Ascentis (discontinued) vs. Zoho People

In working with Ascentis in payroll, the program makes my job so much easier. I am new to this position and the learning process has been so much easier with this product than those in the past. I appreciate the patience I am given when I call in for assistance as well.

Incentivized

Zoho People is well suited for organizations where they need a self service HR tool for tasks like attendance, leave management and time tracking. It is perfect for offices where employees like to work independently and benefit from easily accessing and managing their own HR records. But it is less suitable where internet is an issue or GPS is unavailable which makes the process of check-in/check-out frustrating.

• Easy to use software. I have had several new HR employees comment on how easy the system is to learn!
• Problem Solving- Ascentis is always problem solving! When we were in the process of selecting a new payroll company, we needed unemployment claims management assistance for our locations, something Ascentis did not currently offer. The sales rep went out of his way to find a unemployment claims management company that would work with Ascentis and us. That company has helped us keep an 80% win rate for our claims!
• User conference- Engage is an awesome way to learn more about the products Ascentis has available as well and meet up with the staff you work with every day!

Incentivized

• The time-tracking feature is really helpful, and it's great that you can use that feature from the app.
• We also use Zoho Recruit for applications, so Zoho People was a logical choice for managing HR information for our staff and members, and the two integrate really well together.

Incentivized

• Updating the system so it is one platform and not two.
• Create changes to the benefit enrollment process and upgrade the system so hire dates do not need to be changed to trigger benefits for status changes.
• Focus updates on HR Admin, mobile application, ATS and transitioning to one platform. Larger areas of focus have been on the payroll portion of the system with a few updates to other areas.
• When something is broken, quicker turn time on fixing the issue.
• System needs updates to support AAP reporting.

Incentivized

• Check in and GPS issues - The app sometimes struggles with location detection during check-in which delays logging in
• Limited offline access - Zoho People should have had an offline functionality making it difficult for employees to check in or log hours when internet connection is an issue
• Clunky user interface - I personally find the interface bit too cluttered which makes navigation difficult

If I were given the opportunity to select a new system, Ascentis would definitely be a strong contender. It links together the functions much more seamlessly than other systems I have used. By far the best part though is the customer support after implementation, this is where many companies fail. It was very appreciated that even after every module went live the service level was still high.

Employees and Management all love this product, as the ease of use is great! The app makes it very user friendly, as things can be done from cell phones anywhere at any time! Our Field Service Technicians love that they can clock in and out, etc., from any location, and that their time can be approved accordingly.

Incentivized

I gave Zoho People this rating due to its overall usability as it provides a strong platform for essential HR tasks like leave management, time tracking and attendance making it a self service platform for employees to easily access and manage records independently and saving time but 3 points less due to its check-in/check-out issues when the GPS or internet is an issue. Also the interface feels cluttered.

They normally give you notice when an update will affect the use of the system. Otherwise, when we have an error , we send a message to the support team. Sometimes someone will get right back with you and sometimes it takes a while.

Yes, this pages do load pretty good but there are times when things are slow and I believe that's because they are sometimes trying to do updates.

Support is attentive and quick to answer the call and get the answer for you. If they for any reason cannot answer right then, they are back to you within a day and always seem to have a sense of urgency. You truly get the impression that they are aiming to make you happy.

Incentivized

Because Zoho is perfect in all aspects.

First, to clarify our "in-person" training was done mainly through Web-X meetings and conference calls. It was the closest thing we got to as far as an "in-person" training for this software. However, for the large majority of it, this type of training worked out well. We were able to share our screens and the trainer was able to share his/her screen. We could follow along with what we were doing in our database in real time and see how different functions worked and how manipulating our information could produce different results. It was also nice in that it provided for real-time results if something hadn't been coded correctly or we were having issues as to why something wasn't working the way we thought it should be. However, it did have some downsides in that we often had to rely on a conference phone and that made it difficult to hear people on both sides. Also, sometimes the trainers had internet difficulties when working from home and that caused issues with the WebX meetings.

Incentivized

Ascentis HR has a number of online training videos to watch on a number of different topics. I gave it a lower rating because there is not much interactivity with the videos and it seems to cater to really only one or two learning styles. Plus, one has to be pretty motivated to go to a separate area to access the videos and then pull up a specific one to watch it and then learn. From my experience, people know that they are there, many just don't take the time and effort to go find them and actually watch them - especially since the username and password are different from their normal username and password.

Incentivized

It was very easy to implement, but the customization pieces should really be fleshed out in order to determine the full need of an organization at the time of implementation. I believe if a little more time was spent on the requirements, the recruiting module would not have to be customized again at a cost at a later date.

Incentivized

Ascentis has far better customer service and the implementation experience was also better. The ability to do a lot of customization is also easier with Ascentis as it's smaller organization. The payroll has positive and negatives compared to ADP but the accuracy is the same in both. Ascentis just started their community site which doesn't have a lot of traffic but hopefully can become more like ADP's community site, which was extremely helpful to me as an administrator.

Incentivized

One of the innovative CRM software products on the market is Zoho People. Compared to Salesforce and SugarCRM, Zoho People comes up to their standards. Zoho People is an integrated suite of CRM tools that allows small businesses to work more efficiently. Zoho People is a better platform for managing HR and other human resource management. And it's a cost-effective solution for start-ups.

Incentivized

Large acquisition would be very complicated, seems more appropriate for companies under 100

Incentivized

• It has been great to have all of our employee information in one central location, easy access and that the modules communicate/link together. If I change something here, it gets "pushed" to all other modules.
• I do not maximize ESS, particularly posting information on the home page because it is so TEDIOUS.
• LOVE the app, would love for it to be easier for employees to reset their password to whatever they want vs. the system generated password.

Incentivized

• Reduces the need for additional systems like time-tracking, excess excel spreadsheets and even HR training itself with their training resources.
• Streamlines assessment of data and categorizes leave, on-boarding and other data logically which decreases time spent searching and separating.
• Customization of forms and surveys is extremely useful and saves effort looking elsewhere for templates.

Incentivized