According to analyst Forrester, £2.3bn will be spent on IT this year, with the UK outpacing the rest of Europe in its uptake. So to find the right technology for your recruitment business, it’s necessary to identify the challenges you’re facing now and will face as you continue to expand. 

Why does the software I choose matter?

It doesn’t matter if you are a small company with one office in London and one in Dublin, or a large company with 15 offices around the world: all businesses with more than one office face similar challenges in co-ordinating their working efforts and sharing information, and these should be acknowledged in purchasing technology. For example, recruitment software designed for international businesses is built to ensure easy and fast collaboration and smooth information sharing across offices and regions. 

Wouldn’t it be easier for us to invest in multiple solutions from local suppliers?

While it may be an option to invest in software solutions from local suppliers, especially if you run a recruitment business with offices that have traditionally operated independently from each other, it can cause greater problems in the long run. Multiple, disparate systems can make overall strategy and reporting a logistical nightmare. 

Increased efficiency is gained by sharing candidate knowledge, client lists, and performance details across all your offices. Our 2014 UK Trends Report showed that 56% of respondents make half or more of their total placements from candidates in their applicant tracking systems. Why wouldn’t you want your international business to benefit from this shared resource?

How can I take into account local preferences and cultures?

When establishing offices in new locations, you will likely have already had to grapple with differences in local regulations and ways of doing business. However, it is important when choosing software to identify what is a true local need (such as support) versus what can be delivered across all the regions within which you operate. For example, your technology investment decision should hinge on recruitment performance. Your recruitment solution should be able to account for important local differences while still being able to deliver the majority of the functions uniformly across the business. 

Not every office has the same level of IT competency – surely this has to affect my purchasing decision?

Agencies with multiple offices and international reach need to know that their new recruitment software can be easily implemented. Varying levels of IT expertise should not have an impact on the recruitment solution you choose, provided your supplier works closely with each office to implement the software and provides training according to local technological expertise and previous experience. Remember you want your recruiters to be recruiting, not sorting out IT problems.   

If I go with a supplier in my timezone, how are they going to support my offices and teams all over the world?

The simple answer is, if you have offices in different timezones, you will want to find a recruitment technology supplier that provides support regardless of the time of day. You don’t want your office in Singapore to be without support because your European supplier has gone to bed.

Also, if you’re operating in non-English speaking countries, having software and apps in regional dialects is preferable. But on the other hand, most employees working for international companies in major cities from Hong Kong to Paris have a working proficiency in English and are accustomed to using a range of technologies in their second or third languages. Either way, make sure your solution can be customised and used by all your employees.

Ultimately, the reasons a recruitment company would choose a single global solution rather than multiple local solutions is simplicity, cost effectiveness and focus. Access to a shared international database of candidates and clients combined with complete business intelligence allows agencies to operate on a true cross regional basis and removes previous scaling issues. 

Internationally compatible software is built to make it simple for different offices to work together seamlessly to achieve the overall objectives of the business as a whole and, as a result, purchasing a globally-scalable recruitment solution is an important consideration for any recruitment company with more than one office. 

Peter Linas is international managing director of recruitment software firm Bullhorn

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