Principal Asset

Recruiting Firm Enhances Processes and Opportunities with Collaboration Solution

Principal Asset is a dynamic national recruiting firm that needed a more effective way of supporting employee collaboration. The firm upgraded its client computers to the Windows Vista™ operating system and the 2007 Microsoft® Office system and deployed a portal solution based on Microsoft Office SharePoint® Server 2007. Now, the firm can grow without adding costly office space, can serve customers efficiently, and can access new business opportunities cost-effectively.

 

Business Needs

Founded in 2002, Principal Asset recruits accounting, financial, human-resources, payroll and IT professionals for businesses throughout the United States. With a workforce of just over a dozen, Principal Asset relies heavily on advanced IT resources to help it fill its many managerial and staff positions each year. Such resources include collaboration and communication tools for enabling the firm’s employees to work effectively wherever and whenever they are the most productive.

Processes are more automated, workflow is more integrated, and communications are more timely. Karen Druziako President, Principal Asset

For example, in 2003, Principal Asset President Karen Druziako enlisted the help of Microsoft® Gold Certified Partner Allarus Technology Management to build a network infrastructure based on Windows® Small Business Server 2003 and Windows Terminal Server 2003. The solution utilized Windows SharePoint® Services 2003 to provide a central contact point for recruiters based in the company’s New York headquarters and those working from home and or remote offices in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Jersey. The solution also supported communication among Principal Asset employees who work regular hours and those who work at night, such as researchers who use search engines with concurrent-user licensing limitations and recruiters who must wait until after regular working hours to communicate by phone or e-mail with job candidates.

In addition, the solution played a role in supporting the complex process of certifying job candidates for proficiency in the use of a major payroll and HR software package. Through this process, offered as a service to one of Principal Asset’s biggest clients, the firm recruits and manages certification candidates, provides training materials and testing, and, once candidates are certified, places them in job positions.

In all, the solution represented a step forward from the white boards that Principal Asset originally used for collaboration. However, with the company’s continuing growth, Druziako recognized the need for something more. “We wanted to support greater mobility among our employees, who travel extensively, and we wanted to expand the solution into an extranet, with access for clients, job candidates, and other stakeholders,” she says. “But we found that to implement either enhancement would require third-party tools, with the accompanying costs in licensing, maintenance, and support.”

Solution

On the advice of Michael Eden, President, Allarus Technology Management, Druziako decided to replace the solution with one based on a technology that could provide the desired mobile and extranet support without requiring third-party extensions: Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, part of the 2007 Microsoft Office system. As part of that initiative, Druziako also decided to upgrade all of the firm’s desktop and portable computers from the Windows XP operating system to the Windows Vista™ operating system.

Eden delivered the new intranet portal solution based on Office SharePoint Server 2007 while that software was still in beta, with plans to add extranet capabilities once the final release was available. In other future plans, he will incorporate Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 functionality into the solution.

Benefits

After the new portal solution was in use for just a few weeks, Druziako reported significant business and technical advantages over the prior solution. She also speaks well of the stability of Windows Vista and the functionality of other 2007 Microsoft Office programs, namely Office Publisher 2007 and the Office Outlook® 2007 messaging and collaboration client.

• Stronger mobile and remote support. By providing easier access for mobile and remote users, the new solution has enabled the firm to grow substantially in recent months without having to expand office space. “We are saving up to [U.S.]$5,000 in monthly rent and utilities, on top of the up-front costs of adding new furniture and IT infrastructure,” Druziako says. “Moreover, in an industry that remains very people oriented, it is a substantial advantage to have recruiters based in multiple regions with the ability to work from home, which they love.”
  
  
• Streamlined processes. Druziako says the Office SharePoint Server 2007–based solution has proven far more powerful than the previous solution, particularly for certifying candidates on the payroll software. “Processes are more automated, workflow is more integrated, and communications are more timely,” she says. “As a result, we have freed up 20 hours weekly of one administrative staff member, and doubled the number of candidates that we can certify in a given period.”
  
  
• Enhanced quality assurance. Principal Asset not only can certify more candidates on the payroll software, but also can provide stronger assurance to the vendor of those candidates’ qualifications. “Considering that it represents a significant portion of our business, it is a huge plus for us to be able to raise the vendor’s confidence level,” Druziako says.
  
  
• Cost-effective marketing. Taking advantage of templates in Office Publisher 2007 and that product’s thorough integration with Office Outlook 2007, Principal Asset’s office administrator has begun to publish a quarterly newsletter. “By not having to enlist an outside marketing-communications firm, we’ll save an anticipated $10,000 yearly even as we reach out to thousands of additional business opportunities,” Druziako says.

Druziako adds that with the future implementation of functionality from Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 to the portal solution, it will become even more powerful.

• Expanded collaboration. By incorporating new blog and Wiki templates and presence management functionality for instantly communicating product-functionality updates, Principal Asset will strive to further enhance collaboration and streamline processes.
  
  
• IT savings. The firm will also replace a legacy application for managing the recruiting process with a new solution based on an application template from Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. With this change, Druziako anticipates saving some $1,500 yearly in maintenance, licensing, and support costs.