Has AI knocked automation off the top perch in RecTech development?

Trend for software automation slowing?

Since debuting in the business world in the 1960s, the trend for business software automation accelerated massively through the 1990s with the advent of the internet and the rise of ecommerce. As businesses began to conduct more and more transactions online, they needed to automate their processes in order to keep up with the demand.

Today, business software automation has become deeply embedded in the business processes of pretty much every business that wants to remain competitive. By using software that automates their processes, recruitment agencies save time and money, improve efficiency, and increase productivity.

Recently, AI technologies have come to the fore, dominating the news and grabbing headlines. However, AI isn’t an overnight sensation. It has been quietly building up a head of steam for years. One question that this might provoke is:

Is the trend for software automation waning?

The party is not over for software automation!

In recent years, recruitment businesses of all sizes have been embracing automation as a means of streamlining their operations, reducing costs, and improving efficiency. Quite simply, it is a source of competitive advantage for agencies, but only if others lag behind. As automation has become more pervasive and ubiquitous, it has levelled the playing field somewhat.

This might be expected to have moved the quest for competitive advantage on to pastures new, such as… you’ve guessed it – AI! In some ways it has, but this has not led to a decline in interest in business software automation.

The rise of AI has only increased interest in software automation as AI – and its parent computing technique, machine learning (ML) have enabled the refinement and increased sophistication of automation technologies.

Covid has become one of the big drivers. Remote working and reduced headcounts at many companies have married up with the capability of technology to do more of the process-oriented tasks that were once done manually. Examples here include the automation of complex processes such as customer service and medical diagnosis.

Recruitment back office automation

Even with automation now reaching quite a mature stage, some companies are still failing to make the most of RecTech which provides process automation of routine clerical operational tasks. For more than 20 years, ETZ has been a leader in automating the recruitment back office to drive efficiency and increased profitability.

• ETZ Timesheets: Puts timekeeping information as well as the approval process online. It also integrates expense management, improving the efficiency of your recruitment agency. Candidates don’t have to worry about losing them, clients don’t have to use unsecured methods of approving hours worked, and agency back office staff don’t waste time shuffling paper, ‘decoding’ handwriting or chasing candidates.
• ETZ Comply: Simplifies the entire process of collecting, filing, storing and maintaining up-to-date candidate documentation. ETZ Comply is onboarding software that automates management of employment information, including, personal documentation, employment contracts, employee handbooks and IT policies for compliance purposes. This saves agency back office staff an awful lot of legwork, as well as making sure your agency does not contravene employment law.
• ETZ Reporting: ETZ allows you to uncover hidden statistical trends and anomalies that might be difficult to detect and understand when you use different applications for different parts of your recruitment operations. Powered by Caspian, the Big Data business intelligence platform, the software takes the data generated by the other applications in your agency software stack and performs analysis, identifies trends and delivers insight.

Get benefits of back office RecTech automation with ETZ

ETZ is a proven technology. The automation features of ETZ RecTech tools are leaders in efficiency and have paved the way for the emergence of the sophisticated search and selection tools that are emerging to power the front side of agency operations.

In some ways you could say that AI-powered search and selection is going to enable agency front side operations to catch up with the back office efficiency already enjoyed by ETZ’s customers.ETZ’s complementary solutions give agencies the capability to streamline and uncover opportunities. To find out more call us on 0800 311 2266 or book a demo.