So take a look at my musings on the event here: (if the video doesn’t show up, check here)
No time to watch – here is the 1-2 slide condensation (if the slide doesn’t show up, check here):
(Apologies for bad audio and even loss of video - the Palace Wifi did not perform well here.)
Zenefits has left the troubles of the past – behind. The recent troubled past of Zenefits seems to have made its transition to the history books, clients and prospects present at the event were not concerned about the colorful, recent past of the vendor. That’s a major step forward and allows Zenefits to move on, and the vendor did exactly that with the release of Z2, the 2nd release of the Zenefits system.
New capabilities in Z2 – Zenefits has given its system a new UI, that feels modern and simple to use, something crucial for its customer base of very small businesses of under 50, sweetspot is around 100 employees (but of course scales up and Zenefits has many larger customers, too). These businesses have no HR professional and the ‘HR person’ is a multitasker, who needs an easy to use software, that can be used easily and that has tons of inbuilt automation to avoid them having to spend too much time on HR matters. The 21st century workforce is mobile and Zenefits supports iOS and Android for all key processes, kudos to support both platforms, even much larger vendors based in Silicon Valley have stepped into the ‘iOS for all trap’, that doesn’t’ work for HR in the era of BYOD. The focus on core HR processes and onboarding is no surprise. And a marketplace with over 17 partners makes it easy to use Zenefits as the leading system to integrate into a wide range of productivity, expenses, performance management, payroll accounting, engagement and more vendors. Close to its core competency, Zenefits has improved the benefits enrollment and selection experience.
Zenefits Payroll is here – starting with California – To no surprise, Zenefits unveiled its new Payroll offering, at the moment only working for California. But 9 other states are planned in the coming quarters. It’s a V1 product in terms of scope and capabilities (e.g. garnishments need to be handled manually when it comes to payments) – but it’s a good start for Zenefits. Customers are very positive on Zenefits Payroll capabilities, another indicator how much integration concerns bog down even part time HR professionals.
MyPOV
A good event and a very good first user conference for Zenefits, that has left the troubles of the past behind and has morphed from its benefits origins all the way to become a small HR suite of products for very SMB. It still offers product capabilities for free, the ‘price list’ fits on one slide, but it also is adding products that have a seat cost / employer cost, e.g. Payroll. That’s a good development in my view, as it takes away the competitive / disruptive relationship to the rest of the industry, which Zenefits leadership has rightfully identified as necessary partners, to have a broader scope of HCM automation for is customers (thanks to the marketplace). But Zenefits doesn’t’ shy away from services either, the new HR Advisor capability, where the SMB HR practitioner can talk to a Zenefits expert, is a valuable offering.On the concern side, Zenefits has lost some time to restart its offering. In the meantime, the competition has not stood still, and has equally simplified its products (e.g. Paychex) or extended its footprint (e.g. partner Gusto). And payroll is crucial to get right for enterprises small and large. A bad payroll run derails equally all work at an enterprise of any size. So expanding payroll footprint should be a priority for Zenefits.
But overall a good launch event and a good first user conference for Zenefits the vendor to watch and consider when you are a very small business. Stay tuned.
Want to learn more? Checkout the Storify collection below (if it doesn’t show up – check here).