PRISMHR: EMBRACING INNOVATION TO SAIL THE BLUE OCEAN

Kevin Andrews, president of PrismHR, has nothing but optimism for the future of PEOs. Andrews joined PrismHR in 2022, bringing three decades of experience in the HR technology space where he built and managed several leading organizations. Andrews shares that PrismHR’s story began nearly 40 years ago, offering an accounting system that eventually developed into a highly sophisticated software platform tailored to the unique needs of PEOs.

“We’ve come a long way,” says Andrews. “The PEO industry expects more, so we deliver more. Our commitment to innovation and helping small businesses via PEOs is unwavering.”

PrismHR, a Vensure Employer Solutions company, invests heavily in NAPEO as an Industry Champion medallion partner to support the association’s main mission to grow the PEO industry. Andrews has mapped out a vision for PrismHR that relies on a relentless pursuit of innovation to meet clients’ needs, especially around product development, technology and security.

Kevin Andrews, President, PrismHR

Andrews also recognizes that his company is competing in the technology sector with different providers outside of the PEO industry. Many businesses could benefit from partnering with a PEO, but instead opt for off-the-shelf technology platforms that offer payroll and some other HR services, stopping short of co-employment and the full suite of PEO services. To Andrews, this means his company must think strategically about how their products can help PEO clients grow and retain clients via the PEO value proposition.

“If we’re not helping our partners grow, then we don’t grow,” he notes, “We go in with the mentality to understand their business and treat it like our own. We help them offer customized solutions to clients that deliver true value and benefits specific to the PEO business model.”

Andrews indicated that many PEOs are providing a hybrid service model where a customer may not be a fit for co-employment right now, but they still need help with payroll and HR services. To align with this trend, PrismHR focuses on supporting customer business growth in both Human Capital Management (HCM) and PEO markets.

“This level of support is important because we see SMBs moving between HCM and PEO services as their needs change,” Andrews explains. “This model allows the business to stay with our customers, so they can maximize their retention and growth strategy. Prism is by far the leader in the PEO service bureau space. With our recent acquisition of Execupay and the development of our HCM technology, we are positioned to become the leader in the HCM software space in the next few years.”

THE BLUE OCEAN

Andrews feels strongly that the real opportunity for growth in the industry will come from attracting new, never-before-users to PEOs.

“From a market penetration standpoint, I see a lot of blue ocean still out there,” he says. “There’s plenty of room for the PEO industry to keep growing. PrismHR provides the critical software infrastructure that allows PEOs to do so.”

Since PrismHR serves many PEOs, Andrews has a unique vantage point. He often sees one business leave a PEO for another PEO for myriad reasons; “paint swapping” as he calls it. One PEO may gain a new client, but the industry has not actually grown.

Andrews encourages his team to think about how PEOs can tap new markets and help SMBs unfamiliar with PEOs to understand their value proposition. “Historically, the PEO value proposition has focused on back-office administration and HR help,” explains Andrews. “However, the rise in sophistication and greater availability of technology platforms means that SMBs can now buy a software subscription to handle the paperwork that entrepreneurs loathe. PEOs must integrate this technology to remain competitive and work harder to communicate the full PEO value proposition.”

PrismHR helps PEO customers understand best practices on leading with this technology. “It’s important that technology be user-friendly and intuitive,” said Andrews. “Business owners are more familiar with technology than they were 20 years ago. Today, business owners also require self-service technology options to streamline their user experience and operational efficiency. PEOs need to offer technology that clients can use and engage with comfortably and effortlessly.”

More than just offering payroll processing, PrismHR’s marketplace suite of workforce management services allows PEOs to offer multiple options to clients, making the PEO offering even more attractive to more types of businesses. PrismHR partners with a variety of providers to offer these ancillary services to support small business such as telehealth, cyber insurance, early paycards, nearshore talent and more.

“We have a robust, rich marketplace of best-in-class services for small and mid-sized businesses.” Andrews says, “PEOs leveraging these resources can help create the adaptability and customization that these businesses need in the ever-changing business climate.”

To that end, in today’s dynamic environment, technology must also align with security protocols. Cybersecurity and data privacy are essential to technology innovation and best practices. Cybercriminals continue to grow more sophisticated which means detection and prevention measures must keep up.

“One of our biggest investments is around security, we have to lead from that area. From the time I got here until now, we have 20 more people on staff who work in cybersecurity,” Andrews says.

With such large volumes of payroll and data being handled each day, it is a continuous process to invest in and improve cybersecurity measures. Protecting customer data is paramount at PrismHR and in the PEO industry as a whole.

GENERATING VALUE FROM DATA

In addition to mastering technology, PEOs can stay competitive and grow the industry by leveraging robust data tools. Data is everywhere now, but making sense of it all can be the hard part. PEOs need to know which metrics matter and the most effective ways to interpret and apply data, especially to help their business and their clients.

Andrews sees data analytics and data visualization as prime opportunities for PrismHR to bring more value to its partners. Helping clients understand data reporting can make PEOs more competitive and efficient.

“We help PEOs look at what’s driving their top and bottom line, what’s causing customer retention issues and where they can identify opportunities for growth,” Andrews explains.

PrismHR recently rolled out an enhanced version of the company’s Report Center by adding its Data Warehouse. With a new dashboard and greater report building capability, users can analyze their data better than ever before. Data visualization also helps users interpret the data.

With Report Center, a PEO can spot trends among certain niches of clients. For example, by detecting a high number of layoffs, they can anticipate and prepare for higher unemployment insurance claims. This might help the PEO address common issues or understand specific marketing opportunities for each niche. Whatever the case, PrismHR empowers PEOs to use data to make better decisions that can improve operations.

PrismHR has played an important part in helping the industry move forward. By constantly delivering industry-leading HR technology, providing innovation to expand the PEO marketplace to new users, implementing strong cybersecurity measures and leveraging stronger tools for data management and analysis, PrismHR offers its partners the resources needed to thrive in an increasingly complex environment.

“Everyone at PrismHR is committed to keep on growing and innovating,” Andrews concluded. “Our customers and this industry can count on us to continue to lead the charge and deliver the technology that helps PEOs keep Main Street thriving.”