Pocket HRMS

In conversation with Mr. Kumar Siddhartha, MD of Pocket HRMS

What led to the inception of Pocket HRMS?

Established over 15 years ago, we started with a goal to enable time-saving across corporates and a vision to be a leading choice in helping companies be more efficient. To aid our vision of being highly efficient, we scouted the market for HR software that matched our desired level of technology, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness. This search yielded no concrete results which led us to conduct in-depth market research in the HR space and, ultimately, the idea for Pocket HRMS came into our minds. Steadily we evolved and adapted to the growing need for an organized HRMS software by introducing our desktop application. Our company leaders saw Cloud as the next big revolution in technology and the limitless possibilities that it brought along.

Thus, we took a bold step by being one of the first to become a cloud-based HR solution and evolved with the changing times. Today, Pocket HRMS is the leading cloud-based choice across myriad industries and is known for its features of convenience, adaptability, and productivity.

With multiple HR solutions available on the market, what is it that makes Pocket HRMS different?

When it comes to staying ahead of the curve, Pocket HRMS has a dedicated focus towards being the best in the business. What sets us apart from the rest:

• HR First, Employee Driven: Pocket HRMS follows a unique HR First, Employee oriented approach. This enables us to focus on HR requirements while ensuring that we address employee pain points using modern technologies and digital platforms.

• Proto-pioneers:  With almost two decades of experience under the belt, we possess an unmatched industry-leading level of expertise that our customers trust. Time and again, we have pioneered and introduced advanced tools in the HR domain. This has allowed us to provide world-class support with minimal implementation time and fast ROIs for organizations.

• Cost-Effectiveness: One of our prominent differences is that we are promoting businesses. We strive to support our clients and grow with them together. This has paved the way for Pocket HRMS being the foremost choice when choosing a cost-effective HRMS software.

• smHRty: Our drive for innovation can be gauged by our chatbot – smHRty, which we were one of the first to introduce in the HRMS domain. It has been adored by our clients and has been immensely instrumental in reducing the mundane task workload for HRs across industries. Today, smHRty can quickly answer employee queries, take leave requests, share important information, and is available 24×7. Just like Pocket HRMS, it embodies our vision of being lightning fast, highly efficient, and adaptable.

• Peerlessly Versatile: From 10 employees to 100,000 employees, Pocket HRMS effortlessly caters to HR needs for businesses across manufacturing, IT, insurance, medical, hospitality, retail, and many other industries. We take pride in being adaptable to dynamic requirements and provide scalable solutions across the depth and breadth of the HR spectrum.

• HR-evolutionary: We stay up-to-date on current technologies and look over the horizon. Our Next-Gen vision sets us apart from our competitors multifold. We were one of the first to adapt as a cloud-based HR solution, and utilize smHRty, the AI-based HR bot, in the HRMS domain. Now, we are leading the revolution or, as we like to call it, HR-evolution with an overhaul of Pocket HRMS and introducing the first-of-its-kind Global Search feature: the smHRt searcHR.

• smHRt searcHR: This is a brand new feature that we have launched with our overhaul of Pocket HRMS which is one of the first-ever use of a Global Search feature in the HR Software industry. Now, HR teams can swiftly access functional menus as well as employee data from a single smart search field. It is already on a path to revolutionize interacting with employee data and has already proven to be highly useful to our clients.

These characteristics make Pocket HRMS not just different but also in a league of its own.

What changes in the industry have you observed to date?

I would like to quote Heraclitus here – The only thing constant is change. The last two decades have been crucial to shaping the industry. More importantly, in recent years, there has been a shift in the usual HRMS dynamics.

The previous generation of HR was analog-centric with a flair for book-keeping and a more physical approach to managing their employees. This has been upgraded to a youth-centric HR who believes in making the best use of technology to manage their ever-growing workforce.

However, the rate at which information is generated has increased exponentially. This has, in turn, changed the thinking and focus of many organizations with many looking at Artificial Intelligence as a source of relief.

Our introduction of smHRty, the AI-based HR chatbot, turned a lot of heads when it was announced. It bolstered the Pocket HRMS vision of helping HRs become omnichannel and highly accessible by utilizing futuristic technology.

Since the boundaries between working from office and remote working are getting narrower each year, there is an increasing interest in being device & location agnostic in HR management. Parallel to this, the next big changes will be in working to create a decentralized HR environment with a focus on greater employee data, adaptability to foreseeable changes, and data access security.

These changes have the potential to be the biggest change in perception of how we work and when the time comes you can rest assure that Pocket HRMS would be ready to tackle it.

How did the idea of developing an end-to-end HR software come across?

Our founders and leaders have believed in the essence of being proactive. When they initially came up with developing HRMS software in India, it was still a relatively new concept 15 years ago.

The goal to have an effective and feature-rich HR solution was discovered when our stakeholders saw untapped potential in the industry. This marked the beginning of Pocket HRMS’ journey and along the way we realized that an HR software is more than just managing a company’s human resources. It is about engaging them, as well.

To confirm this realization, we explored the available HR solutions. Sure, there were offerings with Core HR features like Payroll, Leave, and Attendance management but they lacked that fine balance of technology, cost-effectiveness, and scalability that modern HR prefers. We took up the job and created Pocket HRMS – a complete end-to-end HR software.

We added modules like appraisal, training, recruitment, employee self-service portal, analytic reports, and so much more. But, perhaps our biggest contributor on this journey has been our in-house AI chatbot smHRty who is the engagement powerhouse of Pocket HRMS. In a nutshell, I can say that it was our desire of being the best that led us to the idea for developing a hire-to-retire HR software.

What is the hardest decision you have taken so far in your Pocket HRMS journey to date?

When you lead one of the best HRMS software in India, no decision is easy. It all boils down to one question – WHY? Most times even though the questions are hard, you might find the answers are easy. But taking the leap, that’s where it gets tricky. In our Pocket HRMS journey, the hardest decisions have involved change.

One of the hardest decisions was migrating from a desktop application-based environment to a completely cloud-based HR solution. A couple of decades of experience will tell you that change is the most terrifying thing a business can face. But, recognizing an opportunity on the horizon can open doors to limitless possibilities. We saw this opportunity and it was a literal silver lining in the cloud.

When we announced smHRty, an AI-based HR chatbot, it was ahead of the curve in the HRMS space. We had months to prepare, estimate, and equip the bot with a plethora of features. But it seemed a bold and uncertain step. While other industry players were talking about focusing on payroll processing, attendance management, and other core HR system features, we were already achieving those milestones as well as looking to expand the horizon further. It was most definitely a risky and tough decision. But looking back today, I am sure we made the right call.

Are there any ideological principles that you follow to maintain the brand value?

Our founding ideology is to believe in the Customer First approach. We are hugely indebted to the trust that our customers have shown in our product, journey, and team. I personally believe it is a matter of great pride that some of our existing clients have been with us for over 15 years – right from the time when we were a desktop application to today where we are a cloud-based HRMS platform. This is the true validation and reflection of our ideology where our customers are the number one priority.

Is there any new product coming up from your side in 2020?

We are always working towards giving more to our clients and are the most value-for-money cloud-based HRMS in the country. In 2020, we are planning to reintroduce Pocket HRMS in a brand-new avatar with an all-new smHRty and an exclusive companion, the smHRt searcHR.

Upcoming new product features that we are focusing on are:

• Web 5.0 Experience: The crux of an HRMS is the user interaction. Pocket HRMS has been revamped from the ground up to offer an industry-leading user experience based on Web 5.0. It focuses on user interface and analytics to give HRs the finest tools to manage their workforce. It is now more dynamic, user-friendly, and robust than ever before.

• ManageHR for Employee Data: When it comes to employee data management and HR, then there is a delicate balance which has to be maintained. Pocket HRMS takes an employee-centric approach which enables achieving that balance seamlessly. It further allows companies to get more done in less time while keeping employees happily engaged at the same time. The ultimate win-win for all organizations.

• Role Customization: A major pain point for HRs is delegation of data access. Pocket HRMS can limit or expand your HR team’s working capabilities as per their defined custom role and activities. It empowers HR to focus on their actual HR-related activities completely. While Admins can exclusively work on configurations, settings, logs, and much more.

• smHRt searcHR: Although HR solutions can make the life of an HR more organized, it is not easy to get used to new software. There are a lot of menus, data, and paths that you need to remember so that you can utilize the software optimally. We have introduced smHRt searcHR, a Global Search feature which has revolutionized the way HR works. Now HRs can forget about trying to remember long module paths, complicated menu locations, employee information, or anything else. Our smHRt searcHR brings all the database’s information within virtually instantaneous reach with minimal to no training.

• Meet the new smHRty: The engagement powerhouse of Pocket HRMS has been improved tremendously with powerful tools and functionalities. Employees can now directly apply leaves, track their attendance, download salary slips, or even get answers to simple questions like “What is Form 16”, etc. all from within smHRty itself.

Tell us something about the work culture at Pocket HRMS.

Pocket HRMS and the team behind it share synonymous virtues. If I had to choose one word to describe our work culture, it would be Open. Our product is, in itself, reflection of our work culture. We do not have an open-door policy, we have a NO Door policy within our organization. We actively support participation of ideas at all the levels. We wholeheartedly believe in the tenacity and dedication of our employees. It has helped shape what Pocket HRMS is today and am sure it will prove instrumental in taking us to the next level.

How do you define success? What are your metrics to measure success?

I define success as an ongoing journey to achieving a harmony between research, leadership, and utilization which ultimately resonates in Pocket HRMS’ core metrics – TEC:

• Technology: This is a constantly changing metric and serves as our source of continuous aspiration to keep pushing set boundaries. We measure our success by pioneering technical research and its implementation. The ever-changing methodologies and introduction of new technologies keep us on our toes. We strive to be one of the first to introduce new ideas in the HR space. Leading the HR industry to the next era of technical prowess and making HR life effortless is our core success metric.

• Employee: It has been equally great to have employees staying with us for years through numerous ups and downs of the Industry where they have shown tremendous faith in us by choosing to tackle challenges together. We have always stood behind our employees during technological disruptions and we are blessed to have colleagues who believe in us and share our common vision.

• Customer: As I mentioned earlier, we believe the biggest and number one success metric for us would be to improve our Net Promoter Score (NPS). That’s our number one priority. Everything else is a number two or below priority. Apart from our customers, we ensure that all our stakeholders including employees, partners, and various other shareholders also receive value addition from a learning perspective.

To me, these are the true measure of success.

What piece of advice would you give to emerging entrepreneurs?

Keep it simple. You can spend an entire lifetime chasing after a complicated execution to an idea. Focus on ‘Keeping It Simple’ and you will find it easier to manage resources, time, and the idea itself. Another thing would be to utilize the correct technology.

Using a clunky software would spell certain doom in this technological age. Keep it simple with the correct set of tools and success will find you. This has helped me tremendously and I hope it helps emerging entrepreneurs as well.