HR Technology Selection Support

HR OPERATIONS

Strategic advisory for evaluating and selecting HR technology — HRIS, ATS, performance management, LMS, and payroll platforms. We help you choose the right tool for your stage, size, and needs. This is selection support, not implementation — we’re vendor-neutral and don’t take referral fees.

When the sales demo looks nothing like real life

Every HR platform looks great in a demo. The interface is clean, the features are endless, and the sales rep makes it sound like it was built specifically for your company. Then you sign the contract and spend six months discovering that the reporting doesn’t do what you need, the integrations don’t work with your payroll provider, and the implementation cost is three times what was quoted. Choosing the wrong HR technology platform is a $50K–$200K mistake when you factor in licensing, implementation, lost productivity, and the cost of switching again in two years. An objective evaluation before you buy is the cheapest insurance you can get.

Who This Is For

Companies that have outgrown spreadsheets and need their first real HRIS
Organizations frustrated with their current platform and considering a switch — but not sure if the problem is the tool or how it’s configured
Companies scaling where manual HR processes are becoming a bottleneck and automation is overdue
HR leaders overwhelmed by vendor options and needing an objective evaluation from someone who isn’t selling a platform
Companies post-acquisition needing to consolidate multiple HR technology platforms into one
Organizations that bought a platform without a proper evaluation and are now living with the consequences

What We Evaluate

HR technology selection isn’t just about features — it’s about fit. We evaluate platforms against your specific requirements across every dimension that determines whether a tool will still serve you in three years:

Functional requirements: Does the platform do what you actually need — not what the demo showed, but what your HR team uses daily?
Scalability: Will it support your growth over the next 3–5 years, or will you outgrow it?
Integration: Does it connect to your payroll, benefits, accounting, and other systems without custom workarounds?
Security & compliance: Does it meet your data-privacy obligations, multi-state and regulatory requirements, and security standards — treated as a requirement, not an afterthought?

User experience: Will your managers and employees actually use it — or will it become another tool HR has to chase people to log into?
Total cost of ownership: Licensing, implementation, training, ongoing support, and the costs vendors don’t mention in the sales process — normalized across vendors over three years.
Reporting and analytics: Can it produce the data your leadership team and board will ask for?
Vendor viability & roadmap: Is the company financially stable, committed to your size of business, and building toward where you’re going — or about to be acquired or move up-market?

We cover the full range of HR technology categories — HRIS/HCM, applicant tracking (ATS), performance management, learning management (LMS), payroll, benefits administration, and engagement survey platforms. Most mid-market companies are evaluating one or two categories at a time.

Packages

Three levels of support, from a self-run starting point to a fully managed, end-to-end evaluation. We’ll recommend the right fit on the discovery call.

Technology Needs Assessment — $6,000–$10,000

A structured assessment of what you actually need from HR technology — before you talk to vendors. Best for companies that aren’t sure what category of platform they need, what features matter most, or whether their current tool can be configured to work better before replacing it. You run the vendor conversations yourself, equipped with everything you need to do it well.

What you get: Requirements gathering through stakeholder interviews (HR, IT, finance, managers), a current-state evaluation that determines whether the right answer is a new platform or a better-configured version of what you already have, needs analysis prioritizing must-have vs. nice-to-have capabilities, a vendor shortlist of 3–5 platforms matched to your requirements, and a self-run evaluation toolkit — structured demo scripts, a weighted scoring framework, and reference-check questions — plus a recommendations report so you can run the vendor process independently and confidently.

Timeline: 2–3 weeks typical.

Guided Selection Support — $12,000–$20,000

We run the evaluation with you, from requirements through to a recommendation you can act on. Best for companies that want an experienced, vendor-neutral advisor managing the vendor process — so you compare platforms on fit, not on whoever demos best.

What you get: Everything in the Technology Needs Assessment, plus: vendor demo coordination and structured demo scripts (so every vendor shows you the same workflows, not their highlight reel), side-by-side evaluation scoring across all criteria, reference checks with current customers of shortlisted vendors, a vendor viability and roadmap assessment, a normalized three-year total cost of ownership analysis, contract review identifying red flags in licensing and service terms, a selection recommendation with rationale, and an implementation readiness checklist so you’re prepared for what comes after signing.

Timeline: 4–6 weeks typical, depending on the number of vendors and stakeholder availability for demos.

Full Selection Support — $22,000–$35,000

The complete, end-to-end engagement for higher-stakes or more complex selections — multi-system consolidation, multi-state compliance, or a decision that needs to stand up to a board. Best for companies that want every safeguard in place and the strongest possible negotiating position.

What you get: Everything in Guided Selection Support, plus: a formal request-for-information (RFI) process as standard, active contract negotiation support (not just review — typically recovering far more than the engagement costs), a board- or CFO-ready business case for the investment, and a fuller implementation-readiness assessment with a transition brief for your implementation owner and the vendor’s project manager.

Timeline: 6–10 weeks typical, depending on the number of vendors, categories, and stakeholder availability.

Add-Ons & À La Carte

Scope each engagement to what the decision actually requires. Common additions:

Formal RFP authoring & administration — $5,000–$8,000: When procurement rigor genuinely calls for it — regulated industries, public-sector requirements, or multi-entity consolidation — we write and administer a formal RFP. (Add-on to Full Selection.)
RFP review — $2,500–$4,000: Running your own RFP? We review it against your requirements before it goes out, or validate your shortlist and scoring.
Proof-of-concept / sandbox testing — $4,000–$7,000: A bounded, hands-on trial of your top one or two platforms with real users — for when a demo isn’t enough to be sure. (Add-on to Full Selection.)
Business case development — $2,500–$4,000: A board- or CFO-ready case for the investment: cost, quantified benefits, and payback. (Included as standard in Full Selection.)
Additional platform category — +$1,500 (Needs Assessment) / +$2,500 (Guided & Full): Evaluating more than one category at once — say HRIS and ATS together.
On-site facilitation — day rate plus travel at cost: In-person kickoff, demo sessions, or recommendation readout where being in the room adds value.

How It Works

Discovery Call

A free 30-minute conversation to understand your current technology landscape, what’s driving the evaluation, and what you need the platform to do. We’ll recommend the right package and scope.

Requirements & Current State

We interview stakeholders across HR, IT, finance, and management to understand functional requirements, integration needs, security and compliance obligations, pain points with current tools, and budget parameters — including whether the right answer is a new platform or a better-configured version of what you already have. This ensures the evaluation is driven by real needs, not vendor marketing.

Vendor Evaluation

For Guided and Full Selection Support, we manage the vendor process — structuring demos so every platform shows the same workflows, scoring each against your criteria, checking references, assessing vendor viability, and analyzing total cost of ownership. You see every vendor through the same lens. (With a Technology Needs Assessment, we equip you with the toolkit to run this yourself.)

Recommendation & Handoff

We deliver a selection recommendation with supporting analysis, support contract review or negotiation, and provide an implementation readiness checklist and transition brief. You go into the vendor relationship — and the implementation that follows — informed, prepared, and confident in your decision.

Frequently Combined With

Technology decisions are most effective when the process is designed before the platform is selected:

Performance Management System Design — Design your performance process first, then select the tool that supports it. We often do both simultaneously.
Talent Acquisition & Recruiting Strategy — If you’re selecting an ATS, having a recruiting process design ensures you’re evaluating platforms against your actual workflow, not generic features.
HR Department Assessment & Optimization — When technology selection is one piece of a broader HR infrastructure build. The HR Assessment identifies which systems and processes to prioritize.
Change Management Consulting — When the new platform represents a significant change for the organization and you need a structured rollout with communication, training, and adoption support.

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Common Questions

How do I know which level of support I need?

If you mostly need clarity — what to buy and a shortlist you can run with yourself — the Technology Needs Assessment is the right starting point; you run the vendor demos using the toolkit and scoring framework we build for you. If you want us to run the full evaluation through to a recommendation, Guided Selection Support handles demos, references, viability, cost analysis, and contract review. Full Selection Support adds a formal RFI, contract negotiation, a board-ready business case, and a deeper readiness assessment for higher-stakes or more complex decisions. We’ll recommend the right fit on the discovery call — and there’s no upsell; if the lighter package serves you, that’s what we’ll say.

Can you run a formal RFP process?

Yes — but a formal RFP isn’t built into every engagement, because most mid-market selections are better served by structured demos and an RFI than by a full RFP, which is slower and which strong vendors sometimes decline. Where procurement rigor genuinely calls for it — regulated industries, public-sector requirements, or multi-entity consolidation — we author and administer the RFP as an add-on. If you’re running your own RFP, we can also review it before it goes out.

Do you recommend specific vendors?

We recommend the best fit for your requirements — we’re not affiliated with any vendor and don’t receive referral fees or commissions. Our recommendation is based entirely on how well a platform matches your needs, budget, and growth trajectory. That said, we’ve evaluated most of the major players in the mid-market space and can get to a shortlist quickly.

Do you handle implementation?

No — implementation is typically managed by the vendor or a specialized implementation partner. What we do is make sure you’re prepared: an implementation readiness checklist, clean data requirements, process documentation, and a clear understanding of what the implementation will require from your team. We can also recommend implementation partners if needed, and support the change-management side of adoption as a separate engagement.

We’re not sure if we need new technology or just need to use what we have better. Can you help with that?

Absolutely — and that’s exactly what the Technology Needs Assessment is designed to uncover. Sometimes the current platform can do what you need but it’s poorly configured, underutilized, or the team hasn’t been trained on its capabilities. If that’s the case, we’ll tell you — and save you the cost and disruption of switching platforms unnecessarily.

How do you handle vendor demos?

We write structured demo scripts based on your actual workflows and requirements — so every vendor shows you the same scenarios instead of cherry-picking their strongest features. We attend every demo with you, ask the technical questions vendors hope you won’t ask, and score each platform on the same criteria. This makes the comparison objective rather than a beauty contest.