Why choose best-of-breed HR software over a product suite?

Most HR problems involve fixing a single problem. There is a capability gap in existing programs, and a solution is needed to fill this gap.

You then face the decision to select a tool that only fixes their problem, or to purchase a solution with extra, unnecessary features.

Rather than buying a whole new system, complete with features you don’t intend to use, here are some of the reasons to choose a best-of-breed solution over an entire product suite:

Staying up to date with the best HR practices

Best-of-breed products follow the latest best practices

It’s easy for a best-of-breed solution to stay on top of the latest practices in their functional area.

The focus of their solution means vendors can incorporate the latest processes or update their product on a regular basis.

Best-of-breed vendors can even implement the latest technical innovations into their product faster. Adding new benefits such as autosaving progress, or integrating into a new tool is easier for a best-of-breed vendor.

As a result, best-of-breed products are closer to industry best-practice in their fields. Their features can be tweaked to reflect the latest thinking and resemble the best process.

All-in-one systems require you to adopt their established practices

It is possible for modules in an all-in-one suite to stagnate. The limited feature set of an older module can mean customers are locked into an uncompromising process that doesn’t reflect their needs.

Incorporating the latest technical innovations can be difficult to roll out across an entire product suite. Some modules in a suite may look modern and feature-packed, while others will feel out of date.

The sheer size of a product suite means all modules cannot reflect the best practice in all areas. Some will be more up to date than others, and some will have fallen by the wayside.

All-in-one suites will be slower to respond to industry change. New processes or ideas will take longer to be implemented in product suites. This makes product suites reactive, using existing ideas rather than creating a new way of working.

Updates and new features

New Best-of-breed features are released fast

Best-of-breed solutions are updated on a regular basis, with new features being added all the time at no extra cost.

The team of developers on a best-of-breed solution have fewer products to focus on. Their time and resources are spent on a product that only performs one function.

Everything the developers do is to improve the functionality of their product in one key area.

It’s easier for a best-of-breed vendor to customise their solution to a customer’s specific needs. New, and often customer specific, features can be added as required.

The tighter focus of a best-of-breed product makes it easier for new features to be added as customers require them.

All-in-one updates are varied and take time

Developers for all-in-one products have several modules to work on. Their time and resources are spread thinner over an entire suite of features.

The most used features will be given preference, and updates need to take a generalist approach for universal use.

In the example of employee onboarding, it is often a rigid feature with little updates. An onboarding module is not a tool that gets used by the whole HR team every day, meaning that regular development time will be dedicated to more traditional product modules.

This leaves the onboarding module as a rigid and limited product feature. All it takes is for one step in a process to fall outside of the module’s capability to break the onboarding process.

Integrations

Best-of-breed integrations

Many best-of-breed apps are designed to integrate with each other. The vendors know organisations their product performs one function, and that data must be carried across multiple programs.

Integration between best-of-breed apps either exists in the product already, or is easy to do. The technology space is fast approaching the stage where organisations could make their own all-in-one suite by integrating best-of-breed products together.

Factoring integration into the design of best-of-breed apps, making APIs publically available, and simplifying the extraction of data from programs makes it easy to use best-of-breed apps together, or in conjunction with a product suite.

All-in-one integrations

The modules in an all-in-one suites already communicate with each other, and so product suites prefer to keep data internal.

The complexity of product suites means integration can be difficult. There are more factors that need to be considered, and more possibilities for the integration to break.

All-in-one product vendors would prefer users to stay within their programs, and so integrations are discouraged.

All it takes is one broken integration to lose hours in redundant data entry between systems.

Implementation

Best-of-breed implementation is fast and requires fewer stakeholders

The simplicity of best-of-breed solutions means you can start using the product almost instantly. Some products are available immediately after purchase, while more configurable products like HROnboard can be setup and running within 48 hours.

The focus of best-of-breed makes it faster to drive value from the product. You’ll have a very clear idea of what the product does and how it is used.

Simple integration and customisation means many best-of-breed apps have self-configuration setup. Self-configuration removes the need for expensive consulting costs and setup expenses.

It is possible for a user with little technical skill to setup and start using a best-of-breed product in a short while after purchase.

All-in-one setups usually require a full implementation team and project

The complexity of all-in-one solutions means setup takes longer. There are more modules to configure, more functions to convert over to the new system, and more information to be handled by the product.

The configuration process can be cumbersome, and a large chunk of time is spent connecting the system with other programs, including the modules within the suite.

So which one solves HR problems better?

Best-of-breed is dedicated to a specific solution

A best-of-breed solution performs its function to the best of its abilities. Every feature and element of the product is dedicated to providing the best solution and giving users the best experience.

The focus of a best-of-breed product means everyone in the organisation loves what the product does and what it aims to achieve.

The only thing you need to consider is whether the particular best of breed tool actually solves your problem or whether it’s more of a ‘nice-to-have’. There’s no point purchasing and implementing systems that you won’t get value from, no matter how great the software is.

HROnboard, as an example of best-of-breed employee onboarding software, takes employee onboarding beyond the regular procedural side we all know so well. Our team’s dedication to employee onboarding means new hires are looked after before their first day and beyond in their onboarding journey. We actively develop new features every quarter to make the employee onboarding process as awesome as it can be.

This level of dedication can be seen across many best-of-breed vendors in a variety of HR functional areas. Best-of-breed vendors need to be fanatical about the purpose of their product, since it that is the fundamental reason why customers adopt it.

All-in-one solutions compromise to help you in multiple areas

All-in-one vendors have more areas to cover in their product. As a result, they can’t focus too much on one area of their product, which you need to weigh against the benefits of purchasing from one vendor in one large project.

All-in-one vendors are more generalist in nature. Their knowledge is spread across multiple areas, instead of concentrated on one topic, as they’re trying to provide you with a mix of solutions.

This is reflected in the modules of their product. In the context of onboarding, modules often cover the basic paperwork side of onboarding for HR but neglect the potential for engaging your new hires.

As the onboarding module will not always have features to help you engage with these new employees, it will often fall to HR to create workflows in other modules to accommodate.

Try HROnboard for yourself today

If your organisation’s specific problem is employee onboarding, you can request a trial of HROnboard below.

You won’t want to look at another all-in-one onboarding module ever again!