Coremain: excellence in human resource management
Coremain, a specialist IT and communications consultancy, was set up in 1991. Today, the company offers expert services to major market sectors, such as public administration, healthcare and manufacturing.
With offices in Madrid, Oviedo and Santiago de Compostela, Coremain’s steady growth put it at the top of the ‘Europe’s 500’ list, which recognizes the best European companies based on their ability to create new jobs. In 2000, Coremain employed 180 people; today the company has a workforce of around 300 employees.
This growth, and the company’s policy of offering their most important asset – their people – the best possible rewards, highlighted the need for the company to use an HR management system. Up until then, all HR processes (recruitment, training, assessments etc.) were managed using office tools, which was time consuming and error prone.
Ana Álvarez Enríquez, HR Manager of Coremain explains: “Before we implemented Cezanne Enterprise, we carefully analysed the return on investment and identified that, by using the system, we could save around 84,000 Euros annually. Our research took into account factors such as the cost savings related to the time it took to prepare company information, produce reports, and manage administrative requests coming from across the business, to name just a few.”
The most functional and flexible choice
Coremain had already completed key activities towards its aim of achieving excellence in HR management; linking business growth, the primary goal for companies, with its internal management policies. In 2002, it launched a flexible compensation plan that aligned compensation policies with employees’ needs. The following year, it implemented a system for managing employees based on competencies, which was an important step towards aligning the objectives of the business with the skills of their people. Then, in 2006, they put in place a system for managing CVs.
In order to reach the desired level of professionalism in managing their human resources, Coremain decided to implement the Cezanne Enterprise solutions that would help employees improve their competencies, as well as their work opportunities. The modules selected were People, Recruitment, Training, Vacation, Performance, Survey, Succession & Career and Salary Analysis.
“For us, the opportunity to select the modules we really needed, the flexibility of the suite, together with its intuitiveness, ease of maintenance, value for money and wide recognition in the market, were the reasons we chose Cezanne”, explains Cristina Sánchez Cabanelas Coremain’s IT manager.
“Under the guidance of Cezanne Software, the implementation went smoothly and easily. Cezanne also handled the integration with Nodalia, which we had chosen for our payroll. The most impressive aspect of the implementation was the time it took: in only six months the system was already working at full steam,” concludes Cristina Sánchez Cabanelas.
Miguel Donet, project manager at Cezanne Software Ibérica, adds: “From our side, the implementation was a success, meeting all of Coremain’s timing and technical requirements. The client was very pleased with the functionality they gained after an implementation that lasted just a few months and involved only minor customisations to align it with the Coremain image and approach.”
Managing HR for business growth
Today, Cezanne Enterprise is used throughout the entire HR department and has delivered improvements that are having a positive impact on the business. According to Ana Alvarez Enriquez, these include: “The centralisation of all information, both current and historical, about employees, the related decentralisation of administrative processes; as well as the ability to develop a strong candidate pool that will speed up future recruitment activities. The facility to generate strategic reports is also important, helping us to make correct decisions.”
These are just some of the benefits gained so far, however many more are expected in the future. Ana Álvarez Enríquez lists some of them: “The potential to improve internal communications, so that the company and employees are on the same wave length; the opportunity to increase effectiveness and boost productivity; and the prospect of simplifying and automating administrative processes, so the HR department has more time to focus on HR planning and to guide the evolution of the company.”
From Cezanne’s perspective, Miguel Donet comments: “One of the main challenges, but also one of the advantages, that Cezanne brings to Coremain is the ability for them to manage the solutions themselves. The IT department has been trained to administer the system independently of Cezanne, so they can undertake complex configurations and even customisations themselves.”
A solution for the future
The Cezanne Enterprise solution is a solution for the present, but with focus on the future. With the HR department now making full use of the system, further benefits are anticipated, and HR is expected to play an important role in its evolution.
The company is now going live with an employee and manager portal, so that the area managers can have information about their own employees in real time, without having to ask the HR department for it. In the mid to long term, Coremain are considering initiatives to address important issues such as professional and personal life balance, improvements in the area of benefits, and role redefinition. “Cezanne Software will be involved in the design of these changes, so that the transition is a smooth as possible”, says Coremain’s IT manager.
On his side, Miguel Donet is confident that the advantages of Cezanne Enterprise, especially the integrated compensation modules and the configuration and customisation capabilities, will support Coremain’s objectives going forward.
