News & Events
HIGHROADS LAUNCHES VENDOR MANAGEMENT SOLUTION FOR HUMAN RESOURCES
ENSURES THAT EMPLOYERS GET WHAT THEY'VE PAID FOR, IMPROVES SERVICES AND LOWERS COSTS
BOSTON (April 17, 2007) - HighRoads today launched the first solution for human resources (HR) teams to gain control over vendors' performance, the first step in reducing a major corporate cost while improving the employee experience.
HighRoads, unveiling a new way of managing HR programs and vendors, gives employers the answers to two critical questions: "Are my vendors delivering what was promised in the contract?" and "Where are my opportunities to drive better pricing, service and efficiency?"
With healthcare costs outpacing inflation, vendor management strategies can significantly reduce costs and improve service levels. According to the Corporate Executive Board's 2006 Vendor Selection and Management Survey, strategies to proactively manage vendor performance can save companies ten percent or more on annual healthcare tabs. Traditionally, however, HR contracts are signed at the outset of a relationship and revisited only at contract renewal, performance penalties are rarely enforced and financial performance versus budget is difficult to measure.
HighRoads changes all that. Its solution, available immediately, centralizes critical HR program and vendor information - from contracts to service level agreements and performance guarantees - providing real-time visibility to financial and service statistics. The result is powerful: timely performance assessments and immediate corrections, putting an end to budget variance surprises at fiscal year-end and well before issues reach crisis proportions.
"Pitney Bowes has been on the forefront of innovative employee benefit service and efficiency improvements," said Jack Mahoney, Medical Director of Pitney Bowes. "However, the ability to proactively manage our vendors, from a financial and relationship perspective through HighRoads' Vendor Management solution, is an exciting new priority for us."
Available now, HighRoads' Vendor Management solution is the only full-service solution that enables employers to take an active role in managing HR program suppliers - making it possible to evaluate and manage these relationships to their advantage through:
- Benchmark analysis to create negotiating leverage and market-based performance requirements
- Proactive, automated vendor performance management throughout the year to increase visibility and accountability
- Automated penalty calculations to ensure fees are collected from vendors not performing to contractual obligations
- Financial reporting to generate actual results by plan, business unit or employee group to be measured against budgets and reconciled with treasury
- Vendor content integration into the HighRoads automated procurement process to create a closed-loop between supplier obligations and demand requirements
"Out of control costs and administrative heavy lifting are pulling HR teams away from the truly meaningful work, like designing innovative wellness and employee engaging programs that make their companies one of the best places to work," said Brent Bannerman, HighRoads' founder and chief strategy officer. "With our solution, they can ensure vendor performance compliments their strategic goals without the administrative burden."
More than 20 percent of the F500 tap HighRoads' award-winning solutions to automate key benefits processes and improve critical decision-making ability. In turn, they're improving the employee experience and dramatically reducing costs across large, complex organizations.
HighRoads' new Vendor Management solution is a critical component in its HR Information Management portfolio, integrating seamlessly with its other offerings for benefit plan procurement, contract management, summary plan description (SPD) creation and maintenance and global data management. It is available via a hosted, subscription model or as business process outsourcing (BPO) engagement.
ABOUT HIGHROADS
HighRoads, Inc. (www.HighRoads.com) is the only company offering a system of record for managing HR program and supplier information to improve the employee experience while dramatically reducing costs for large, complex organizations. HighRoads has automated HR processes for more than 100 Fortune 500 employers along with 700 of their suppliers, consultants and outsourced administrators. Clients include some of the world’s largest companies, such as General Dynamics, Honeywell, IBM, Kraft, Staples and Toyota. Founded in 1999, HighRoads is a privately-held company headquartered in Woburn, Mass.
HighRoads Company Contact:
Petra Marino
(781) 503-4031
pmarino@highroads.com
HighRoads Media Contact:
Michael McDonough
(617) 969-9192
mmcdonough@corporateink.com