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Adopting A Corporate Cloud Mindset

March 7th, 2018 | Posted by ATS in Artificial Intelligence | ATS TimeWork OnDemand | Business Intelligence | Time and Attendance Blog, Workforce Management Software | Time and Attendance Canada | Time and Attendance Toronto - (Comments Off on Adopting A Corporate Cloud Mindset)

Change is never easy, especially when it comes to embracing and adopting cloud-based enterprise applications. But today’s executives (including many CIOs) understand that moving to the cloud offers efficiency, speed, and significant savings.

But what really makes cloud-based applications so different than those built and designed to work on traditional Servers with embedded legacy-type architecture?

ATS Time and Attendance in the Cloud is the most powerful, unified solution available today. It redefines how you modernize, collect employee data, innovate, and compete in a face-pace digital world, delivering comprehensive and integrated cloud services that allow your users to cost-effectively build, deploy, and manage workloads seamlessly and—in the cloud.

Adopting A Corporate Cloud Mindset

Here is why companies rely on ATS Time and Attendance in the Cloud:

Complete and Integrated Platform- Businesses need complete technology solutions that reduce complexity. They want robust time and attendance applications that can fully integrate to a multitude and platforms to deliver a seamless experience.

Open Architecture-ATS gives you more options for where and how you access the cloud. You can run ATS TimeWork OnDemand workloads, and connect third-party apps with those from ATS data centre.

ATS Adaptive Choice-ATS helps you realize the value of emerging technologies, including Big Data, machine learning and artificial intelligence. ATS Time and Attendance in the Cloud helps –infuse business and IT operations with adaptive intelligence, intuitive business processes, and with lower operational cost and complexity.

Sensitive Applications and Data-ATS Time and Attendance in the Cloud enables seamless path to the cloud with layers, throughout every aspect, of your cloud adoption. ATS cloud services make leading technologies available everywhere to organizations large and small.

Deployment-With ATS, deployment tool, you can manage apps through the cloud. ATS Time and Attendance in the Cloud is managed by ATS, so that you can take advantage of the agility, innovation and subscription-based pricing, while meeting data-residency requirements.

ATS product developers and solution experts help you accelerate innovation and successful transition to the cloud. From project planning and deployment to connectivity, ATS— provides the support and services needed so you can maximize the value of ATS Time and Attendance in the Cloud solutions for your business.

To learn about ATS Time and Attendance in the Cloud or to view a demonstration, go to our website. You can also register for one of our bi-monthly webinars. To reach us by phone, call 866.294.2467.

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Your Time And Attendance Project Can Succeed If Everyone Remains Committed

February 22nd, 2018 | Posted by ATS in Fingerprint Time And Attendance Toronto | Time and Attendance Blog, Workforce Management Software | Time and Attendance Canada | Time and Attendance Toronto - (Comments Off on Your Time And Attendance Project Can Succeed If Everyone Remains Committed)

Successful implementation of a time and attendance project requires the commitment of stakeholders on both sides, i.e. the vendor as well as customer. The vendor clearly has to absorb the bulk of the responsibility, and at the same time, has to steer the project in the right direction if they notice it is not going as planned.

Your Time And Attendance Project Can Succeed If Everyone Remains Committed

In her most recent blog titled 5 early warning signs of project failure for online publication, cio.com, Moira Alexander’s writes in part;

A change-resistant Culture
One of the first (and biggest) warning signs that your project may be headed for failure is an internal culture that is resistant to change. Projects bring about improvements in workflows and new operational best practices, often with an increased use of technology. These changes can create a significant amount of fear, as employees assume the end result will mean job losses or major disruption to their individual working world. Many projects have been internally sabotaged right from the start as result of these fears.

 Sponsors that are seldom Available
Another major reason projects fall short is a lack of project sponsorship and buy-in by executives. The role of project sponsors is to assist with championing the project, assisting with securing funding, resolving conflict, and providing support to project, program and portfolio managers. Project managers rely on sponsors for day-to-day support, leadership advice, and to demonstrate to employees and other stakeholders that the project is backed by company executives.

More questions than Answers
An ambiguous project purpose leads to more questions than answers and eventually leads to unrealistic goal attainment. At the onset it is crucial to nail down the exact purpose of the project and as many of the key details as possible for later breakdown. Proceeding with a project without having a clear understanding of the need for the project or its goals will make it virtually impossible to be successful.

Disconnected or disinterested team Members
As project teams are assembled, it’s vital to ensure all individuals are fully vested in the project and their role in it, and that they are fully accountable for their impact on the project. If team members fail to recognize their role, it can create a gap in their contribution levels that may become large enough to jeopardize the project. The full strength of the team depends on the weight that each individual contributes.

Lack of confidence in the project Manager
If stakeholders, project teams, vendors, or other executives lack confidence in a project manager at the start of a project it can be a great cause for concern. The reasons can be many; some may be warranted, while others may not necessarily be substantiated, but the outcome remains the same and can derail a project early on.

If your company is going to invest in a time and attendance, you want to make sure you avoid these mistakes and more importantly, if you recognize any of the warning signs described here should take immediate action to get your project on track again.

To learn about ATS Time and Attendance Project Methodology, or to download a demonstration, go to our website. You can also register for one of our bi-monthly webinars. To contact an account executive, call 866.294.2467.

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How Long Should Payroll And HR Practitioners Keep Attendance Records?

May 25th, 2017 | Posted by ATS in ATS TimeWork OnDemand | Cloud Computing | Overtime | Payroll | Time and Attendance Blog, Workforce Management Software | Time and Attendance Software | Workforce Management Solutions - (Comments Off on How Long Should Payroll And HR Practitioners Keep Attendance Records?)

How long should your organization keep employee attendance records? This will depend on the province or state in which a company operates. For example, on the website of the province of Manitoba, reads in part; “Employers and employees need to keep accurate records of the hours worked and the amount paid for those hours. Employers must pay employees for all hours they work and explain how the pay was calculated. Employment Standards requires employers to keep pay records for three years”.

How Long Should Payroll And HR Practitioners Keep Attendance Records?

Here is another example from the province of Ontario website “Employee and Retention Records, must be kept for three years after the day or week of work. If an employee receives a fixed salary for each pay period and the salary does not change (except if the employee works overtime) the employer is only required to record:

  • The employee’s hours in excess of those hours in the employee’s regular work week

And

  • The number of hours in excess of eight per day (or in excess of the hours in the employee’s regular work day, if it is more than eight hours).

Employers are not required to record the hours of work for employees who are exempt from overtime pay and the provisions for maximum hours of work.”

If you are small or mid-size business with 50-200 plus employees and tracking employee time and vacation pay with spreadsheets, it will take you an awfully long time going through paper records to verify hours worked in the unlikely event, you are audited. Your HR and payroll managers are the key to helping you solve these issues and are more than likely up to date on work-rule compliance.

So, what’s the best way to solve this issue? Help your payroll and HR staff by automating employee time keeping with ATS TimeWork OnDemand, that’s fully powered by the cloud. With ATS TimeWork OnDemand, you can:

 

Access Employee Attendance Records Anytime, Anywhere:
With ATS TimeWork OnDemand, all you need is an internet connection, and you can access ATS cloud services using any device.

Flexibility
CIOs and IT Directors marvel at the ease of use in accessing ATS TimeWork OnDemand through the web. ATS TimeWork OnDemand is ideal for businesses with growing or fluctuating bandwidth demands.

Capital-expenditure Free
ATS TimeWork OnDemand cuts out the high cost of hardware. You simply pay as you go and enjoy a subscription-based model that’s kind to your cash flow. And best of all, you no longer have to shift through paper records to find employees record, it’s always readily available when you need it.

So, how do you get started? Simply, download a demonstration to see the solution in action for yourself-afterwards, you contact us by phone at 866.294.2467 to discuss your requirements in more detail.

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Is The Role Of The IT Manager Still Important Within An Organization?

October 20th, 2016 | Posted by Apex Time Solutions in Cloud Computing | Cloud Time and Attendance | Hosted Time and Attendance System | Software-as-a-Service (saas) Workforce Management Software | Time and Attendance On-Demand - (Comments Off on Is The Role Of The IT Manager Still Important Within An Organization?)

How relevant is the role of the CIO or IT manager in 2016? That depends on who you ask. Even strong proponents of cloud computing technology (ATS included) agree that while the role of these individuals may have changed over the years, they remain extremely important. There are, as always other factors to consider, like the size of the organization. For example a small company with 50 employees might do well with an outside IT consultant, while a company in excess of 300 employees may decide to employ in-house IT personnel. And, while solutions like cloud-based time and attendance are gaining wider acceptance that does not mean the role of IT is being diminished, in fact the reverse is true.

CIOs and IT managers alike need to remind their organizations of the important role that IT plays within the larger scope of the business. They should also not been seen as an agent who hate change, for example, an unwillingness to accept a cloud solution especially, if other businesses executives are open to exploring the idea.

The role of IT within an organization warrants attention because as technology advances, the future of companies will depend on the IT strategies employed by the key decision makers.  However, the lingering question is whether the decision makers for these new and advanced technologies will remain the responsibility of IT or if it will be assumed by others, internally or externally?

To learn about ATS cloud-based solutions, go to our website and download a brochure or demonstration. To attend one of our weekly webinars, call 866.294.2467 or register online.

Is The Role Of The IT Manager Still Important Within An Organization?

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Keep An Open Mind When Deciding If The Cloud Is Right For Your Business

October 5th, 2016 | Posted by Apex Time Solutions in Business Intelligence | Cloud Based Time Management Solution | Cloud Computing | Hosted Time and Attendance Software - (Comments Off on Keep An Open Mind When Deciding If The Cloud Is Right For Your Business)

The cloud is slowly making on-premises time and attendance deployment an endangered species. It was only a few years ago when the very idea of a cloud-based time and attendance was met with a heavy dose of skepticism, and especially among companies who had big investments in on-premise solutions. The rise of Amazon, Salesforce, Spotify, iCloud, Google and slew of other cloud-based companies have seen a shift in attitudes, and thus, many business leaders have come to understand and embrace the cloud’s capabilities and its value proposition.

In an article ‘10 tips for a successful cloud plan’ by Brendon Butler for Network World, and in no particular order include;

 “Alignment Workshops
After a company has made a decision to use IaaS cloud computing services, it’s helpful to have a level-set meeting with important stakeholders at the company to get everyone on the same page. Typical groups involved in this meeting would be security managers, finance and procurement professionals, infrastructure engineers, operations workers and third-party consultants. Typically a senior IT manager or CIO leads the process. It’s important to have a clear message to this group of why the cloud is being explored.

 

Know Your Economics
One of the first considerations that will inevitably come up is cost. There is no simple calculation for determining if the cloud will be more or less expensive than on-premises infrastructure; there are too many variables. It’s important to know that different architectural designs will determine cost.

Find Agreement
If you have a faction within the organization that is against the cloud, this will be difficult. Get on the same page and make sure any outstanding concerns are addressed before moving forward. Executive buy-in can help.”

Those 10 tips are very useful and can be adopted by companies thinking about deploying the cloud. With ATS Time and Attendance in the cloud, you get guaranteed levels of server availability and up-time that are difficult and costly to replicate with and on-premise system. From employee data to HR and payroll mission critical core functions, ATS Time and Attendance in the cloud automates more than edge applications. We power entire industries in the cloud.

If your company is debating the benefits of a cloud time and attendance consider the following; ATS Time and Attendance in the cloud cuts out the high cost of hardware including Servers. You simply pay as you go and enjoy a subscription-based model that will not take a chunk out of your cash flow. In addition, the amount of time it takes to configure your company’s database, train users and set up data collectors are reduced by half when compared to an on premise deployment, suddenly that scary cloud-based project isn’t that bad after all.  From employee data to HR and payroll mission critical core functions, ATS Time and Attendance powers entire industries in the cloud.

To learn about ATS Time and Attendance in the cloud, download a demonstration from our website. You can also contact us by phone or register for one of our weekly webinars.

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Is The Personal Computer Really On The Decline?

July 29th, 2014 | Posted by Apex Time Solutions in Time and Attendance Blog, Workforce Management Software | Time and Attendance System | Workforce Management Solutions - (Comments Off on Is The Personal Computer Really On The Decline?)

In the last 5 years many have predicted the demise of the PC, in part, due to the increase in sales of tablets and other mobile devices. Now it appears, some of those very pundits are either reversing their earlier statements, or being cautious in predicting what the future holds for the PC. It’s easy to understand why some would sit up and take notice at the latest report by the well respected companies IDC and Gartner. In fact, when these industry leaders, issue reports, even wall street listens.

In yet in another report, written by Rob Enderle on CIO.com and commenting on Dell’s most recent success with a surge in PC sales he says “reports of the personal computer’s death have been greatly exaggerated. In fact, the company’s seeing good growth from its PC and thin client lines. Credit new designs, higher screen resolutions, a program for helping users migrate from Windows XP — and a steadfast refusal to believe the hype about the death of the PC.”

It is fair to say that several industries still uses a workstation in their environment and let’s face it, while tablets are very cool, accomplishing most tasks in a work place is just easier with a laptop. As for predicting the fate of the personal computer, we will leave that to research companies and other leading IT authoritative mediums.

Is The Personal Computer Really On The Decline?

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