New Alliance, new technology opportunities for RCSA

02 August 2022

A rich alliance has been born between recruitment technology platform Vincere, one of RCSA’s preferred partners, and business management software provider The Access Group.

The partnership is set to unlock a wave of opportunities for RCSA members.  

Speaking from Sydney, Vincere Director of Product Kristy Gilham, spoke to The Brief on how the partnership will benefit RCSA members and what they can look forward to in coming months.  

Q1. Vincere has recently been acquired by The Access Group, a multinational business management software company, which is exciting news for your industry. What will this new alliance mean for RCSA? 

We have spoken openly about our ambitions for Vincere to become the clear leader globally in our space. To make that a reality and get the solution to market quickly, we needed to partner with a heavyweight that shared our vision of providing a single operating system for the front, middle and back office of recruitment firms, on a global scale. The Access Group’s heritage, plus their strength in key areas such as payroll and compliance, are tremendously valuable and will further pave the way towards better technology for the recruitment community. 

The way we see it, the recruitment and staffing industry is being let down by current technology offerings. Recruitment businesses deserve more than a hodgepodge of tools and apps plugged into databases. Recruiters need powerful platforms that can streamline their daily work, manage operations end-to-end and ultimately, maximise revenue. Our combined forces will bring more innovation to market for recruiters. 

RCSA members will directly benefit from Access’s entire front to back-office ecosystem plus, a portfolio of products including Volcanic, Vincere and FastTrack360. Together, we are well-positioned to innovate our offerings in ways that will be key to meeting evolving recruitment needs.  

Our customers can expect the same platform, the same people, the same vision but with way more firepower. 

Q2. Vincere is a popular ATS (Applicant Tracking System) amongst your members. What are some of the key benefits of using the platform? 

Today, there’s an application for everything. The average recruitment business runs their processes across several technology tools like websites, candidate portals, Applicant Tracking System, Client Relationship Management, timesheets, and reporting that don’t 100 per cent play nice together.  The reality is agencies are plagued by a highly fragmented technology landscape. Recruiters are held up by disparate systems and complicated, ageing technology that bleeds time and money. Think customisations, integrations, and consultant training.  

Your technology should work for you, not against you – and essentially, that’s what Vincere offers. Less hassle, more control and a holistic technology stack that allows you to focus on growing your recruitment firm. 

When you unify operations on one centralised system, your offices, teams and recruiters can collaborate effectively. WFH or hybrid, Vincere will be a digital HQ for members – no silos.   Recruiters have told us they like using Vincere because it eliminates up to 80 per cent of repetitive admin, is extremely user-intuitive and packed with unique features that helps them get candidates into the hands of clients faster than the competition. 

All modules are connected from day one, which means data flows seamlessly across everything resulting in up-to-date, reliable analytics at the click of a button. Ultimately, for a recruitment firm owner, it’s one single source of truth for accurate performance tracking, forecasting and decision- making. 

Most crucially, you get back what you need most – time.  With enough time, you’ll be able to fix all inefficiencies, yet this is one thing that recruiters and agency owners are running out of. 

Q3. What does Vincere’s status as an RCSA Preferred Partner mean for the company? What does it mean for RCSA members? 

RCSA is revered across Australia and New Zealand for its high standards and for Vincere to be recognised as a Preferred Partner is an honour. This places us beside an elite group of partners and proves our commitment to recruiters across the region. 

Preferred partners exemplify competency with recruitment through a combination of industry knowledge, technological expertise and partnerships. We worked hard to achieve this elevated status and want to keep that momentum going to grow even more over the next few years. 

Vincere shares RCSA’s desire to help recruitment firms maximize success and look forward to working together mutually to provide an empowered ecosystem of resources for the recruitment community. 

You’ll definitely see more of us at events and webinars. We’re working actively behind the scenes with the council, and the growing RCSA community to meet the industry's needs. 

Q4. What are some of the exciting plans and outcomes that RCSA members should expect to see from Vincere in 2022? 

“Helping customers win” remains our #1 priority at Vincere.  

This year, besides blockbuster releases, we’ve assembled a team dedicated to solving the "pebble in shoe" problems. “What do recruiters do 100 times a day?” Whatever those processes are, that’s what we’ll focus on.

These small-scale, high-impact changes will elevate the overall Vincere experience. 

The great thing about Vincere customers is they are straightforward about telling us what they want from the platform and because of them, we’re constantly challenged to push tech boundaries and give recruiters an unrivalled experience.  

Looking ahead, our focus on FastTrack360 integration will unlock new addressable markets in the temporary workspace. This means we'll be able to offer market-leading products not just across Australia and New Zealand and the UK, but also increase footprint across central Europe and beyond. 

We've got a formidable trio of Access products - Vincere, Fastrack360 and Volcanic – and to become a true Recruitment Operating System, we’ll need to keep expanding, keep listening, and keep delivering for our customers.  

The work’s just begun, and we’re excited to keep the momentum going. 

Q5 – You work closely with recruitment and staffing professionals and organisations across the world. What are some of your predictions for our industry in 2022? 

Here are my top three predictions:  

At the beginning of the year, there was rosy optimism overall. However, voices on the market today tell a different story of looming recessions. What we do know - it’s still a candidate short market; however, there has been a slowdown in the record growth we are experiencing. This means it’s even more important recruitment agencies are able to surface and present their candidates to clients as efficiently as possible. 

Surging tech investments: recruitment firms are upping the ante on technology investments so if you’re not upgrading technology, you’re lagging behind. High-performing agencies will focus on technology return on investment (ROI) and reassessing their technology stack. However, according to recent HHMC Business Intention Survey spearheaded by Rod Hore, technology ROI remains a black hole, which is surprising and very concerning. 

Remote work is here to stay: no surprises here. Hybrid office and video interviewing is the norm and recruitment firms will be ramping up efforts and need to ensure candidates and clients are comfortable (and efficient) collaborating online.