It is virtually 10 years to the day when I first started looking into e-recruitment software and here we are again; but this time it is social media technology. So what can I take from the last 10 years?
ATS vendors
E-recruitment systems, generally now referred to as applicant tracking systems (ATS), have moved on quite a lot. Yet there is still so much more of the market to consolidate; both an amalgamation of vendors and, conversion of more customers. Pretty much every business has a website and some kind of accounts package, I would think that any company with >500 employees warrants some kind of ATS yet we are seeing nothing like this - yet!
Of course, that was web 1.0 and systems were generally stand alone although XML did start to make it easier to integrate other systems/modules. But now we are in the web 2.0 world, full of platforms and widgets, making it a lot easier to deploy many technical solutions.
Challenges
The ATS vendors were pretty much focused on just selling software and still to this day don't really place a significant amount of effort on helping the client make the most of their online presence. Arguably the job of the ad agency but that's another post.
With the social media technology we have quite an interesting split. Those that want to just provide technology such as Ning, Kickapps and Awareness and those that want to provide technology AND help you build a community such as Mzinga and Xenial.
The client needs to ensure they budget for sufficient resources to make a success of the community as technology alone will deliver nothing.
Selecting a technology vendor
So how do you decide which option to go for? Ning and Kickapps let you just sign-up and go whereas Mzinga and no doubt Awareness will want to make sure you have a well though out business model in order to justify enterprise pricing. Obviously with any kind of technology project the business case and objectives should be clearly defined but with a community project, it isn't right for everyone to create a community. Depending on what you are trying to achieve there are many other options. But, assuming you are going to create a community, what do you need to think about with your technology solution?
Functionality
The low cost platforms tend to sit on open source software such as MySQL and PHP which have their own issues being open source although many developers will argue that OS is better. That aside, depending on the community you are creating, your own IT department may not have the skills to support it in anyway if using an OS architecture.
The OS platforms also tend to have less functionality and less flexibility (nothing to do with OS). However, do you really need all the bells and whistles? If not, why have a rolls royce if a ford will do.
My key challenge will be to create functional specifications across vendors so I can be clear what functionality differences there are to justify any cost differential/benefits.
Customisation
A phrase recently doing the rounds in the ATS world was 'configuration NOT customisation'. A lot of people had their fingers burn't with customisation although some clients still have a legacy system due to this (and don't always realise!). As far as networks are concerned, Ning for example do allow you to edit some of the source code but still host the network for you. It does give you more flexibility but results in missing out on automatic updates unless you want to work out any issues and code accordingly.
Mzinga offer greater flexibility and control over functionality but of course there is a cost to this; albeit balanced against greater flexibility. This also gives you the opportunity to build a more specific experience for your members which should result in higher returns.
Integrated service
Ning, Kick Apps and Awareness offer pretty much a network only whereas Mzinga offer online learning, network technology and community services to the extent that you could in theory outsource your entire community needs to Mzinga. Xenial also offer more than just technology and are the JV partners with Mothercare for Gurgle.com.
Technical infrastructure
Reliability will of course be important to members so the technical architecture will of course be key. I have personally found Ning a little flaky on occasions but considering the number of networks they support, they will not consider this to be acceptable and will no doubt see uptime as mission critical and do something about it. In the last few weeks it does appear to have stabilised!
Membership data
Having your membership data held by a third party, particularly outside of the EU, may cause some organisations concern. Some of the ATS vendors have addresses this, some haven't. The key issue for me will be migrating from one platform to another and how easy this will be should needs change.
Reporting
ATS vendors really did seem to miss the point around reporting but are now integrating with third party solutions. Part of the value of a community is 'insight'. This can range from discussion topics, volume around topics, product data (what/where/why bought), engagement levels etc. The kind of data required needs to be defined up front and the reporting options assessed in advance. Again, some will be more focused on member activity reporting than others.
Company stability
The size of the vendors vary quite dramatically but with Mzinga claiming to be the largest with circa 150 employees, none of them are exactly Global power houses. Does this matter? Not to me, but the likes of Cisco and P&G (who have networks) may have more interest in this.
Clearly no one wants their technology vendor to disappear overnight but to be honest, ATS vendors have managed to survive so hopefully network vendors will do as well. Furthermore, with it being such early days there is a hell of a lot of land grab to go, new companies to appear, and investment/acquisitions to take place.
What next
My aim over the next few weeks is to get into more detail around the various technical options and pro/cons of each. I have three current community projects already signed off with others in the closng stage so have a real need to get to the detail sooner rather than later. Having been through the process with ATS vendors I am confident in getting to where I need to be.
I'll update people as we go to help people make the right decisions with building their communities.
