Zoho releases a human resource application in beta as an alternative to Salesforce.com's HR SAAS suite.Zoho, the software-as-a-service productivity and collaboration alternative to Google Apps, has fashioned a human resource management application for SMBs that want to run their businesses online.
Launched as a free beta March 10, Zoho People is geared for small and midsize businesses of 50 or so employees to help HR managers better juggle information about a company's employees without breaking the company's bank. People was created as an alternative to companies having to spend from $10,000 to more than $100,000 on HR applications.
The application, which Zoho hosts on its own servers and deploys to customers as a service, performs some of the functions of Salesforce.com's HR app suite.
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Zoho is primarily known for its productivity and collaboration applications, which compete with Google's hosted Apps. The Pleasanton, Calif., company, a property of AdventNet, has been making progress in the SAAS business application market of late as a smaller rival to SAAS market leader Salesforce.com, according to TechCrunch.
"Just offering a set of productivity applications doesn't meet the needs of businesses," wrote Zoho Evangelist Raju Vegesna in a blog post March 10. "There needs to be a suite of business applications addressing those business needs. With Zoho People, we are taking another step toward offering a complete online solution for businesses."
For example, the organization definition module lets users define organization structure, including departments, roles, and employee details, by dragging and dropping nodes on an organization chart. Employees can be added individually or imported from an existing source, Zoho officials said in a statement.
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A recruitment module eases the hiring process by automating the candidate search process and recruiting new employees. Features include posting positions currently open within the organization, requirements, candidate consideration and qualification, as well as job offers.
The forms module contains 28 forms, such as a leave form, a travel request form and an expense report form. Users who haven't found the form they need or don't like the one supplied can use Zoho's Creator application to customize existing forms or create new ones.
The checklist module lets administrators automate business processes and define the flow based on content that is added, modified or removed from Zoho People. This software automatically assigns tasks to different individuals, groups or departments based on defined workflow.
Finally, the employee-facing self-service modules let employees and managers define and update their personal information, access and submit company forms such as expense reports, and review organization policies and procedures. This module also holds information on compensation and different regulatory compliances for your organization.
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This feature lets workers give the HR manager a break, while allowing workers to get the information they need when they need it.
