WESTON, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ultimate Software (Nasdaq:ULTI), a leading provider of end-to-end strategic human resources, payroll, and talent management solutions, announced today that three of its customers in the insurance industry, ACUITY, Oklahoma Farm Bureau, and FCCI Services, are experiencing business value with UltiPro’s human capital management functionality, including vastly improved reporting, improved productivity with employee self-service, and streamlined recruitment.
Headquartered in Sheboygan, WI, ACUITY is a property and casualty insurer that operates in 18 states with approximately 900 employees. Prior to UltiPro, ACUITY had been using a mainframe solution without integrated HR/payroll functionality or the ability to generate real-time reports — an important element for insurance companies that must monitor workforce demographics for many employees who do not work onsite. Due to these limitations, ACUITY had to spend hours painstakingly creating and double checking reports. When company leaders decided that they wanted to acquire an integrated solution for efficiencies and improved reporting capabilities, they selected Ultimate Software after researching numerous vendors. Since going “live” in 2001, the company has made dramatic improvements in day-to-day, HR, payroll, and compliance reporting as well as strategic workforce analysis with UltiPro’s business intelligence tools.
“When using our previous system, I could not tailor reports to get what I needed quickly. For instance, it used to take me two to three days to calculate and input bonuses, but now it’s done in about half an hour with UltiPro,” said Christi Probst, payroll manager for ACUITY. “With our previous solution, I had to be so careful. Since we kept human resources and payroll records in two places, there were major opportunities for discrepancies. It was very stressful when it came to reporting. With UltiPro, it’s completely the opposite. I have every confidence that the information in the system is accurate and the integrity of the reports solid.”
The Oklahoma Farm Bureau was employing a service bureau for payroll and handling its HR data manually before it became an Ultimate Software customer in 1997. Since then, the company has grown from approximately 280 employees to nearly 1,000 employees. Like many insurance companies, the Oklahoma Farm Bureau has many locations. To improve communication and service to employees across all locations while freeing up HR and payroll associates to focus on other projects, the company rolled out UltiPro’s Web portal with employee self-service.
“Employees can access their personal human resource, benefits, and payroll information at their convenience using the Internet, so the number of phone calls from employees has dropped dramatically since we started using UltiPro’s employee self-service,” said Debbie Rudebusch, payroll manager for the Oklahoma Farm Bureau. “I can also access the solution remotely, so if there is an emergency when I’m out of the office, I can log on to UltiPro instantly and see what my team is seeing without any guessing games.”
Another component of UltiPro’s Web feature-set, UltiPro Recruitment, helps customers streamline the talent acquisition process. Insurance businesses often experience moderate turnover, and automating the recruitment process speeds the effort to find qualified people who are the “right fit” to fill open positions. FCCI Services, a Florida-based provider of comprehensive property and casualty insurance with approximately 700 employees, and an Ultimate Software customer since 2006, is using UltiPro Recruitment to give managers a more efficient way to manage open positions and track applicants. With UltiPro, managers can log into the portal to quickly review applications for open positions, evaluate candidates, and communicate quickly with candidates through letter templates in the system.
“UltiPro Recruitment makes it easier for our human resources team and managers to work cooperatively in bringing on the most talented people in our field. The system shortens our ‘time to hire’ and ensures that we are making good decisions about our new employees,” said Mercado. “Everyone who needs to be in the loop is included in the process electronically, and we can all see the status of an open position and monitor the next steps faster than before.”
FCCI’s employees are spread out geographically, so UltiPro’s Web access provides a central vehicle for managing the company’s decentralized hiring process. Managers can log into UltiPro to accomplish more than addressing their hiring needs — they can automate the candidate-to-new-hire process, input salaries, look up performance review dates and results, and perform daily tasks such as finding employees’ home phone numbers, reviewing skills and certification history, and accessing many other details about their teams.
“We chose to have UltiPro delivered through the software-as-a-service option and we are taking advantage of it to improve virtually all of our processes and services,” said Nilda Mercado, compensation analyst for FCCI Services. “Managers and employees love the convenience of UltiPro’s Web access, and HR appreciates having the tools to benefit the business without the hassles of working around upgrades or system maintenance since Ultimate Software handles those IT functions.”
“With many insurance providers as customers, we understand the needs of the insurance industry relative to human capital management,” said Greg Swick, chief sales officer for Ultimate Software. “Our reporting tools and end-to-end HR, payroll, and talent management solution arm insurance organizations with the tools they need to manage their operations efficiently and effectively.”
A leading provider of end-to-end strategic human resources, payroll, and talent management solutions, Ultimate Software markets its award-winning UltiPro products as on-demand services through its software-as-a-service (SaaS) offering, Intersourcing, and as licensed software. Based in Weston, FL, the Company employs more than 900 professionals who are focused on developing the highest quality products and services. In 2008, Ultimate Software was the first HR/payroll SaaS provider to be audited and awarded the ISO/IEC 27001:2005 Certification for security management, and its development team was named the #1 “Best Product Development Team” in the nation by the American Business Awards. Ultimate Software’s internal technology team won a first-place award for its management of Intersourcing from the American Business Awards in 2007, and its customer service team won two first-place awards in national competitions for service excellence in 2006. Ultimate Software was ranked the #1 best medium-sized company to work for in America by the Great Place to Work® Institute in June 2008. Ultimate Software has more than 1,600 customers representing diverse industries, including such organizations as The Container Store, Elizabeth Arden, Major League Baseball, The New York Yankees Baseball Team, Nintendo of America, Ruth’s Chris Steak House, and Sony BMG Entertainment. More information on Ultimate Software’s products and services can be found at www.ultimatesoftware.com.
UltiPro and Intersourcing are registered trademarks of The Ultimate Software Group, Inc. All other trademarks referenced are the property of their respective owners.