OUTDATED TO OUTSTANDING: MODERNIZING YOUR PEO

With the continuous rise of AI and automation, every company – and PEO – is feeling the pressure to modernize. Keeping up with the Joneses has never been a more acute feeling for businesses struggling to adapt to the changing environment than right now, and that feeling isn’t entirely misplaced. As the digital transformation rolls on and our industry evolves, questions like “What outdated processes do I need to reengineer?”, “How do I drive efficiencies while not alienating my clients?”, “How can I equip my team with modern skills, not just new technology?”, and ultimately, “What’s the right step forward for my business?” may be increasingly at the front of your mind.

IDENTIFY THE RIGHT AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT

While addressing the challenges above is necessary if a company hopes to survive and thrive in the shifting landscape, it’s critical not to modernize your business just for modernization’s sake. For PEOs who have consistently provided high-touch customer service, a balance between modernization and personal touch must be struck. In that space, efficiencies are driven, your team is empowered, and your clients are satisfied. Easy, right? Rest assured that through modernization, you can achieve your goal of building a commercially successful, innovative and secure PEO that provides your customers with the best experience.

However, before you take any steps to evolve your business, you must first identify why you’re modernizing in the first place. Identifying an over-arching goal like the ones mentioned above is a good start, but breaking that goal down into several sub-categories will help drive actions to achieve your goal. Scaling efficiently to meet customer demand, improving enterprise valuation, retaining top talent, and strengthening your competitive advantage are a handful of noteworthy objectives. From those sub-categories, determine areas of improvement. Completing this exercise of identifying your unique needs will not only help you with next steps, but also help you clearly communicate with your team when changes are eventually implemented.

Everyone is in a different stage in the journey to modernize. Many PEOs, for example, rely on 20+ year old technology and use the same processes since roughly that same time. If you’re one of those PEOs, it’s time to examine that technology and those processes. If you used to offer only payroll and benefits but now provide a host of other services (hiring assistance, performance management, time and attendance, learning management, etc.), consolidating to a single software or a few platforms – instead of ten or twenty – could be another area to examine for improvement. Start developing relationships with alternative software providers to identify ways that they can help you consolidate the tools your team is using while providing the latest look and feel to your clients.

Carefully consider each platform your business uses, and each functional area, to see if there is room for consolidation. For example, does your learning management platform also offer a performance management module? If so, that could be one area of consolidation. What about your team’s collaboration platforms? If they are using multiple – be it Zoom, GotoMeeting, MS Teams, Slack, or others – eliminate confusion and increase collaboration by choosing one. Consider your CRM. Is it integrated with your other platforms? If you don’t have one, it may be time to ask whether your business size dictates the use of a CRM system to drive consistent workflow for repeatable results.

Onboarding and upskilling are internal processes that have room for an upgrade as well. To help retain talent and more easily integrate new hires into your established workforce, explore tools that help standardize their experience. Google Classroom is just one tool to educate your new hires. A key item that many companies forget is that without hands-on application to make sure information is being absorbed, even the greatest training program is sub-optimal. When upskilling, a policy of training, testing, additional training on missed items, and then further testing, is crucial to true mastery of a skill.

OUTSOURCING AND AI: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

Modernizing your business isn’t just about implementing technology, consolidating platforms, upskilling your workforce, or improving internal processes. It should also encompass two massive changes moving through the PEO world right now: outsourcing basic tasks and augmenting resources with AI. Outsourcing, while having been around for a long time, is increasingly being deployed by your PEO competitors. Although outsourcing can lead to cost savings and efficiencies (just like AI), it needs to be done with care. When choosing what to outsource, make sure you do not outsource your direct connection with your customers or processes that are rapidly evolving or sophisticated.  Be highly selective about what tasks you outsource and what you retain in-house, how you manage the relationship to ensure quality work, and what safeguards and best practices you implement to protect sensitive data, including encryption, access controls, and regular monitoring. Finally, when formalizing your relationship with outsourced providers, ensure you have good SLAs in place, strong data/IP protection, quality control checks, comprehensive communication, and robust contingency plans.

AI presents – and will continue to do so as processing gets smarter and faster – massive opportunities to drive productivity and improve both internal and external satisfaction at your company and with your clients. AI can assist in filling knowledge gaps and provide insights into process improvements. Increasingly, most common tools such as the MS Office suite, incorporate AI assistants into their applications, providing even more opportunities for increased productivity.

While AI impacts the personal touch your team provides, it doesn’t have to do so negatively. Virtual assistants, automated communications, AI-driven CRM, data analytics for personalized customer service, and streamlined repetitive tasks are only a few of the practical ways that AI can empower your team to save time. Time saved can then be reinvested into engaging with customers, strengthening relationships, and providing the level of personal touch that your clients are accustomed to. By incorporating automation, your team can provide proactive service, better responsiveness, and operational efficiency.

Managing change and introducing new technologies and processes will look different for each company. To start, make sure your team knows that change is coming and then communicate the core objectives and the reasons behind the transition, whether that be improving the client experience, implementing ‘X’ system or streamlining processes. In this communication, establish a clear timeline. This will not only provide a ‘light at the end of a tunnel’ but also keep your team on task. Finally, train your employees to ensure smooth adoption, establishing internal leaders to drive results and subject matter experts (SMEs) who can help ensure accuracy. Throughout the process, maintain structured communication to drive engagement and minimize internal resistance to change.

In the current environment, it is not a choice to modernize – either you do so or go the way of the dinosaurs. The future belongs to those who innovate. You should fully embrace, not fear modernization. By identifying clear areas of improvement within your company, evaluating new technologies, and empowering your team through the process, you will truly lead our industry into the future.