After being a software-focused analyst for many years and subsequently asked to use numerous best of breed applications while working in a Fortune 100 company, HfS analyst Christa Manning was sadly surprised how many applications had been poorly implemented, and what little to no support the workforce got in using self-service offerings. This was especially true of those applications delivered as software as a service (SaaS).
So since joining HfS she has specifically asked human resources (HR)-related SaaS companies she covers: "What is your services strategy? What are your own services and support capabilities?" And some of them just don't have very good answers. They can't – or won’t – say how many services professionals they have internally nor who their service provider partners are and what they are doing beyond a few logos on their websites.
However, one company is overtly addressing this issue, Ultimate Software. Ultimate recently consolidated all of its services businesses into single organization – more than 1,000 people worldwide – under a chief services officer, Julie Dodd. We took this opportunity to speak with Julie about Ultimate’s commitment to services and ultimately the customer.
