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The reality is that we are in the aggregation of a commodity, and our friends at ADP and Paychex got that train moving a long time ago. Today, no business in America believes that payroll is anything other than a bushel of corn to the HR Services space.

We have to align our industry with that of our customers. Sure, our customers want payroll to be perfect so that they don’t have to actually talk to their employees about their paycheck. That may have been a differentiator before, but now it is an expectation or requirement.

What do our customers value? If you accept that our customers expect, but don’t value, payroll being right or the carrier invoice getting paid then it must be something else. Things like:

• Excellent customer service. So when they do call with a problem that needs to be solved, there is a sharp person on the other end of the phone that actually answers and solves the problem in one event.
• Advice on real business matters like how the Heath Care Reform Act will impact my business.
• New products and services to complement what they buy from you. They love one-stop shopping.
• These are business people building their futures and busy people looking for real help and service with a smile for an attractive price.

Consider the flat screen TV for a moment. Did the price go down or up as customers accepted it as the standard? Can we invent 3-D HR? No!

Like it or not, our customers view our traditional product set no different than winter wheat, and they want it better, faster and cheaper. Why do you think QuickBooks bought a payroll company? People want options.

The path to differentiation is right there in front of you, and your clients are telling you what they want. Eventually someone else will provide it to them.

A BPO partner can allow you to take the same resources you have today and focus them on new products, increased customer service and more consultative interactions with paying customers.

You have to view your own service set in a parallel path with your consumer. If importing time sheets and preparing benefit reconciliation is not valued by your client then you should explore ways to lower the cost of that commoditized transaction and focus on being good at what they want.

Companies like ours can bring added process skills to the table (ISO 9001) to ensure that your quality is the same or better. We can bring hard-dollar cost savings to the table, right where your customers demand it and free up your best to be their best.

Come see us at https://www.cognethro.com and see the collaborative business model that we have built for you. We join both worlds, and the intersection is you.