Tools
HR is a broad field that is represented by an even broader tool landscape. There are numerous applications for almost every HR task: Recruiting, payroll accounting (okay, there's no way around DATEV), administration, time bookings, travel expense reports, performance measurement... And of course, the more tools are used, the more data can get lost, duplicated or incorrect. One software that aims to remedy this is Personio, an established all-in-one software for all the above tasks: HR management, recruiting and payroll.
Personio not only advertises that all HR is managed in one central place, but also offers further Personio integration of more specialised tools. But let's face it: HR is most likely not the only function your company performs. On the contrary, for the majority of companies, HR is a staff position that supports all other departments and functions.
This means that HR cannot really be considered on its own, but is strongly linked to the company structure and the business model. That's exactly why we took a look at how Personio Integration can optimise your business processes outside of the HR department and thus save you a lot of work. For this purpose, we have developed our own Personio integration, which can be implemented with either Make or Zapier.
Recruiting: Recruiting has long been more than just posting jobs and waiting for something to happen. Many companies have switched to active sourcing, whether internally or through an external service provider. Personio offers the possibility to post jobs and maps a comprehensive and structured application process.
Administration: Maintaining personnel data and documents is not only the most basic, but also the most central task of HR. Nothing works without correct data. Of course, this can also be mapped in Personio and thus onboarding processes, time recording or absences can be maintained.
Payroll: Since all relevant master data is available in Personio in one place, there is less friction in the subsequent payroll. With the DATEV integration of Personio, the wage data is seamlessly transferred afterwards.
Staff development: Both performance measurements and feedback are mapped in Personio. Performance discussions can be documented and the development of staff can be tracked. Goal setting is also recorded here, making improvements visible.
On the Personio website, the words integration and automation are buzzing around. Personio refers in particular to the numerous inclusive functions, which of course enable data exchange between each other (because they are already available in the same tool). But other HR functions are also available as Personio integrations: Whether Honeypot, Firstbird or HeyJobs for recruiting, DATEV for payroll, Boomr for attendance or Leapsome for performance, Personio offers a broad complement to its own software through the integration of other, established providers.
How exactly? Via an API(What is an API?). More specifically, via a REST API with four endpoints: Employee Master Data, Attendances, Absences and Recruiting. And exactly this API is the key to further Personio integration. Not only can Personio product partners use this API to integrate their services, but other tools can also dock here. This is exactly what we have implemented in a standardised way.
However, specialised iPaaS software such as Make or Zapier do not yet offer a standardised integration in their comprehensive catalogue (Zapier only says "coming soon"). But that doesn't mean we can't still let Personio talk to other tools.
Because through Personio's API, we can of course still reuse data present in Personio and integrate it with other tools. We show possibilities for what this can be useful and used for.
E-mail: Most likely, there will come a point when you do communicate with applicants by email. A closed platform for the entire application process and communication is not feasible or affordable for most companies. Of course, this doesn't mean that communication via email will bypass Personio.
Integrating emails is probably one of our easiest tasks. Not only the communication with people who are currently in the application process can be integrated with Personio and thus tracked. People who have already been successfully recruited and will soon have their first day of work can also be informed about the upcoming start of work via automated emails. Relevant files and documents that need to be entered and transmitted after successful recruitment can also be integrated into Personio, should they arrive via email.
HR Newsletter: In tight labour markets, it is also important to address potential employees and perhaps attract them in the future. Maybe a current job posting didn't work out, but that doesn't necessarily mean that these applicants will never be considered for your company again. On the contrary, an individualised newsletter can be worth its weight in gold for employer branding. But what does individualised mean? We'll explain with an example: (Note: All of the possibilities described here assume, of course, that the person has agreed to receive such a newsletter).
The final interview went very well, the person is ideally suited for the job and also fits into the team personally. Nevertheless, another person was a bit more convincing or maybe the applicant cancels himself. This can happen, but it doesn't mean that cooperation is ruled out forever. You part on good terms in a personal e-mail or in a telephone conversation ("We can stay friends").
In Personio, you mark the application process for this person as completed, without a hire having been made. This information is passed on to a newsletter tool, such as Active Campaign or SendGrid. Two weeks after the rejection, the person receives an email that again expresses regret, but keeps them up to date on current (HR) topics around the company.
With this starting point, an individual customer journey can be created, which reminds the person of their own company at regular intervals, informs them about news and thus significantly supports employer branding. Since your applicants usually go through the application process asynchronously, it makes sense not to send the newsletter emails to all recipients at the same time, but to adapt them to the individual phase.
Finally, we would like to touch briefly on the subject of data protection, which is of course (or should be) a top priority for personnel data. This topic is also very close to our hearts. Personio is a German company and is therefore subject to the GDPR. According to its own statements, data protection and information security are treated with the highest priority and thus ensure compliance.
All the integration options proposed here should of course also meet this standard. For this, we recommend Make as the software of choice for Personio integration. As a Czech company, Make is also subject to the GDPR and we have explained here how important data protection is for Make. (Disclaimer: This suggestion does not constitute legal advice, but merely an editorial contribution. We are not lawyers and are merely carrying out an IT assessment based on the ECJ ruling and publicly available data. We do not accept any liability for the content or any recommendations for action derived from it).
All other tools that were discussed here, such as mails, newsletters or administration, must be checked individually for their data security. But of course there is now a large selection of data protection-compliant applications.
We are happy to support you in the analysis and subsequent automation of business processes, explain possibilities and individually address the company processes.
Cloud Integration, iPaaS, SaaS, BPA… Ough, hard to keep track of all these terms. They are currently used frequently (and increasingly) in the context of automation, and it is sometimes difficult to make a clear distinction and distinction. We have already written blog posts on the terms iPaaS, SaaS and BPA, but we’ll take them up again here to make the difference.
But let’s start with cloud integration, because that’s the central umbrella term in which we embed all the other technologies in this blog post.
Arrange a free cloud integration consultation now
Arrange a free cloud integration consultation now
To illustrate these advantages, an example is suitable that we know well from our everyday work as an automation agency:
The central data to be used here is the data of a major customer. This can be the simplest information, such as the address. This address is required in numerous but completely different processes in the company: on the one hand, for correct invoicing in accounting. On the other hand, in the CRM system, where all the data of the large customer is also stored. But the address is also important in sales, for example, when employees go to the sales meeting on site.
Now the customer announces that the address of the company has changed after a move. This information will reach you by e-mail. There are now two options:
01. The e-mail is forwarded to all affected departments, accounting, sales, customer service, marketing… All persons open their corresponding program, CRM, accounting software, marketing tools (such as newsletter marketing) and change the data already stored there of the customer. This means that in multiple applications, different people do exactly the same thing: change one address.
02. But there is also an alternative: By connecting your applications, thus by integrizing them, the customer’s e-mail, or rather the information it contains about the address change, is automatically passed on to all affected applications: CRM, accounting, marketing, ERP. This does not require any clicks, because the cloud integration detects a trigger, i.e. address change, and thus automatically starts the process.
What sounds unimpressive in a single process becomes more effective when such a process occurs several times a day or weekly. Because there is a lot of data that is available in different applications and should always be correct. If these applications are cloud applications they are suitable for cloud integration.
But cloud integration doesn’t just happen. There are now a variety of applications that enable and implement this. Such tools usually allow us to link the relevant cloud applications on a central platform and define clear rules on when, how, where, how much data should be passed on and what happens to them.
To realize cloud integration, there are various applications and technologies that are sometimes used interchangeably.
We have made a first distinction between iPaaS and BPA here.
We explain the term SaaS in more detail here.
Cloud integration is rather an umbrella term that includes numerous technologies, such as SaaS, iPaaS and BPA, and this is also absolutely necessary. Cloud integration is a concept that is made possible by appropriate technologies.
However, all terms share the commonality that they are cloud-based and thus offer enormous potential for growth and scaling. In addition, they are often cheaper to implement and maintain because changed requirements are easy to implement.
As an independent automation agency, we implement cloud integration according to your requirements. We use a variety of SaaS tools and iPaas (strictly speaking BPA) software. Together we find individual solutions that are flexible and scalable.
