Just Give Me “The Works”

Staffing agency owners, executives and otherwise awesome TempWorks customers have come together from across the country, and Canada as well, for The Works, TempWorks’ first-ever industry conference.

When I first met Gregg Dourgarian several years ago, he told me of his vision to be able to provide a forum that would include networking with colleagues, some educational components, a behind-the-scenes look at TempWorks, an opportunity to give some input on future software improvements and of course lots of good food and relaxing fun. It’s exciting to see that come to fruition.

The event began with a trip Wednesday night to Target Field to see the local Major Baseball Team lose a close one to Baltimore. However, it really kicked off in earnest Thursday starting with breakfast, then opening remarks by David Dourgarian, President & CEO of TempWorks Software who detailed the history and origins of the family business.

Next up was me, giving some tips and insights on how to build your brand using self-publishing tools, as well as positioning yourself as a resource for local, regional and/or trade media outlets.

Paul Phipps followed with the do’s and don’t of making your staffing website stand out, then a panel (from R to L) comprised of TempWorks’ Ali Virani, Elizabeth James, Paul Czywczynski, Melanie Kramer, Mari Kautzman and Susan Wurst responded to a wide range of comments, questions and feedback about TempWorks products from the attendees.

One of the first themes to emerge, through a series of questions, had to do with the back end of TempWorks software, specifically reporting, budgeting, P&Ls, accounts payable, GL feed mapping and so on.

Mari Kautzman, Chief Operating Officer, says the company is trying to add robustness. “We’re trying to increase the number of stats and metrics you have to run your business,” and noted the next version of Enterprise will do that.

“We’re trying to increase the number of stats and metrics you have to run your business.”

In a quick survey of The Works attendees, David Dourgarian noted over half are using QuickBooks, and the vast majority are utilizing accrual accounting methods.

Paul Czywczynski, Chief Technology Officer, followed that up saying they would like to be able to utilize a direct  TempWorks – Quickbooks feed, that would eliminate current third-party translation needs.

It also came up that several people in the room are paying significant dollars, six figures in some cases, for a seat at the Salesforce CRM table, yet they might be only utilizing 10% – 15% of the full capabilities of Salesforce. And that with just a few more features and increased functionality of TempWorks’ product offerings, Salesforce could go away.

“My people in the field don’t give a darn about software per se,” commented one staffing agency principal. “All they care about is that it’s easily accessible and that it works.”

“My people in the field don’t give a darn about software per se,” commented one staffing agency principal. “All they care about is that it’s easily accessible and that it works.”

That means mobile obviously, being able to access – and add to – contact lists through phones and iPads, something the TempWorks panel says is currently being worked on.

One attendee noted her company is getting ready to move to a new office, and said they were able to reduce their square footage requirements, due to the paperless TempWorks DocCenter system that allows workers to fill out an online application and all onboarding documents electronically.

The way DocCenter stores and received documents also in turn led to a discussion about keywords and search within Enterprise.

“The biggest thing I want to introduce to our search system is the ability to rank,” stated Czywczynski to the group. “Getting that out is a priority for us. We also want to be able to have a layered search, similar to Google.”

“The biggest thing I want to introduce to our search system is the ability to rank,” stated Paul Czywczynski to the group. “Getting that out is a priority for us. We also want to be able to have a layered search, similar to Google.”

Towards the end of the discussion, one attendee said he had loved the interaction, thought that he learned something from his colleagues, and wondered if there wasn’t some value in trying to put together a TempWorks customer forum, either as a LinkedIn group or something else.

If you have any ideas around that, why don’t you let one of your TempWorks support reps know, and there can be further discussion about what that might look like.

TempWorks COO Mari Kautzman noted that Regional VP of Sales Claudette Jaswa was busy typing away on her laptop during the panel discussion, and that the comments captured during the discussion would certainly be taken up with the management team and developers.

“We are in the idea gathering stage. We love to hear from you, how you are doing, how you are using our products in the workplace, and what you need and want from us in the future.”