HAZLET, N.J. (March 17, 2010) – iCIMS, the second-largest provider of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) talent acquisition solutions, announced today its co-sponsorship of a recent Aberdeen Group study, Onboarding: The First Line of Engagement. The 2010 onboarding trends outlined in the study further strengthens the long held notion that onboarding programs improve new-employee engagement and productivity while increasing an organization’s overall performance.

The latest research on onboarding trends from Aberdeen Group shows that organizations that have formalized their onboarding process have experienced significantly better performance gains. The study found that organizations with a formal onboarding process saw a 60% greater year-over-year improvement in revenue per FTE and a 63% greater year-over-year improvement in customer satisfaction than those with an informal or ad-hoc onboarding process.

“Business executives are looking to 2010 as a year for growth. And the ability of new employees to contribute quickly and be best-equipped to serve the needs of customers will be critical to this endeavor”, said Kevin Martin, vice president and principal analyst for human capital research at Aberdeen Group. “The initial experiences of new employees have a direct impact on the productivity and profitability of an organization. This is where onboarding becomes a competitive necessity and helps explain why 58% of 466 executives surveyed for this research indicated onboarding will increase in importance at their organization this year.”

Furthermore, this study examined the importance of automated onboarding technology for organizations. In fact, 65% of Best-in-Class organizations indicated that their onboarding process is at least partially automated. While different organizations automate different aspects of their onboarding programs, Aberdeen found that Best-in-Class automation was concentrated in two specific areas: the delivery of learning/training and task/resource management. Additionally, the study points out the importance of linking onboarding to other aspects of talent management. By integrating onboarding with the company’s talent management processes, and thus looking at the talent lifecycle in a holistic manner, organizations were shown to experience performance advantages in engagement, time-to-productivity, hiring manager satisfaction and profit per full-time equivalent.

This onboarding report comes on the heels of an increasing number of organizations turning to iCIMS’ Talent Platform to streamline their new-hire onboarding initiatives. In addition to over a hundred new clients leveraging iCIMS for its enhanced onboarding functionality, a rapidly increasing number of iCIMS’ existing clients are now expanding their use of the Talent Platform to include onboarding. These organizations benefit from an enhanced ROI, increased new-hire productivity and thanks to iCIMS’ revolutionary iForm technology, a decreased reliance on manual paper processes.

iCIMS’ web-based talent management solution provides companies with powerful, yet configurable technology to help support their end-to-end recruiting and human resources needs. From applicant tracking to onboarding, workforce planning, employee data management and more, iCIMS’ Talent Platform streamlines the complete talent lifecycle. The platform allows companies like Jamba Juice, Great-West Life & Annuity, and Trump Entertainment Resorts to store and report on all candidate, new-hire and trainee information within one system, facilitating greater collaboration amongst recruiters, hiring managers, HR and training managers. With fully configurable self-service Onboarding Portals for completion of new hire forms, scheduling of employee orientation, internal notification to key parties and much more, iCIMS provides organizations of all sizes with the tools necessary to facilitate a successful and cost-effective onboarding program.

“In recent months, iCIMS has experienced a surge of organizations turning to the Talent Platform for its enhanced onboarding functionality,” said iCIMS’ Chief Operating Officer Adam Feigenbaum. “This report reaffirms the importance of a formal, automated onboarding program — further presenting iCIMS as an ideal solution provider for organizations interested in achieving Best-in-Class performance in 2010 and beyond.”

Click here to view a complimentary copy of this study, Onboarding: The First Line of Engagement.

About iCIMS:
iCIMS, the second-largest provider of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) talent acquisition solutions, is an Inc. 500 honoree focused on solving corporate business issues through the implementation of easy-to-use web-based software solutions. iCIMS’ Talent Platform, the industry’s premier Talent Platform, enables organizations to manage their entire talent lifecycle from applicant tracking through onboarding and beyond through a single web-based application. With more than 800 clients worldwide, iCIMS is one of the largest and fastest-growing talent management system providers in the space. To learn more about how iCIMS can help your organization, visit our website or view a free online demo of the iCIMS Talent Platform at www.icims.com/demo.

About Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company

Aberdeen provides fact-based research and market intelligence that delivers demonstrable results. Having queried more than 30,000 companies in the past two years, Aberdeen is positioned to educate users to action: driving market awareness, creating demand, enabling sales, and delivering meaningful return-on-investment analysis. As the trusted advisor to the global technology markets, corporations turn to Aberdeen for insights that drive decisions.

As a Harte-Hanks Company, Aberdeen plays a key role of putting content in context for the global direct and targeted marketing company. Aberdeen’s analytical and independent view of the “customer optimization” process of Harte-Hanks (Information- Opportunity- Insight- Engagement- Interaction) extends the client value and accentuates the strategic role Harte-Hanks brings to the market.

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This press release was distributed through PR Web by Human Resources Marketer (HR Marketer: www.HRmarketer.com) on behalf of the company listed above.