Integration

It has certainly been an exciting few weeks at Concorde. A contingent of Concorde representatives, including myself, traveled to St. Louis (plus four other states for some of us…more to come on that story) for the Annual National Association of Professional Background Screeners Conference, we have released a new background screening application called AppCheck, and we are in the process of launching a new training center called “Concorde Online.”

The 2009 Annual NAPBS conference was held in St. Louis, MO and provided us a chance to attend valuable educational sessions and improve relationships with our vendors. I will start off by saying that the inbound trip was anything but normal for Mike Maxson and I. As we boarded the small regional plane in Philadelphia, I joked to Mike that there were two additional pilots riding in the passenger cabin so on the off chance something happened during the flight, our odds looked pretty good that we would be safe (keep in mind that Mike does not like to fly). Well sure enough I jinxed everyone on the plane because about an hour and a half into the flight, the Captain gets on the overhead to inform us that we have lost hydraulic power and procedures require that the plane make an emergency landing at the nearest airport, which was Columbus, OH. Now for those non-aviators like myself, hydraulics on a plane control functions like the brakes. Fortunately our pilot maneuvered a smooth landing and the brakes had enough hydraulic power to stop the plane. Keep reading because the story gets much better.

As the plane taxis to the gate, I look out the window to find a tall, lanky man with a mullet and unkempt beard walking around the plane appearing to inspect the plane. This individual looked like the stereotypical gas station attendant who charges you $800 for a new tire when your car brakes down in the middle of no where (think National Lampoons Vacation). So as I’m looking out the window and I joke again to Mike, “I bet this guy is responsible for fixing our plane.” I guess that was strike two for me because as we get off the plane, the man is on the jet way and tells the captain “I don’t see anything leakin’” (very technical, I know). To make a long story short, the plane could not be fixed so we ended up driving 400 miles to St. Louis. If anyone has done that drive you know that there is not much else to describe.

The NAPBS conference was a great opportunity to attend some very informative educational sessions. The most valuable session that I attended was a discussion on the relationship between Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) and background screening companies. In my humble opinion, it appears that the ATS and background screening industries are on a collision course, most of which is being driven by the customer. The major debate going on is which service is seen as the primary purchase by the customer and which is an add-on service. Of course, both the ATS companies and the background screening companies want to be the primary purchase. There are a variety of reasons for why this is, but when it comes down to it, no company wants to be in another company’s shadow. As I sat through the session, the key issue that kept creeping up was the topic of “integration.” This is why I believe the collision course of the two industries is being driven by the customer.

“Integration” is a term being used in business almost as frequently now as “innovation.” The nature of business management today is that there is a software application for almost anything: payroll, customer management, accounting, application tracking, applicant screening, and compliance to name just a few. Companies are now using anywhere from 3-6 software applications to effectively manage their business from 3-6 different vendors. The problem is that even though the 3-6 applications a company uses have either a direct or indirect relationship to one another, they are all developed by different companies, therefore limiting any possible streamline. As a result, customers are now pushing for a single platform that integrates all of their applications (mainly because customers like using multiple vendors) so data can flow more effectively and there is a central repository of that data. The question then becomes, which application is going to become the single platform? By the way, Concorde is currently developing a long-term solution to this for our clients.

This brings us back to the showdown between ATS and background screening companies. I believe there are 5 major issues at stake for both sides.

Background screening companies have a greater desire to integrate with Applicant Tracking Systems than ATS have to integrate with background screeners. I believe this is because customers are pushing more on background screeners to initiate the integration. The problem is that integrations can be anywhere from $25k-$40k without breaking a sweat.
Applicant Tracking Systems represent the beginning stage of employee screening, making it the first software application used in the employee lifecycle. However, just because it is the first, it does not make it the best.
There are more background screening companies than ATS companies. This means that ATS companies can be more selective with who they want to integrate with.
Applicant Tracking Systems are predominately software companies compared to background screeners who are consultants/professional services firms. The ATS’s core business strategy is to improve the framework software, not necessarily to diversify their business model by integrating with other service providers.
The Applicant Tracking System market is extremely saturated and unstable right now (the same can be said for the background screening market). According to the May 2009 Edition of HR Magazine, HR managers look to change their HR technology vendors every year, especially now when many HR technology vendors are close to failing. In comparison, background screening companies like Concorde average a much longer client relationship and in most cases do not have to re-bid contracts every year.

The bottom line is that it is hard for a company like Concorde to integrate with an Applicant Tracking system that our client is using…until now.

AppCheck is a background check application Concorde has just released for one of our clients. The highlight of AppCheck is that we have successfully “integrated” with an ATS without any need for IT support from the ATS, but more importantly at no additional cost to our client. It is what I affectionately call the “covert integration.” AppCheck is designed with a very different workflow process than our current ESS product. Instead of having the Human Resources or Recruiting departments be responsible for the background check data entry, the burden is put on the applicant to complete the information online. The system also features online completion of the FCRA and DOT Consents with electronic signatures. At the present time, AppCheck has only been “covertly integrated” with 1 ATS (we are 1 for 1) but the application model was designed to integrate with other ATS without the need for costly custom integration. If you have any interest in AppCheck please send me an e-mail josh@concorde2000.com and I will be happy to show you a Demo.

The last announcement I have for this month is the upcoming launch of “Concorde Online.” This is a comprehensive training center that will feature live and recorded training sessions for: software guides, compliance review and discussion, supervisor training, and much more. All of our software applications will have monthly sessions to cover specific elements of the software. We will conduct regular compliance sessions on topics such as 49 CFR and the Fair Credit Reporting Act as well as live Q&A sessions on breaking regulatory news. Finally, we plan to launch both a recorded and live version of our popular Supervisor Training, which we anticipate launching in the Fall.