Free software is the future of recruitment technology

Technology is constantly pushing the recruitment sector forward, but are agencies keeping pace? As a tech innovator, we want to help recruiters stay abreast of the latest trends, so in this blog post we’re looking at the future of recruitment software.
ETZ’s CEO and founder, Nick Woodward, recently appeared on Recruiter Zone’s Rec Tech Showdown webcast, discussing how funding is changing recruitment technology. He believes this will mean that software is available for free in the near future – and here’s why…

The FinTech revolution is powering recruitment innovation

Over the past few years we’ve seen a marked rise in the number of FinTech companies – firms developing software to make financial services more efficient – and this revolution is having a positive impact across many sectors.
In the recruitment industry, leading tech companies like ETZ are developing ‘one stop shop’ solutions for recruitment agencies. “Up to this point we’ve seen technology companies fragment and become focused on providing features rather than systems, but this isn’t sustainable,” says Nick Woodward.
“We’re moving towards cognitive services, and tech companies want to be ahead of the curve, rather than finding themselves being consolidated.”
From ETZ’s perspective, the roadmap involves new CRM, customer acquisition and job hosting capabilities within its existing operational platform, and the company has just transitioned to Microsoft’s Azure platform to facilitate this new functionality.

Game-changing tech will become more accessible to agencies

With recruitment technology companies creating solutions that can do more for their customers, the market will become even more competitive – and the good news for recruitment agencies is that this will drive down the cost of back-office software.
“Our pricing is currently very competitive, and as our market share grows we expect it to come down, eventually to zero,” Nick adds. “Our goal is to make profit through funding, and ultimately make the software free, so more people use it to run their back-office operations.
“The concept of free software is a trend that I see running throughout the whole industry; software prices aren’t going to go up, they’re coming down.”
ETZ has already started to look at the accessibility of its products, recently launching Startup 20/20, a technology package that features all the same functions and benefits of its large agency platform, but priced for the start-up market.

Big change starts with the back-office

Although it’s not the sexiest of topics, back-office operations is where technology will make the biggest difference to business growth. This is where recruitment agencies should look to invest their attention, particularly as new legislation such as GDPR makes communications a more complex process.
“For companies to survive they need to take on compliance as a challenge,” Nick concludes. “They need to look for a technology solution like ETZ, which enables them to be compliant with current legislation, and with whatever regulations come up in future.”
The good news for recruitment agencies is that investing in back-office software is cheaper than ever, and as technology innovation continues, it may even end up being free to use.
See how back-office software can benefit your recruitment agency by booking a free demonstration of ETZ’s market-leading platform.