart and create new revenue streams. It has also fuelled the 'poacher turned gamekeeper' scenario, creating a new corporate interest in combining advanced recruitment tools with corporate applicant tracking facilities.
What about the advancements in mobile technologies and the growing emergence of social networking sites?
I don't think social networking has been the magic 'one size fits all' solution that many thought it would be; it is just another valuable tool in an ever growing arsenal. Moving forward, the key will be to examine how recruiters can effectively and simply integrate these additional channels into their day to day lives, both in terms of best practices and technology.
For mobile technologies it's been the Recruitment Apps that have been grabbing the headlines in recent months. Developers who have created Apps are trying to give recruiters an alternative way to access limited parts of their recruitment database. We question the long term gains and necessity of this compared to web based systems like eploy® where all functionality can already be accessed on any internet enabled smartphone or tablet device, no matter the make or model!
Apps for direct use by candidates have more merit as they act as a complimentary service tool i.e. to push job alerts or to capture registrations - only time will tell how successful they will be.
eploy has backed web-based recruitment solutions from the start; do you think this has given you an advantage in the recruitment software market today?
Absolutely! From the beginning when everyone had dial up connections, we decided this would be the future of software delivery and concentrated solely on developing web based features. This means we are now streets ahead of other web based systems and are completely browser / operating system independent - meaning eploy can be accessed on any internet-enabled device, even the Wii or GoogleTV!
Old client server systems can only try and emulate SaaS with remote desktops, VPN's or cumbersome add-ons or, as a last resort, by acquiring companies that have the technology required. And many providers of recruitment systems have done just that, 'bought in' functionality through acquisitions of other software firms. The difficulty here is if you have several disparate systems built on very different platforms, you cannot offer the level of cohesion that recruiters need. Developing a single system that can be tailored for all recruitment styles has given eploy a great advantage.
And finally, what are eploy's plans 2011?[Christopher Bogh]2010 was a record year for eploy with sales up over 60%. We had particular success with forward thinking Agencies, RPO's, Executive Recruiters and Corporate Users and we are now looking to build on this success. In terms of priorities, we do have some very exciting announcements to make in 2011, but fundamentally it's about making sure that our core eploy system, in terms of its day to day features and usability, is the best it can be technically. By continuing to work closely with our clients we will also be looking at advancing mobile and social technologies, and planning future developments in line with the strategies of our own technology partners? Google and Microsoft.
Christopher Bogh is the co-founder and Technical Director of eploy®, a market leading provider of enterprise class recruitment systems.