What is the Best HR and Payroll Software?

I can’t speak to the entire software market, but I can give you a report on Sage HRMS and Scissortail HCM by UKG, formerly Kronos. These are the two products CS3 has chosen to include in their portfolio of product offerings.  

Determining the best HR or Payroll software will be determined by your company culture, budget, and functionality. Before you jump into features and function, you can narrow your search after confirming the answers to the following questions:

1. Do you prefer browser-based software or windows based software?
2. Do you prefer to outsource payroll processing?
3. Do you want a perpetual license or a subscription model?
4. Do you prefer cutting edge, state of the art or “tried and true”?
5. Do you want your data stored locally or in the cloud?
6. Do you want to minimize the number of separate applications or is “best of breed” approach acceptable?
7. Do you require customizations for unique business processes?
8. Do you have other applications that will require integration?
   
   

CS3 Technology has represented the Sage product lines for over 20 years. We have been a huge fan of their legacy products that have depth of functionality and a large eco-system of products that can be added on to their software. But we saw Sage HRMS showing signs of age. We vetted all the browser based products in the market and landed on the UKG, formerly Kronos, product Scissortail HCM. This is a white-labeled version of UKG's, formerly Kronos, Workforce Ready.

So let’s answer these questions:

1. Sage HRMS has one embedded module that is browser-based, Employee Self Service. The remainder of their development is Windows based. Scissortail by UKG, formerly Kronos, is completely browser based.
2. Sage HRMS has no option for outsourcing the payroll processing. Scissortail By UKG, formerly Kronos, allows you to choose.
3. Perpetual licenses require a large initial investment but have smaller annual payments. Subscription licenses allow you to get started with a much lower year one cost, but the annual payments are much larger. Sage HRMS is currently only offering a perpetual license. There are rumblings at corporate that they may soon move to subscription-based pricing. Scissortail by UKG, formerly Kronos, is strictly a subscription model.
4. Sage HRMS software code has been around for years. It is virtually bug-free. Scissortail is no spring chicken either, as an early adopter of browser based software. Both are on equal footing for stability. However, Scissortail by UKG, formerly Kronos, far exceeds Sage HRMS with current technology such as working on all browser based devices, extend mobile functionality and remote connection.
5. Scissortail is strictly cloud storage in a multi-tenant environment. The upside is UKG, formerly Kronos, takes care of all security, backup, new releases and server management. Sage HRMS can be hosted in your local server environment. It can also be hosted on a server farm. Either way, you are responsible for application of new releases. If you have a vendor host the application for you they will take care of security, backup and server management as part of their service fees.
6. Sage has always leveraged the software developed by other publishers as part of the core offerings. This means broad functionality, but multiple databases – basically one database for each module that is not a Sage developed module. Sadly, the HR and Payroll modules were developed independently and are two different databases. This means a lot of reconciliation. Scissortail by UKG, formerly Kronos, is a single database for all “hire to retire” modules: HR, Payroll, Recruiting, Onboarding, Performance Management, Time and Labor. Scissortail does have a large eco-system of business partners that offer features such as job boards, HR and payroll knowledge base, and background checks.
7. Customizations with either Sage HRMS or Scissortail by UKG, formerly Kronos, are limited. HRMS, as a legacy product, offers limited tools to allow you change how the software works or additional data that can be stored. Scissortail was designed to accommodate unique requests for workflow and notifications allowing the software to mimic your business processes.
8. If you have other applications within your environment, integration of key information between applications is a common request. Sage HRMS is limited to import/export scenarios with standard Excel or comma delimited files. Scissortail by UKG, formerly Kronos, not only handles import/export scenarios but comes with a full set of APIs. APIs are a set of functions and procedures allowing the creation of applications that access the features or data of an operating system, application, or other service or application.
   

So what is the answer to the question? Which is the best? For CS3 Technology, we selected Scissortail HCM by UKG, formerly Kronos, after 20 years with Sage products. I can tell you that we are delighted with our choice. At this date, 90% of our new system sales are selecting Scissortail.

Photo by Green Chameleon on Unsplash