The Puzzling World of HR Technology

Choice Hotels International joins the growing list of top companies worldwide who rely on Frisco, TX – based HRchitect when they need HRtechnology and HR strategy consulting assistance.

Choice Hotels International (NYSE: CHH) is one of the largest and most successful lodging companies in the world. With a commitment to serving the traveling public by offering high-standard accommodations at an affordable price and to ensuring an outstanding return on investment for its hotel owners and shareholders, Choice currently franchises more than 5,200 hotels, representing more than 425,000 rooms, in the United States and more than 40 countries and territories.

Choice hotels, which include Cambria Suites, Clarion, Quality, Comfort Suites, Comfort Inn, Sleep Inn, MainStay Suites, Suburban Extended Stay Hotel, Econo Lodge and Rodeway Inn, are among the world’s most recognized brands. Ranging from limited service to full service hotels in the economy, mid-scale and upscale segments, Choice-branded properties provide business and leisure travelers with a range of high-quality, high-value lodging options throughout the United States and internationally.

Choice Hotels International was founded as a marketing cooperative by a group of Florida motor court owners in 1941 and was the first hotel chain. Other industry “firsts” by Choice include 24-hour-a-day toll-free reservations; wall-to-wall carpeting; global marketing and reservation system; guaranteed reservations; mandatory system wide non-smoking rooms; in-room telephones; real-time bookings via the Internet; and franchised mid-market lodging.

Additional corporate information may be found on the Choice Hotels Web site, which may be accessed at http://www.choicehotels.com.

Welcome, Choice Hotels, we look forward to helping you solve The Puzzling World of HRtechnology!

Palm, Inc. joins the growing list of top companies worldwide who rely on Frisco, TX – based HRchitect when they need HRtechnology and HR strategy consulting assistance.

Palm, Inc. creates intuitive and powerful mobile experiences that enable consumers and businesses to connect to their information in more useful and usable ways.  The company’s groundbreaking Palm® webOS™ platform, designed exclusively for mobile application, introduces true multitasking and Palm Synergy™, which brings your information from many places it resides into a single, more comprehensive view of your life.

Palm products are sold through select Internet, retail, reseller and wireless operator channels, and at the Palm online store (http://palm.com/store).

Welcome, Palm, we look forward to helping you solve The Puzzling World of HRtechnology!

Palm, Synergy and webOS are trademarks of Palm, Inc.

HRchitect, the leader in HR systems strategic consulting and the premier Human Capital Management (HCM) and Talent Management systems consulting firm, is expanding the scope of its wildly popular weekly WebMingle with the addition of a monthly “State of the HRtechnology Industry” event.

Dubbed “30 in 30”, this live, monthly discussion will be conducted by HRchitect experts who will tackle the previous 30 days, look ahead to the next 30 days, and give listeners an HR technology industry recap.

“HRchitect continues to be looked to first for real advice and relevant information related to the world of HR technology,” commented Matt Lafata, Vice-President of Sales & Marketing for HRchitect and host of the WebMingle web radio broadcasts. “We continue to look for innovative ways to educate and entertain.  As experts, we feel an obligation to freely share this information with those trying to make important decisions related to HR technology for their organizations.”

The weekly WebMingle is designed to give HR and IT professionals, business leaders, and those interested in HR and HR technology perspective into the puzzling world of HR technology. Insightful interviews are the highlight of each weekly show and virtually every major vendor has appeared during the WebMingle’s 50 shows that have taken place since its debut in December 2008.

 “The “30 in 30” concept is something we’re very excited about and look forward to feedback from the community for these events,” added Tiffany Appleby, Director of Marketing and Program Director for the WebMingle. “Our guest list has been fantastic and the feedback superb for the original format of the WebMingle, but HRchitect is always striving to bring new, exciting events to the community, and thus, “30 in 30” was born. Finding concise and accurate information, along with expert opinions, can sometimes be a challenge for the busy HR professional.  Who better to share this information than HRchitect, who knows the HR technology marketplace in and out?”

 HRchitect will present the “State of the Industry” WebMingle on Thursday, January 21, 2010 where HRchitect experts will review the big stories of 2009 and look forward to 2010. This hour-long event will serve as a prelude to the monthly “30 in 30” which will begin on February 25, 2010 and take place the last Thursday of each month. Topics that will be covered range from mergers & acquisitions activity, new vendors, new technologies, talent management, talent acquisition, industry events, and so much more.

 Listeners should visit HRWebMingle.com to hear the show live at 2PM Central each Thursday.  Questions can be Tweeted in before and during the live show by using #WebMingle and may also be submitted via email to tappleby@HRchitect.com.

 All previous WebMingles are available for listen on the HRchitect web site.  Visit HRWebMingle.com to listen to previous shows and view the schedule of upcoming guests.

We’re just a few hours away for today’s webinar with ERE, but it’s not too late to register to attend!  Use this link to secure your spot for today’s event.  ‘Leveraging your TAS as a CRM’ is being brought to the HR community free-of-charge thanks to our great sponsor, iCIMS.

Are you in need of recertification credit hours toward PHR and SPHR recertification through HRCI?  This program has been approved for up to one (1) recertification credit hour.

Alex Tellez, Senior Talent Acquisition Consultant, will be delivering today’s presentation and answering your questions.  For all those attending, we invite you to converse during the webinar  and submit questions via Twitter, using #HRT_iCIMSweb. 

Here is some additional information on today’s event:

When:  Today!  Wednesday, January 20 at 1PM Eastern / 2PM Central
Where:  A computer near you
Why:  Because you are an HR professional who would like to learn more about:
     *The importance of Candidate Relationship Management
     *OFCCP compliance concerns and solutions for federal contractors
     *Leveraging your system’s electronic correspondence capabilities
     *Using hot lists, candidate folders & search agents in your system
     *Social Networking opportunities
     *Task & campaign management
Thanks to:  ERE.net & iCIMS

To register or learn more about this event, click here.  We hope to see you there!

HRchitect, the leader in HR systems strategic consulting and the premier Human Capital Management (HCM) and Talent Management systems consulting firm, closed out a successful 2009, even as HR technology budgets stayed tight through the end of the year.

HRchitect continues to be the firm that more organizations seek help from when creating HRtechnology strategic plans, evaluating and selecting HR technology systems, as well as implementing and integrating those systems. Not only are the services HRchitect offers to its clients first class, HRchitect continues to provide numerous educational opportunities to the HR community free-of-charge.

“2009 was a year of growth for HRchitect, despite the tough economic client,” states Matt Lafata, Vice President of Sales & Marketing for HRchitect. “Our success came from the drive to push forward with new initiatives and not let the stagnant economy affect our success.”

HRchitect highlights from 2009 include:

Business of the Year – HRchitect was honored as the Frisco Chamber of Commerce’s Medium Business of the Year. The Frisco Chamber of Commerce has over 1200 businesses as members and is one of the largest chambers in the State of Texas. Frisco has been the headquarters of HRchitect since 1997. In recognizing HRchitect, the Frisco Chamber Board of Directors cited steady growth in revenue, clients and employees as well as its innovative marketing programs that have transformed the HR technology marketplace.

New Clients – The addition of over 100 new clients in 2009. HRchitect has now completed over 1500 successful client engagements for over 650 clients. New clients include: Aggreko, Autodesk, Cognizant, Dendreon, Henry Schelin, McAfee, Meijer, Shaw Industries, Sodexo, Sony PlayStation, T-Mobile, Unified Grocers, and Yum! Brands.

New Projects for Existing Clients – The number of existing clients that call on HRchitect to support their organization for additional projects is a testament to a high level of client satisfaction. In 2009, HRchitect completed additional projects to several organizations that were already a part of the HRchitect family, including: 3M, Baker Hughes, Best Buy, Kindred Healthcare, Mayo Clinic, Monsanto, OshKosh Corporation, Perot Systems, Sabre, and many others.

theHRshow – In June, HRchitect hosted the first ever HR technology virtual conference with four vendor panels and 26 educational sessions. The virtual format proved to be an overwhelming success with almost 1000 registrants. HR practitioners attended as many sessions and panels as they were interested in free-of-charge, thanks to the generosity of theHRshow sponsors.

Beauty Pageant Webinar Series – Launched late-2008, the Beauty Pageant Webinar series continued to be a headlining educational event in 2009. Each Pageant in the series covers a different area of HR technology and features up to 6 leading vendors. Contestant vendors give overviews of their company and solution, and also take questions from the audience during the interview portion of the pageant. Winners of 2009 pageants include: Hodes iQ – Ms. Talent Acquisition Systems, Legiant – Ms. Time & Attendance, Workstream – Ms. Compensation Management, InfoHRM – Ms. Workforce Planning, Spectrum – Ms. HRIS, SumTotal Systems – Ms. Performance Management, SilkRoad Technology – Ms. Onboarding, & iCIMS – Ms. Mid-Market Talent Acquisition Systems. These pageants will continue in 2010 starting with Talent Management Systems on January 29, 2010.

HRtechnology Happy Hour WebMingle™ – The WebMingle, also kicked off at the end of 2008, continued strong through 2009 with weekly shows that are broadcast live each Friday. Guests included Lewis Hollweg – CEO of Batrus Hollweg International, Stacy Chapman & Tess Walton – Co-Founders of Aruspex, Doug Coull – President & CEO of SmartSearch, Brian Platz – Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer of SilkRoad, Tim Clifford – President & CEO of Workscape, Larry Dunivan – SVP of HCM Global Products of Lawson, Dave Watkins – CEO of SoftScape, Joe Impastato – President of nowHIRE, Kevin Marasco – Vice President of Product Marketing of Taleo, Kevin Grossman – President of HRmarketer.com & HRvendors.com, & many more. Over 48 shows took place and archived episodes are available via HRwebmingle.com.

Social Media – HRchitect increased social media presence this year with the addition of a facebook® fan page to keep friends updated of news & blogs relevant to the HR technology community. HRchitect employees utilize Twitter to connect with industry and vendor news, analysts and help keep followers informed of what is happening in the marketplace and at HRchitect. The Puzzling World of HRtechnology and HRtechnology Vendor News blogs maintain a steady readership of industry professionals who use them to stay up-to-date on what is happening in the marketplace and at HRchitect.

HRchitect Cares™ – The community involvement program, HRchitect Cares™, launched in 2009 and recognizes employees for their individual contributions to the community, be their time, talent or treasure. HRchitect believes that all employees should be active in their communities and the program recognizes and rewards such efforts.

2010 is starting strong as momentum from late 2009 continues into the New Year. Many new initiatives are planned for the coming year, including the much-anticipated 30 Days in 30 Minutes broadcast, which is making its debut with the “HRchitect State of the Industry” on Thursday, January 21. Although the January 21 event will be a look-back at 2009 and a look ahead at 2010, the web-delivered broadcast will occur monthly and deliver HR technology industry news and trends in a 30 minute format. The program was designed with the busy HR professional in mind. After the initial event, these broadcasts will take place live on the last Thursday of each month.

theHRshow returns March 24-26. The virtual event will feature four vendor panels and twelve educational sessions. Agenda for the 2010 event will be available via theHRshow2010.com in Mid-February.

“One of our top priorities at HRchitect is to keep the HR community informed of what is going on in the HR technology marketplace,” comments Tiffany Appleby, Director of Marketing for HRchitect. “Events like theHRshow, the WebMingle, Beauty Pageant webinar series and the new 30 Days in 30 Minutes all are put forth free-of-charge to the community. We strive to be the informational hub of the HR technology marketplace and will continue to deliver dynamic and enlightening educational opportunities in 2010.”

“The next year will bring a new wave of events from HRchitect to the HR community,” continued Matt Lafata. “We’re working hard to continue to host new educational events as well as take our HR technology consulting services to the next level with innovative ideas that match our ever changing industry.”

Visit HRchitect.com to learn more about where HRchitect can be found in 2010 as well as schedules of upcoming Beauty Pageants, WebMingles and other educational events.

————————————-

Media Contact:
Tiffany Appleby – Director of Marketing & Corporate Communications, HRchitect
Office phone: 214.619.0888 x309
tappleby@HRchitect.com

About HRchitect
HRchitect is the leader in HR systems strategic consulting. As the premier Human Capital Management (HCM) and Talent Management Systems consulting firm, our services include the selection, implementation, and integration of Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS), Talent Management Suites (TMS), Performance Management, Succession Management, Compensation Management, Learning Management, Competency Management, Talent Acquisition Systems, and Time & Attendance software.

To find out how HRchitect’s HR software expertise can benefit your company, visit our website at www.HRchitect.com or call 214-619-0888.

Since the ball has dropped on 2010 and everyone is back in the office with the zest provided by a new year and decade, the WebMingle is starting up again. New Bat Time, Same Bat Channel.

In 2010, the HRtechnology Happy Hour WebMingle (say that 5x fast) will be broadcast live on Thursday’s at 2 PM Central. To join the WebMingle, click here. Here you can set up reminders for upcoming shows, listen to live shows in progress, or to previous shows in the archives.

If you aren’t familiar with the WebMingle (although, if you are a regular reader of this blog you should be), it is a completely unrehearsed, unscripted and LIVE chat with folks from the HR technology industry. It is hosted by Matt Lafata, HRchitect’s VP of Sales & Marketing, a huge fan of all Boston sports teams, but an even bigger fan of all things HRtechnology.

Have a question you would like asked during the WebMingle? There are three ways to get it to us:
1. Tweet it! Make sure to use #WebMingle when sending it.
2. Email it! Send me an email (tappleby@HRchitect.com) anytime before or during the show. Be sure to include WebMingle in the subject line.
3. Call in! Give us a call (646.595.2360) during the live show.

HRchitect is happy to welcome Rosette Cataldo of KMS Software for our first WebMingle of 2010. Join us today to kick off a great new year of the WebMingle and learn more about the world of Onboarding with Matt Lafata, myself and Rosette.

Autodesk® joins the growing list of top companies worldwide who rely on Frisco, TX – based HRchitect when they need HR technology and HR strategy consulting assistance.

A world leader in 2D and 3D design, engineering and entertainment software, Autodesk is helping design professionals transform challenges into opportunities, design in better ways, and gain competitive advantage.  Autodesk software enables designers to fully experience their ideas virtually so they can design in better ways – from being more efficient and productive to designing more sustainably and with greater innovoation.

In 1982 Autodesk and its 16 employees used the technology of the day to change the world of design with the introduction of AutoCAD software.  Addressing all phases of the design process, from 2D design to 3D modeling, Digital Prototyping to Building Information Modeling, Oscar® winning visual effects to model-based mapping, Autodesk now offers the broadest and deepest product portfolio in the design world. 

Autodesk and its portfolio of products are transforming the way people work.  Nine million architects, designers, engineers, manufacturers, and digital artists use our products throughout the most diverse collection of industries in the design world.

To learn more about Autodesk, visit Autodesk.com.

Welcome, Autodesk, we look forward to helping you solve The Puzzling World of HRtechnology!