Optimizing RoI In HR

Aegon Religare wanted to streamline its HR practice as expansion was a
problem due to lack of an HRMS solution. Microsoft Dynamics came to their rescue
and Aegon Religare is now considering to increase its workplace and open another
50 branches across India

Aegon Religare, a national insurance firm, needed to expand its branches as
its business volume was increasing. However, being a new firm in the Indian
insurance market, it required to have an optimal ERP solution, which could
effectively control its employee base. The company was set up in July 2008 and
started off with 25 branches across India. Presently, the company has 51
branches. However, in the last financial year they went through a phase of
consolidation.

The need

“The last financial year was a year of consolidation for the company as we
needed to have an optimal IT infrastructure in place before an expansion. We
were looking for automating our internal employee process and have an HR
practice in place,” said Srinivasan Iyengar, Director-IT and Operations, Aegon
Religare. Looking for an integrated HR solution, the company floated an RSP,
where five vendors were listed, amongst which Microsoft Dynamics was selected
and its HRMS solution was implemented by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), a
certified Microsoft Dynamics partner.

“Initially, we wanted the vendor to carry out the deployment. But, as TCS had
previously tested our model office IT infrastructure, we were confident that
they would do a good job,” Iyengar added. The deployment and implementation
process, which was rolled out in early July 2009, was completed in January 2010.
The deployment was done on the backbone of three Windows Blade servers in Aegon
Religare.

Talking about the solution, Subhomoy Sengupta, Group Director-Business
Solutions, Microsoft said, “Microsoft HRMS solution is a holistic package
covering the HR needs of an entire company. An ERP product covers the HR
functionality efficiently. It has always been our endeavor to offer simple
software, which is easy to maintain and implement.”

The solution

Microsoft HRMS solution helped in managing personnel related processes while
implementing and tracking benefit programs, payroll, self-service and other
HR-related issues. Detailing further on the solution, Iyengar elaborated, “The
HRMS comprises of several modules. In the first place, it has a salary and
payslip module followed by its onboarding counterpart. Similarly, the solution
facilitates leave implementation and appraisals for the entire employee
hierarchy. It also has a module with which any disciplinary action can be
implemented.”

The ERP solution monitors travel authorization of its employees and creates a
talent database from the curriculum vitae, which it receives from placement
consultants in a pre-defined uniform structure.

The road ahead

With an ERP solution in place, Aegon Religare is now considering to delve
into an expansion phase and is working on opening another 50 branches across
India in the next few months. As a result, the company will also considerably
increase its employee base. “Presently we have 2,000 employees in the company
and are planning to take it to 3,500 this financial year, primarily because the
HR practice is now in place,” Iyengar added.

However, the entire implementation is not yet over. Aegon Religare said that
nearly 80 percent of the solution is in place and the remaining 20 percent will
be implemented soon.

“We are very happy to have the Microsoft Dynamics' HRMS in place. Its
efficiency could be seen when 2,000 employees were logged to the system at the
same time for two hours during the appraisal process and the letters were
uploaded. We did not have any time lag or connectivity issues and were able to
efficiently carry out the process,” Iyengar concluded.

In terms of enhancing its IT portfolio, Aegon Religare is considering
implementing the travel claims and reimbursement module by July 2010, on its
existing Microsoft Dynamics HRMS.

avishekr@cybermedia.co.in