According to a recent survey from the DMEXCO, 70 percent of executives worldwide expect the pandemic to accelerate the pace of digital strategy. In the past, businesses had more time to plan and prepare.
That’s no longer the case.
Today, businesses are expected to outline, plan, implement the digital strategy in a matter of days or weeks. The market is moving at an accelerated pace; many businesses find they’re unable to keep up. If you can’t keep up, does that mean you’ll be left behind?
Not if you have the right digital strategy agency.
With the right agency, you’ll be able to adapt to rapidly changing circumstances and events. Here are some steps you can take to find and vet the right agency.
Know your goals and desired outcomes
Identifying your digital strategy is the key to long-term growth.
Your digital strategy is about setting goals and objectives. It’s a high-level overview that defines where you are now, outlines where you’d like to go (as an organization), and how you’ll get there. It’s a long(er) term plan that sets a course or destination for you to follow before starting your journey.
You’re going to need a list of:
Goals, KPIs, and objectives: For example, you could focus your attention on generating a specific number of leads, customers, or revenue. You’re running a SaaS business, focus your attention on reducing churn and increasing MRR.
Target audience members: It would be best if you had a clear idea of the specific customer segments you’re looking to target. Your agency should help you with the demographics, psychographics, and ethnographics if you need help clarifying your audience.
Customer hangouts: You’ll want to identify your customer hangouts and the places online where your customers spend their time. This will help you identify potential partners, advertising opportunities, and strategic alliances you can use to grow.
Obstacles and challenges: You’ll want to outline the list of barriers and challenges that may prevent you from achieving the goals and objectives you’ve listed above.
Competitors and key players: You’ll want to identify your competitors and their strengths and weaknesses. This reduces direct competition, making it easier for you to attract customers based on your strengths and the areas you perform best.
Strengths and weaknesses: Point out the areas where you have an advantage in your market or where you’re most vulnerable. Your agency should be able to provide you with options to address each of these, so you’re able to outperform your competitors.
If you have clear answers to these questions, it’s easier for your agency to supply you with the strategy you need to be effective.
3 Characteristics That Make a Great Agency
Great agencies have a few characteristics in common. They’re able to focus their attention on the details that matter to your company and your customers.
1. They ask probing questions
Your agency can’t create the right digital strategy for your company if they don’t have the answers they need. A great agency asks probing questions that may seem simple, dumb, or unimportant at first. You want your agency to ask these questions because these questions help them to develop an in-depth understanding of your business.
Here are a few examples.
What are your current benchmarks?
What are your goals and objectives for your business overall? For each segment?
Which KPIs or metrics are you using to measure performance?
What do customers expect from your business?
Where do your customers spend their time online?
Which marketing channels work best to attract customers?
What tactics should we use to achieve our goals and objectives?
Questions form the basis of your digital strategy; your digital strategy shows you where you are now, tells you where you’re going, and how to get there. Good digital marketing agencies should be asking these questions at the beginning of the engagement process.
2. Ask your agency to give their strategy away
Your agency should be willing to share bits and pieces, showing you what a cohesive strategy could look like for you. This is important because it gives you several data points you can use to evaluate their work. This doesn’t mean that you should expect your agency to work for free; it just means they’re willing to demonstrate their skills.
Your agency can share this with you in several ways, over the phone, in your proposal or quote, or a case study. You’re looking for them to share pieces of their proposed digital strategy or examples from previous campaigns they’ve implemented for other clients.
Request performance data from your agency
Use performance data to evaluate their performance
Pay attention to the campaign elements they prioritize consistently
Look for knowledge gaps, holes in their strategy, or weak points
Discuss the details you’ve noticed with them during the interview process
Another option would be to pick one part of your business (e.g., content or advertising) and ask your agency how they’d build a strategy to accommodate one specific goal (i.e., how would you increase sales for my worst performing products using content marketing?).
3. Your agency knows how to implement
Digital strategy is important, but it’s not as important as the ability to execute that strategy. A great strategy isn’t enough. Your agency should have the experience, skill sets, and team you need to implement your digital strategy and produce the results you need to grow.
You’re looking for three things.
An agency that can create a comprehensive digital strategy that works with your existing marketing plan
An agency that knows how to implement your digital strategy successfully
A proven track record showing that they’ve achieved this for other clients in the past
Your agency should provide you all three of these, and they should be able to provide you with evidence showing that they offered other clients these as well.
How to Work with a Digital Strategy Agency
As you’d expect with any other agency, you’ll want to see a list of samples, references, case studies, and reviews showing that they’re legitimate and competent.
Ask your clients to provide you with a list of milestones and campaign deliverables. You’re looking for a clear timeline that projects how long everything will take to implement, and when they anticipate, you’ll begin seeing results. Your plan should include details on:
Media advertising: This includes commercials on tv or streaming services, as well as app, radio, podcasting, and sponsorship spots. This won’t be relevant for some, but it’s still something your agency should be able to support if you need it.
Public relations: What will your agency do to generate press for your business? What strategies will they use to increase visibility and publicity for your business?
Digital marketing: This encompasses everything from local search, organic search engine optimization, content marketing, advertising,
Direct response: This can include tactics like geofencing or hyperlocal print advertising; it’s a direct response option that’s designed to integrate with your overall strategy. This is especially important for local businesses that operate in a specific market.
Partnerships: These partnerships can include tactics like JV partnerships, strategic alliances, or channel partnerships. These pieces are essential and should be an important part of your digital strategy.
Your agency should be able to show you how they plan on approaching your campaign or project. Ask them to break down the approach that goes into their strategy documents; this document should clarify how they’ll approach your campaign, what you should expect, what their goals are, and more.
You’ll want to provide your agency with the following:
Agreements. It’s common sense, but it’s also something many clients ignore. Take some time to look over their agreement; look for red flags and trouble spots with legal before you sign.
Brand content. Gather all of your content, brochures, flyers, guides, promos, images, logos, style guides, and marketing materials for your agency.
Photos. Give your agency access to all relevant photography — company photos, portraits/photos of key people, office space, location, general and event photos, etc.).
Accolades. Make a list of the social proof your company has — awards, recognition, testimonials, praise, positive reviews, or feedback you’ve received. Give your agency with the assets and resources needed if they ask.
The digital strategy company you choose will provide you with a list of items they need and the options you need to implement their plan successfully.
How to Find the Right Digital Strategy Agency For You
You can use directories like Clutch.co, HubSpot Agency Directory, or Sortlist to find the right digital strategy agency that’s best for you. Here’s a list of some of the best in the industry. You can go through the traditional RFP process or you can simply request a quote.
The 6 Top Digital Strategy Agencies
Here’s a list of six of the top digital strategy agencies online.
1. Neil Patel Digital — Best For Content Marketing & Digital Strategy
I’ve created more than 4,294 blog posts in 10 years. I’ve written millions of words, and I’ve used content marketing to build three companies of my own generating 195,013 visitors a month. I did the same things for large fortune 500 clients; now I can do that for your business too.
2. REQ – Best for Enterprise Business Strategy
REQ is an award-winning agency with enterprise-level expertise. They’re industry veterans with some of the best talents in the business. They’re part of the Inc.500 and Deloitte Fast 500 lists – they’re one of the fastest-growing companies in America.
3. Usman Group – Best for Mid-market Business Strategy
With 80% of its clients in the mid-market range, earning between 10M – 1B, the Usman Group, specializes in digital strategy and market research. Their agency is oriented around design thinking; they produce projects that are evidence-driven, practical, and focused on research.
4. DeSantis Breindel – Best for Branding Strategy
DeSantis Breindel is a digital strategy company that specializes in end-to-end branding strategy. They’re focused on all things branding — they serve businesses via brand differentiation, brand valuation, brand launches, and employee engagement and more.
If your company relies on image and brand reputation, DeSantis may be a good fit.
5. Mabbly – Best for Data Analysis, Channel Strategy
As a digital strategy firm, Mabbly emphasizes market research and data analytics. They specialize in converting large and complex problems into growth opportunities for established and up and coming brands. Their starting price is slightly higher but worth the investment if you’re looking for a data-driven approach.
6. Ironpaper – Best for Small Business
Ironpaper bills itself as a B2B growth agency. As a digital strategy firm, their conversion growth strategy focuses on gaining traction with growth up to 1 percent. The growth phase starts at 1 to 3 percent, with anything above 3 percent listed as scaling.
Conclusion
Businesses have less time to adjust; now, more than ever before, customers are expecting companies to meet their expectations and needs immediately. Digital strategies that played out over the course of one to three-year cycle now finish in a matter of days or weeks. Business is accelerating as customers move more of their business online.
Most companies will need help to keep up.
If you have the right digital strategy agency, you’ll have the support you need to adapt to a rapidly changing market and events. Use this guide to find and vet the right agency for your business.
You likely already know how important creativity is when it comes to digital marketing.
However, coming up with great ideas – be that through content or ads – is only part of the story when it comes to driving results online.
Another significant factor that will amplify your marketing efforts is the collection and leveraging of data.
In other words, to truly succeed with your digital marketing campaigns, you must utilize the best of the machine and human worlds.
But perhaps you’re not a data kind of person, which is where hiring an analytics company comes into play – an option you may already be considering.
Before you make this important decision, equip yourself with the information we’ve outlined in this article so that you can make the best choice for your needs.
The 6 Characteristics That Make a Great Analytics Company
When choosing the right analytics company to work with, there are certain characteristics you need to take into consideration.
Not all agencies are built the same. It is safe to assume that most companies put their best foot forward for their clients, but there will always be variance in terms of what results you will get from each one.
Consider the following factors.
They offer a full suite of marketing services
You may already have your marketing strategy under control and may only need help to understand and leverage your data.
But how can a company help you leverage your data if they have no experience in what the data should be used for?
The point of data and analytics is to improve your decision making and inform your strategy. So, if you’re working with an agency to help you do so, they need to have some actual marketing chops.
Make sure that the agency you want to work with offers other services besides analytics. This is a good indicator that the insights they produce from your data will actually mean something.
They have a strong technology stack
It goes without saying, but if a company is promising to help you leverage data (technology), they will likely have the technology to do so.
At the very minimum, your analytics partner should have their own proprietary platform that will be used as the central point for your data.
But in the best case, the partners will leverage more advanced technologies, such as machine learning, that can help make better sense of the vast amount of data that you will have.
You will find that the best insights from your data come after the raw data is analyzed by a machine, and then made sense of by a human.
The quality of that initial analysis, however, will depend on the quality of the technology that your agency partner has built.
They have an all-star team
Making sense of your marketing data is no easy task. It requires breadth and depth of skills as well as experience, all working together in a harmonious way.
Make sure you check out the team on the about page and on LinkedIn, taking into consideration these factors:
Skills diversity – Making sense of data requires a symbiosis between the human and machine side of business. A good agency will have social scientists (or marketing experts), data scientists, and statisticians.
Years of experience – How long has the team been operating? What are their backgrounds? The more industries and businesses they’ve seen, the higher the chance their insights will be valuable.
Founders – The founders set the tone for the culture of the company. Try to find information on the background of the founder to get a better understanding of how they conduct their operations.
They have a strong roster of clients
One of the most objective ways to evaluate a company is to take a look at the clients they’ve worked with – and, most importantly, what results they’ve gotten for them.
Keep these things in mind:
Similar clients – If an agency mostly works with Fortune 100 clients and you’re a small startup, they probably won’t be a good fit. They likely will have their processes and expertise optimized for analyzing data at scale.
Transparent results – Can the analytics agency demonstrate the results they’ve gotten in the past?
Experience with your channels – It’s no use to you if the analytics company you want to work with specializes in advertising analytics and you have a content-focused strategy. Check to see if they have demonstratable results and insights into your specific channels.
They have a great communication style
If you’re a marketing leader or business owner, chances are you aren’t well trained in understanding and interpreting data.
In this case, the analytics company you work with has to be able to make sense of your data and also deliver it in a way that you can actually use.
To get an idea of this, take a look at how the company communicates with its audiences.
Blog posts – Is the agency creating content and educating their customers? Do they do so in a clear and simple, yet value-driven way?
Visualizations – Does the agency value data visualizations? Do they have any examples of how they visualize data in a user-friendly way?
They take a holistic approach to analytics
It is likely your business has a lot of data to work with. Oftentimes, insights come from unlikely places, such as comparisons between seemingly unrelated data sets.
To get the most out of your data, your analytics agency will need to map out and architect your entire data ecosystem.
They will need to consider aspects of your business such as:
Customer profiles – Your customers will have data points in common, such as demographic information, which can then be used to inform PPC targeting, for instance.
Marketing channels – Each marketing channel has its own set of data to be analyzed. Social media, for instance, has metrics such as engagement and likes, whereas email marketing focuses more on open rates and click-throughs.
Website analytics – Your website will have metrics that can inform on everything from design to marketing. Data points such as website dwell time, page conversions, and heat map analytics come into play here.
What To Expect From a Great Analytics Company
Each analytics company has their own unique process when working with clients.
The best analytics companies, however, will ensure their process is tailored to your specific needs.
They will also go to great lengths to ensure that you are kept in the loop as much as possible.
Here’s what you can expect when working with a great analytics company.
Onboarding and integration
At the beginning of your working relationship, your analytics partner should guide you through an onboarding process.
Great onboarding sets the stage for future success, as it creates a solid foundation for your working relationship.
Manage expectations – Both you and your analytics partner should clearly outline the roles and responsibilities of your relationship at the offset. Make sure you flesh out all the details, such as communication hours.
Integrations and set up – Depending on your marketing channels, there may be different assets your analytics partner may need to access, such as your Facebook Pixel. You will also need to be onboarded to their analytics platform.
Goal setting – If you haven’t already, you should have a strategy call with your partner and decide on a strategy and timeline for results.
Auditing of processes and assets
Before you start moving forward, the first thing your analytics partner should do is conduct an audit of your existing processes and data assets.
Depending on your company stage, it is likely that you already have existing data that could serve as a starting point.
Existing data across all channels – Your analytics agency partner will consolidate all of your data across all channels, bringing them into a single platform.
Setting up tracking – In some instances, you may not have been tracking certain things. For instance, if you did not have Google Analytics installed on your site, your partner will help you set this up.
Problem solving – You may have attempted to leverage data and analytics before with limited effect. This could have occurred through your own means or another partner. A complete analysis of your previous attempts would need to be conducted to figure out what went wrong and how to get better results in the future.
Setting up marketing channels
The best analytics company will be able to offer you additional marketing services such as PPC, content and SEO.
The reason for this is simple: to better understand how to interpret the data and inform your strategy, your agency needs to have actual experience executing a marketing strategy.
Elements of your marketing strategy that your analytics partner should help on include:
PPC – Performance advertising, such as Google or Facebook ads, requires a combination of analytics and creativity. Your partner will help you come up with winning ad ideas that are rooted in data.
SEO – Analyzing the best keywords to target, as well as writing great pieces of content to rank in search engines, similarly reflects the importance of a holistic analytics partner.
Data management and reporting
Once your marketing campaigns are in full swing – and the appropriate tracking tools are in place – the fun part begins.
Now is the time to take a look at all the data you have been collecting.
If your agency partner is worth their salt, you should be looking at this data through their own proprietary software.
How this data is organized, analyzed and communicated is where you will really begin to see the difference in quality between different analytic agencies.
Dashboard – When logging into your partner’s platform, you should be able to organize and navigate the different data sets for your marketing channels.
Analysis – Depending on the technology used, you may be able to get instant insight into what your data means, or even compare it to other data sets in your industry.
Visualization – A powerful way to understand data is when it is visualized. Charts, graphs and potentially even custom infographics should be provided by your partner.
Actionable Insights and Results
However, collecting raw data isn’t enough.
You need to make sense of that data so that it becomes useful.
Although your analytics partner may have sophisticated number-crunching technologies, there is still a need for a human to look over everything and create real insights.
At the end-stage of the process, your analytics partner will need to communicate to you the real meaning behind the numbers.
Storytelling – Together, you will need to figure out what the data is really telling you. It is easy to point out that one advert is performing better than the other, but why? How do you find the logic behind the data?
Strategy – Once you really understand the data, you will need to turn those insights into a strategy. You may realize, for instance, that your entire approach has been wrong, or that there is an opportunity for a new product offering.
Execution – Finally, you need to put your new data-driven strategy into action – either through your own team or with the help of your analytics partner.
The Top 3 Analytics Companies in The World
With so many service providers to choose from, it can be difficult to narrow them down and finally choose one to go with.
We’ve broken down the criteria that makes a great analytics company and combed through dozens of companies to find the best agencies today.
Each have their strengths and weaknesses, but regardless of whoever you choose to work with, you will be in good hands.
#1 NP Digital – The Best for Marketing Execution
NP Digital is a marketing and analytics company founded by Neil Patel, and it is arguably the most recognizable and influential figure in the digital marketing space.
The company was founded in 2017 and has over 44,000 followers on LinkedIn and over 100 employees. NP digital offers a full range of digital marketing services in addition to analytics.
Here’s what makes NP Digital one of the best analytic companies in 2020:
Founder expertise – Neil Patel is a rockstar in the digital marketing world, having started out in the space in 2001 as a teenager. The agency he founded has his fingerprints all over it, which means that you will be working with world class marketers and analysts.
Marketing execution – NP Digital doesn’t just help you make sense of your data. They offer a complete suite of marketing services, from PPC to SEO. As digital marketing is the foundation of their operations, you can expect great results when combined with their analytics services.
Great case studies – NP Digital often receives great reviews and has retained big clients as proof of their success. One client, for instance, has said that “NP Digital is one of the few consultant companies worth their fee”.
Press coverage – Neil Patel himself has been recognized by Forbes, The Wall Street Journal and the United Nations as one of the most influential marketers of our generation.
Education – NP Digital regularly produces educational content about all things digital marketing. This carries over to their customer relationships, where they position themselves as a teacher as opposed to just a partner.
Who should work with NP Digital?
If you need help with marketing execution in addition to data analytics, then you can’t go wrong with Neil Patel Digital.
The company was founded by one of the most reputable figures in the digital marketing world, so when you work with his agency, you’re tapping into his years of insight.
There is, of course, a cost to this, however, so Neil Patel Digital is best suited for clients with a larger marketing budget.
Some of their clients include companies such as Viacom, Facebook and even Google.
So, if you head up a marketing team at a large organization and need an end to end marketing and analytics partner, look into Neil Patel Digital.
#2 Artefact – The Best for Technology
Artefact describes themselves as “marketing engineers” and puts particular emphasis on the technology behind digital marketing.
In line with this identity, they have gone on to build a powerful suite of technologies, which they use to help their clients transform their data into business value.
Artefact’s works across the entire organization to leverage data, tapping into the entire value chain of operations, IT, and marketing.
Here’s what makes Artefact one of the best analytic companies in 2020:
Technology stack – Artefact utilizes some of the latest advances in AI and machine learning to create custom algorithms that help businesses accelerate data transformation and optimize their business processes. Known as their “AI Factory”, Artefact also works with cloud service providers like Azure to ensure they have a robust infrastructure.
Big, diverse team – Artefact lists over 1000 employees on LinkedIn, which are composed of data scientists, software engineers, and business consultants. This allows Artefact to solve a wide range of needs across different industries.
Solid case studies – Artefact has worked with clients such as FMCG to improve their digital processes. In this particular case, they received an “extremely positive response from [the] client, internal stakeholders, Amazon and even the industry and other vendors on Amazon NL”.
Who should work with Artefact:
If you are a part of a large organization that is undergoing a digital transformation, then you should strongly consider Artefact.
The approach and technologies that Artefact uses are also beneficial for organizations that have a lot of data that needs to be optimized across the board.
For instance, companies that need to optimize their manufacturing processes or who need to react to market information.
#3 Adverity – The Best for Small Businesses
In some cases, you may not want to work with an agency partner. Particularly for small businesses that don’t have large marketing budgets, analytics software can bridge the divide.
Adverity is a platform that allows you to collect all your marketing data into a single place. Their analytics tools allow you to break down silos in your organization and uncover new insights so that you can improve your decision making.
Although the Adverity team will help onboard you onto their platform, you won’t get the tailored and guided expertise that you would get from an agency such as NP Digital.
Here’s what makes Adverity one of the best analytic companies in 2020:
Cost – If you want to delve into the world of analytics but don’t have a significant budget, Adverity will have you covered (to an extent). Their pricing works on a custom quote which is influenced by your industry, the size of your business, and what data sources you want to tap into. Keep in mind however that you won’t be getting the expert guidance of an agency partner like NP Digital or Artefact.
Holistic data analysis – Adverity has one of the largest data connector libraries on the market. You will be able to connect all of your data sources including your CRM, backend database, website analytics, and advertising. They’re always adding new integrations, so if you have a specific need they may be able to customize that for you.
Great reviews – On the software review platform G2, Adverity currently has a 4.5/5 star rating, with over 100 reviews. The reviews reflect a variety of businesses and use cases – from marketing agencies to political scientists. One of the most common aspects that reviewers noted is how great the connectivity of the platform is.
Who should work with Adverity:
Adverity is best suited to small and medium-sized businesses who may not have the budget to work closely with an analytics partner.
Keep in mind that as you will not have expert guidance, your marketing team will have to figure out how to make sense of all of your data, which is no easy task.
Conclusion
If you leverage the research we’ve done for you in this article, you won’t have much trouble finding the right analytics company to work with.
Regardless of your choice, remember that the goal of analytics is to inform your marketing strategy.
But data alone won’t guarantee that your digital marketing strategy will be successful. It must always be paired with creative ideas and rigorous execution.
To ensure you can’t go wrong when picking an analytics partner, always keep the end goal of increasing conversions in mind.
Service Plan Software Organization strategy software application is something that commonly obtains ignored and also isn’t thought about to be a requirement somehow. In my point of view, organization strategy software program is vital, it is not a deluxe. I am a substantial supporter of service preparation. If, when individuals ask me they require a …
Looking for data scientist and ML engineer roles. Specialty is in time series forecasting but have also done a fair amount of work in NLP. I have designed ML solutions from data gathering stage all the way to deployment and beyond. Additionally, I have exposure to many different roles in the data ecosystem (DE, DS, MLOps) and have led small teams of data scientists to create effective ML powered solutions.
Disclosure: This content is reader-supported, which means if you click on some of our links that we may earn a commission.
Here’s a business cliche for you: Employees are the greatest asset for every company.
Precisely why recruitment is so challenging for HRs or recruiters. The process is quite elaborate and comprises several steps ranging from job posting to managing and streamlining applications.
A corporate job post receives 250 resumes on an average. And even after that, 45% of employers say that they can’t find candidates with the skills they need.
With the high influx of CVs, it’s crucial for HR specialists to raise their efficiency levels, which brings us to our next stat – recruiters only take six seconds to evaluate the candidate’s resume.
Now, six seconds isn’t necessarily enough for recruiters to make the right decision every time, especially because every business has unique needs when it comes to recruitment.
At the same time, technology is changing how we did things manually, which is why we now have a tool dedicated to automating the process of recruitment and hiring.
An applicant tracking software, also known as ATS software, can help businesses reach a wider pool of qualified applicants as well as manage data from various sources – all at a single platform.
This software is used by departments and hiring managers to carry out internal hiring. Even third parties, such as recruitment and staffing agencies, use an ATS.
86% of recruiting professionals agree that using ATS software has accelerated their hiring process
78% of recruiting professionals found that using ATS software has given them access to higher qualified candidates
So adding top-level talent doesn’t have to be time-consuming and troubling anymore.
In this guide, we’ll review the best applicant tracking software on the market that can help a company employ the most suitable candidate for the job with minimal efforts.
How to Choose the Best Applicant Tracking Software for Your Needs
Every business has unique recruiting and applicant tracking requirements, depending on specific factors like size, niche, and so on.
It also means that no ATS software offers an a-one-size-fits-all solution.
There are a few pointers that can help you determine the best applicant tracking software for your needs, though. Read on as we discuss them in greater detail below.
ATS Software Type
Every ATS software has been conceived to cater to a specific set of needs.
You see, while some software is designed to handle higher volume recruiting, which is typically carried out by enterprises, some are created to help small businesses specifically.
Similarly, you’ll also find software focused on satisfying the needs of staffing and recruitment agencies.
We’ll do a more in-depth assessment of the different types of applicant tracking software later on in this article. (Anchor link to H2 below)
Hiring Frequency and Volume
A business that hires around 20 employees every year won’t have the same requirements as an enterprise that is hiring 20 employees every month. You need to figure out a software that meets your hiring frequency and volume.
Generally, ATS software has a maximum limit or restriction on how many active openings you can have at a time. Moreover, most of the brands offer additional features and tools to help businesses efficiently manage large-scale recruiting, which are understandably far more tricky to manage.
So how do you find software that is suitable for your company?
Ask yourself the following questions:
How frequently does your company hire new employees?
What is the average number of employees that you hire at once? Is the volume high or low?
These two questions will help you weed out software that doesn’t fit your needs instantly.
Feature List
Most ATS software offers add-on features to enhance the efficiency of your recruiting strategy. This can include candidate sourcing, applicant tracking, employee onboarding, recruiting analytics, and workforce planning.
Your aim should be to pick software that fulfills your recruiting needs in terms of efficiency and scalability. For instance, small businesses can opt for cloud-based ATS software that is more affordable and doesn’t require an on-site tech support team.
Contrarily, large-sized enterprises don’t need to go cloud-based since they have a higher budget and can afford an in-house support team to cater to their higher hiring frequency.
Budget
Every business has a budget for various processes. Whether its marketing or recruitment, teams have to operate within the constraints.
Try to find an applicant tracking software that fits within your budget while simultaneously helping you improve the efficiency within your organization.
The good news here is you have several options.
You‘ll find software that costs less than $0.50 per employee – provided you opt for an add-on to HR software – and also plans that have a monthly charge of $249.
What are the Different Types of Applicant Tracking Software?
Here, we’ll compare the different types of ATS.
Small Business vs. Midsize Business vs. Enterprise Business
Small business buyers are anywhere between 1-50 employees. Generally, this category doesn’t have a department dedicated to human resources and recruiting initiatives.
On the other hand, mid-size business buyers and enterprise business buyers have employees anywhere between the 51–500 and greater than 500 range, respectively. While the former is headed towards rapid growth, the latter is more developed. Besides that, mid-size businesses often seek to hire an internal recruiter, whereas enterprise business buyers already have a hiring team and a dedicated IT department.
The hiring frequency and volume for each of these businesses is obviously different.
Staffing agencies, for example, would do well with software plans that offer them sourcing, tracking, and hiring. For corporates, however, hiring may have to be customized further.
It’ll be better for larger companies to opt for plans that allow them to customize their career pages and employee referral portals, followed by pre-screening assessments, e-signature verification and background screening, and lastly, HRMS integration.
In-house Recruiting vs. Recruiting Agency
Some applicant tracking system software is created for in-house recruiting that allows them to enjoy higher personalization and automation. Other software focuses on servicing with recruiting agencies and firms with scalability for high-volume and white labeling for getting clients.
Although you’ll also find ATS software that offers capabilities for both the groups, it’s better to find one that’s right for your company.
All-In-On Option vs. Specialty Tools Availability
Different businesses will require different add-ons depending on their hiring process. While most ATS software does come with additional specialty tools like SEO, payroll, HR, and CRM, some don’t.
SEO tools are useful for all businesses since these make job advertisements more successful. Not only will companies be able to build up wider reach, but they’ll also attract new candidates to their ‘Careers’ page.
Similarly, CRM capabilities are an essential component for inbound recruiting that allows companies to carry out long-term candidate tracking and build their talent pool.
Core Applicant Tracking vs. Full Recruiting Cycle Support
You’ll find two types of ATS products: one that focuses exclusively on tracking candidate’s application materials, and two, that provide support for other aspects of the recruitment life cycle.
You can also differentiate between the software based on feature lists. Interviews, document signing and management, note-taking, scheduling, and integration are some common differentiation points.
After carrying out extensive research and taking demos, we can confidently recommend the following five applicant tracking software to transform the way your company recruits and hires employees.
Keep reading as we discuss the features, benefits, and pricing of each software below:
#1: BambooHR – The Best Overall Applicant Tracking Software
BambooHR can provide the ultimate solution to your human resources department for handling the company’s recruiting and onboarding needs. While it may not be the cheapest option, you do get features that make the investment more than worth it.
The ATS system of BambooHR provides ideal solutions for small and mid-size businesses. It has a well-organized and visually appealing set of tools for handling application information throughout every stage of the hiring process.
BambooHR allows you to post job positions on the go too. You’ll have access to top-level talent from the leading job boards and sites, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Indeed, and Twitter – all at your fingertips. The software has a hiring mobile app that is available for both Android and iOS.
Sending offer letters directly within the platform as well as collaborating with your team for recruiting, sending automated alerts, and so on is also possible.
Additionally, since BambooHR is a complete human resource management software, you‘ll be able to manage your new employees for their full duration with your company.
Prominent Features
User-friendly
Streamlined processes that are easy to learn, along with easy pre-boarding and onboarding facilities
Customizable email templates
Automated emailing system
Message scheduling to multiple candidates
Job boards and social media integration
Pricing
BambooHR offers two packages: Essentials and Advantage.
While both the packages are feature-rich, the ATS isn’t available with the Essentials plan. So if you want applicant tracking, you have to get the Advantage plan. Keep in mind that this software may not be the best solution for your company if you only want ATS.
Unfortunately, BambooHR doesn’t feature pricing on its website. In case you want a free quote, you‘ll have to contact them.
Pros
Impressive design
Easy to set up
Open API that allows simple integrations with HR tech vendors
Provides an all-in-one solution for HR departments
Cons
Pricey
ATS software isn’t available with the entry-level plan
#2: Bullhorn – The Best Applicant Tracking Software for Large Enterprises
Bullhorn is a powerful, easy-to-use applicant tracking system that helps you streamline all recruitments from a single interface that can either be a desktop, mobile device, or any internet browser. In fact, it’s a tailor-made solution for staffing businesses and traders.
The software allows you to keep track of candidates throughout the recruitment process, along with initiating team member collaboration.
You can use Bullhorn to fill jobs and automate the onboarding process. It offers 100+ pre-integrated solutions for customizing the software to accommodate specific needs. Even calculating bills for time tracking and invoicing are also possible.
All in all, you can manage clients as well as candidates with Bullhorn.
That being said, we would recommend this software for staffing and recruiting agencies only.
Generally speaking, there are better options on the market for internal reporting, making Bullhorn a bit too much for in-house hiring managers and HR departments. Plus, the premium price may be too expensive for smaller businesses who have limited budgets.
Prominent Features
Automatic candidate tracking on the application system
Allows you to add new candidate resumes from job boards
Mobile recruiting software for viewing and managing candidate records
LinkedIn and email integration
Dashboard reporting
Facilitates addition of notes to records
Real-time updating of records
Reporting and management options to check the recruiting team’s progress
Pricing
Bullhorn offers three plans: Team, Corporate, and Enterprise.
The rates for Bullhorn plans aren’t available on the website. You’ll have to request a pricing quote to get more details.
Pros
Excellent user interface
Gmail and Outlook integration
Intuitive features like bowling alley layout for easy and efficient data input
Unlimited customizations
Cons
Very expensive
Lacks iOS or Android mobile applications
#3: SAP SuccessFactors – The Best Cloud-Based Applicant Tracking Software
SAP SuccessFactors aims to provide all-inclusive ATS software to give companies wider access to top-level talent with minimal efforts. In fact, in terms of reliability, this software might be one of the best options available to you.
SuccessFactors has a plethora of support and features, such as comprehensive applicant management, onboarding portal, global talent sourcing, and candidate relationship management. You can also avail of performance metrics, employee engagement, and payroll management.
In other words, it’s a holistic, cloud-based HR management system that facilitates all processes of the recruiting cycle.
We particularly like how deeply insightful the software can be for talent acquisition thanks to its analytical reporting and progress tracking features.
Prominent Features
Centrally managed global job distribution and access
Effective and efficient candidates relationship management
E-signature solutions
Online offer letter and other documentation
Key insights into 4000 job boards, social media platforms, and campuses spanning across 80 countries
Responsive career site creation facility
Pricing
SAP SuccessFactors is available as SaaS through a monthly subscription based on the number of users. It‘s priced at $3 per user per month, but you can also avail of the HCM suite that costs $84.53 per user annually.
Pros
Comes with a great feature list for small to medium-sized businesses
Intuitive setup wizard
Provides descriptive video tutorials
Superb performance tracking features
Great option for fast-growing companies
Cons
Steeper price tag than its competitors
Doesn’t include add-ons offered by rivals
#4: Workable – The Best Applicant Tracking Software for Small and Midsize Businesses
Offering the best value for small and medium-sized businesses, Workable is an easy-to-use recruiting software solution. It’s a holistic tool that can be accessed on mobile devices as well as desktop.
You get a wide array of applicant tracking (AT) solutions, along with access to a large pool of premium job boards. Besides this, you can also customize the dashboard to boost the efficiency of your hiring process further.
Workable aims to help businesses of all sizes find, evaluate, and automate recruitment and hiring.
Companies can fill in their pipeline with one-click job postings on nearly 200 sites through AI-powered search. Moreover, team collaboration for applicant evaluation, gathering feedback, and automating manual tasks like scheduling interviews and getting approvals is also possible.
Workable also has various add-ons that can make your account more functional – provided you‘re ready to pay for them.
Basically, your company can stay on top of the entire recruiting process right from posting ads to onboarding employees. It’s also a good option for scalability since you can upgrade to an annual plan to get access to advanced features like one-click candidate sourcing and applicant tracking tools too.
Prominent Features
Data protection with access rights for hiring team
Confidentiality control
Organized reporting lines, with role assignment, job creation, and job posting
Productivity and activity report generation
One-click postings on multiple job boards
Interview scheduling with email-calendar synchronization
Offer letters and single sign-on (SSO)
Pricing
Workable has two pricing plans: Hire As Needed and Hire At Scale. While the Hire As Needed plan costs $99 per job, per month, the Hire At Scale plan doesn’t have clear pricing.
You can also take advantage of free demos and a 15-day free trial program to test the software before committing.
Pros
Easy-to-understand UI
Robust integration
Offers great email and interview templates
Well-organized
Cons
Not very customizable
Search across tabs needs to be improved
Inefficient support functionality
#5: JazzHR – The Best Applicant Tracking Software for Internal Hiring and Staffing Agencies
JazzHR can assure you seamless job requisition, interview scheduling, and other aspects of the hiring process. You can use this software for organizing and tracking all of your job openings, candidates, resumes, customers, and contacts.
This intuitive ATS tool can automate every manual process connected with hiring, allowing recruiters and HR managers to curate recruitment processes and source qualified candidates efficiently and quickly. No wonder it’s trusted by over 5000 organizations across the world!
JazzHR is an excellent option for staffing agencies and internal hiring. It has an unlimited user feature that allows businesses to bill on a per-user basis, which simultaneously eliminates any additional charges.
The software is also highly customizable. You can tailor-make a process to suit your team’s needs and preferences when it comes to recruitment and hiring.
Prominent Features
Efficient candidate sourcing, along with employer branding facility
Job posting and syndication
Collaborative hiring
Job-specific recruitment teams
Compliance management and reporting
Interview scheduling and other assessments
Job offers and e-signature solutions
Pricing
JazzHR has three plans on offer: Hero, Plus, and Pro.
At $39 per month, the Hero plan caps the maximum open jobs at three. While this might be suitable for small teams, it still doesn’t offer an applicant tracking system.
For ATS and other benefits like interviews and assessments, all-access support, and so on, we would recommend the Plus and Pro plans, which cost $219 and $329 per month, respectively,
You can also request a free demo and get a free trial for 21 days.
Pros
User-friendly and flexible
Job posting integration and job syndication
Auto-reject functions for unqualified candidates
Allows you to keep track of interview notes
Cons
Reporting feature needs to be improved
Lacks mobile app support
Wrapping Up
Finding the right talent is crucial – more so because employees serve as the foundation of an organization.
We hope you were able to find an ATS software that suits your companies recruitment and hiring needs from this guide.
Irrespective of your choice, an application applicant tracking software will help you select the best candidates from a talent pool of thousands of people in a surprisingly efficient manner. So, why wait? Get your ATS now.
Looking for data scientist and ML engineer roles. Specialty is in time series forecasting but have also done a fair amount of work in NLP. I have designed ML solutions from data gathering stage all the way to deployment and beyond. Additionally, I have exposure to many different roles in the data ecosystem (DE, DS, MLOps) and have led small teams of data scientists to create effective ML powered solutions.
ESI Group | Software development engineer | San Diego, CA | Full-time | Onsite preferred post-Covid
ESI Group is currently seeking a software development engineer to work in our San Diego office. We are a small team with diverse backgrounds focused on developing desktop software applications in the field of vibro-acoustics simulation. Our clients include NASA, Boeing, Airbus, GM, and Ford.
We are looking for a developer with a Bachelors/Masters degree in the Sciences or Engineering. The successful candidate must have excellent C++ skills. We also use Python, Qt, MFC and CMake to develop our applications. We use GitLab as our version-control platform with continuous-integration, unit testing and package management via Conan, to complete our DevOps toolkit. We create UI wireframes and write product specifications to refine our development requirements. Many of our team members are skilled in numerical methods and high performance computing.
Being a small team, you’ll enjoy a high level of autonomy and the ability to influence new products and features on several levels. You’ll learn from our wealth of pooled knowledge and share your expertise in return. The office setting is casual, and we all enjoy the freedom of flex-time schedules.
Please contact Tracy at ext-tracy.sidall@esi-group.com with any questions you may have relating to the position or company. Don’t forget to mention HN in the email.
GDPR Cookie Consent Agreement
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.AcceptRejectRead More
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.