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The Questions PEOs Should Ask

You have done all your research. Gathered a group of individuals who are going to help you start your Professional Employer Organization (PEO). Now you are ready to move forward with the next step – building or changing the technical infrastructure that will take your PEO well into the future. Simple, right? Well, not really.

No One-Size-Fits-All Solution

In our industry, as in many others, there is no one-size-fits-all solution regarding technology. Any PEO must meet many diverse client needs, address a variety of different business models, and serve a wide range of operational intricacies. As a startup PEO, you have the opportunity to determine how technologies are deployed and ultimately how they will be used. Now is the perfect time to identify and plan for a variety of client needs, business models and operations.

First, Define the Experience You Want for your Clients

Any PEO, startup or existing, must address the wide range of technology know-how among their client base. In order to serve different levels of technological sophistication, it is important to have a technology strategy that is flexible enough to address different degrees of proficiency, as well as different levels of client complexities. When evaluating client needs, take into consideration how your clients and client employees may want to interact with your organization. For example, ask yourself the following:

• How will clients submit payroll data for processing?

• How will managers and supervisors access data or reports?

• Will managers and/or supervisors be able to change employee data?

• How will employees on-board and orient to the client and to the PEO?

• Can employees access or update their own data for pay, benefits, taxes etc.?

• How will new employees receive information about benefits and make benefit elections?

• How do you plan to communicate with your clients and client employees?

• What is your plan for documenting and sharing your interactions and communications with your clients?

Understand the type of experience you want for your clients and client employees in each of the scenarios above. This is an extremely important step in developing a successful strategy for your technology infrastructure. Identifying the desired client experience will help you determine the correct mix of technology solutions for your overall strategy.

Then, Begin to Explore Technology Solutions

Once you have defined the experience you want for your clients, you can then begin to explore technology solutions. Here are some important questions that you need to consider:

• There are a number of technology solutions available, but which application works best for a PEO? Specifically, for the size PEO I plan to be?

• Based on the experience you want to create for your clients, what do you need from your technology application?

  

  • Efficient multi-client payroll processing?

  • Manager and employee self-serve web portals?

  • Employee onboarding and benefits enrollment?

  • Time and labor integration?

  • Applicant tracking?

  • Tax management service integration?

  • General ledger integration?

  • Reporting?

  • Standard-based API integration?

  • Data bridges/file feeds?

• Does your team have all the skills and knowledge needed to work with the technology you are considering, and to develop the processes you will need for using that technology?

• Have you considered working with a partner with experience in PEO technology and processes who can help you bring your technology strategy together, guide your implementation through go-live, and support your organization as you grow and mature?

There’s no simple one-size-fits-all approach when developing a strategic plan for the use of technology in a PEO. The key lies in upfront discovery, as you plan for your clients’ needs, anticipate their business models and identify their operational intricacies. This upfront discovery is critical in developing a successful technology plan. In addition, knowing the type of experience your clients expect will enable you to explore options for not only meeting, but also exceeding, those expectations.

Carl Draves, EVP Information Technology, IntegreatHR Technologies

Over the past 30 years, I’ve developed a unique career combining service-oriented experience with applied expertise in information technology. No matter what industry I’ve worked in, I’ve found my niche in managing and directing the application of information technology solutions to improve operational efficiency and increase customer service.