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A company’s interest in measuring employee performance may rise or fall with the economy. But the value of performance evaluations as a measure of how a workforce is meeting corporate objectives remains strong any time, anywhere. This roundtable discusses the effectiveness of CCHKnowledgepoint’s Performance Impact and Performance Now Enterprise software as tools for managing the workforce to a higher level of productivity and profitability.

Ian Alexander, President, CCHKnowledgepoint

John Lucan, VP Sales, CCHKnowledgepoint

Tom LaMantia, Managing Director, Intrinsic Technologies

Dave Fox, Executive Director of HR, Prometric

Chuck Rosenblum, Senior VP of HR, KMC Telecom

HRO Today: How would you describe the value that your performance-management software brings to users?

John Lucan: Most companies recognize the importance of how well they manage their workforces. In fact, it's broadly understood that shareholder value increases significantly from systems installed to improve the management of workers.

An enterprise software solution dedicated to employee performance allows the user organization-whether it's a single- or multiple-location company-an efficient opportunity to establish goals, monitor and track employee performance toward these goals, log events and, in general, provide coaching aimed at improving performance. At CCHKnowledgepoint, we believe we have two excellent software products designed to do just that. The first is an Internet-oriented program called Performance Impact; a similar product called Performance Now Enterprise is a client-server application.

Whichever version the client chooses, we made the employee-review process very easy. Both products provide detailed documentation of each employee's performance against goals so that, when reviewing each employee, it's easy to reset goals for the next reporting period.

The chief advantage of Performance Impact and Performance Now Enterprise is they provide a simple and consistent system for reviewing employee performance results. The review and appraisal process is of much higher quality than a paper system. A special advantage for managers is that these products help supervisors overcome the "blank-page" phobia that prevails when they don't know where to begin their commentary.

For employees, the result is a much more excited and involved workforce that is highly motivated because people feel they're being managed properly and their contributions are being recognized.

The pricing model we use makes either software version attractive to user organizations of all sizes. Price is an annual fee and it's based on the number of employees in the organization.

HRO: Is the automation John speaks of a huge differentiator for you, or does it just put CCHKnowledgepoint in the "game" as one of many players in performance-management software?

Dave Fox: I think their automation has certainly put them in the game, but what makes them truly stand out is how their products execute under typical business conditions. Is the solution innovative? Is it easy to use? Does it require a lot of rollout support? Does it require a lot of training for the client's staff? For me, these would be the most important differentiators.

HRO: What do you think differentiates an application such as this from the rest of the pack?

Tom LaMantia: Before coming to Intrinsic, I was with an organization where performance management was strictly a paper system. So, when I moved to Intrinsic and became involved in CCHKnowledgepoint's product offerings, I was happy to find the automation. It was part of the reason that their products are easy to use, especially to assign and monitor goals. But the real differentiators for us are how simple and efficient the products are; their clear, consistent easy-to-understand menus. Our managers just don't become confused. The review process is no longer tedious.

Chuck Rosenblum: When I talk about differentiators that make software like this stand out, I have to do it from the position of hypothesis, because we've not yet gone through the implementation of CCHKnowledgepoint's software. But from what I've seen so far, I know that everything the others have said here makes sense. All these points are very important to KMC Telecom's 600 employees. The more information we have on them, the more we can give to them. The more automation there is in the process of developing and disseminating this information, the more motivation we can generate among our people. And, finally, the more we'll be able to align their work and their attitudes to our corporate goals. The more a performance-review solution helps all this happen, the better off we are as a profit-making organization.

HRO: What was it exactly about the CCHKnowledgepoint presentation that influenced your decision to purchase?

Chuck Rosenblum: To be honest, the independent sourcing consultant that we used had reviewed all similar systems and strongly recommended the CCHKnowledgepoint product.

Tom LaMantia: Intrinsic Technologies is essentially a systems consulting house, and so we advise ourselves on matters like this. We initiated a thorough, systematic approach to evaluating the CCHKnowledgepoint product. Its automation features were particularly important, because we have our workers on site at large enterprise customers across the nation. It's vital for us to have 360-day review capability, to log events, and to have total access to information from anywhere, any time.

Dave Fox: Prometric is another company that doesn't use a sourcing consultant. But internally, we emulated the things that a consultant would do. We established a committee that reviewed all competing performance-review solutions and saw that there was a clear value distinction between the CCH product offerings and all the rest.

HRO: How important is a formal performance review process as an employee-retention tool?

Tom LaMantia: It's not the number one factor in a good retention program, but it's certainly among the top four or five.

Dave Fox: I agree with Tom. Having a strong performance-review solution is among the five key elements of employee retention. But the importance of such a solution goes far beyond the ability to review the work of each employee. It serves as a gateway enabling us to focus on all the other things that help our people understand they've made the right employment choice.

Chuck Rosenblum: I was in a meeting yesterday, a kind of HR-focused get-together with some of our employees. Although it was a routine part of our management process, it was particularly revealing. You know, the telecom industry has been battered and bruised of late and cash is very tight. It was extraordinary to discover that our people weren't worried about merit increases. They were happy to have good jobs in these tough times, and happy to know that their performance was going to be reviewed. They wanted the feedback about their contributions to the company, and to find out more about what their career-development opportunities might be. Now that's motivation, and it works in good times or bad.

Tom LaMantia: I'd like to add that one of the best things about the CCHKnowledgepoint products is that they're scalable. They can fit in nicely in small, medium, and large organizations. This is a unique feature in this software space. It ties in perfectly with our desire for the scalability to match the growth of our organization.

HRO: Ian Alexander, you said that your Performance Impact/Performance Now Enterprise packages are the fastest-growing products right now at CCHKnowledgepoint. To what do you attribute this?

Ian Alexander: Business in America is at a very interesting place right now. The idea really seems to have taken hold that employees and performance management are very strategic to the organization. What we're seeing is an acceleration of belief in this concept among clients across all industries. The management at these companies is starting to appreciate the true value of their workers and that, to create a competitive advantage, it comes down to the quality and the motivation of the people you employ.

Performance management is a development tool that really empowers employees by providing them with valuable feedback. Our software products function as the structure that removes the barriers that traditionally exist between employer and employee. This has been the catalyst for the success of our performance-management products.