Vancouver-based Vertical Bridge Corporate Consulting has secured exclusive Canadian licensing rights to human resources software targeted to SMBs.
Titled PeopleAssistant, the cloud-based software-as-a-service application has been available in the U.S. for five years. It allows business owners and HR professionals to co- ordinate common tasks such as compensation, benefits, performance management and employee onboarding with longer-term corporate strategy.
“Basically it ties an organization’s corporate strategy to the bottom-line performance of their employees,” said Sandra Reder, founder and president of Vertical Bridge.
“You can look down and see your vision and corporate strategy ... [and] how every single person in your organization is driving you toward that end goal.”
Reder acknowledged that the software is in part a response to an ongoing trend within the HR industry.
“A lot of companies are looking at making their HR functions a cost centre,” Reder said. “So these people have to show their value. They have to show how they add to the bottom line, how they make a difference.”
As Reder explained, the software’s modular nature and modest cost (Reder estimates an entry-level licence might cost $450 a month) makes it a good fit with small business.
“B.C. is made up 90-some-odd per cent small to medium-sized companies,” she said. “A lot of them can’t afford to access the more expensive [software] that does this kind of stuff.”
Reder plans to market the software to companies from her firm’s existing client base in Vancouver. After that, the sky’s the limit.
“We’re going to the people who know us,” she said. “Once we have some of those clients up and running, and they’re happy and feeling good about it, we definitely have intentions to take it out further.”
