June 2008
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Customer feedback charts future direction for Empower
Empower Masterpay has conducted a ground-breaking survey of its customers to chart its future direction and identify areas where it can improve performance.
More than 60 per cent of customer organisations surveyed responded with a mixture of positive comments and constructive suggestions about Empower’s products, culture and direction.
Empower CEO Alan Greig said the company welcomed positive feedback from the survey, but it also appreciated suggestions about how to do its job even better. “We were pleased by the strong customer response to the survey,” he said.
“We were not looking for bouquets, although we did receive a few. The main objective of this survey was to identify any areas where we could lift our game, so it can help us along the path of continuous improvement.”
Empower has already appointed two response teams to analyse the survey results and identify the most effective way for the company to implement changes or initiatives.
Survey respondents said the most outstanding features about Empower Masterpay were its people and its reliability, especially its enthusiasm to develop new ideas. “Speaking for myself, Empower stands out for the people that work for them,” said one respondent. “Helpdesk assistance is outstanding,” wrote another. “We receive regular contact from the Director of Client Services which is great.”
Reliability was a recurring word used by respondents. “I have never been let down in any aspect of processing my payroll,” said one customer. “This is an outstanding result for our organisation.” Another customer praised Empower’s “honesty in communication” and “sincerity”. “It offers excellent value for money with a comprehensive product,” noted the customer. Another gave Empower-HR the thumbs up as “a reliable payroll engine” that represented value for money. “Empower-HR is one system that is fully integrated, easy to use and extremely reliable.”
Empower’s customers were also willing to suggest ways in which the company could do an even better job. “Come & visit and discuss our issues,” suggested one. “Listen to your customers and continue building your business based on customer needs,” advised another. One customer stated Empower should always be upfront about problems. “Don't cover things up: If there is an issue with a patch, inform clients using that patch by general email.”
Mr. Greig said Empower would look at how its systems could be improved to address areas of concern raised in the survey and provide updates to customers about any action undertaken.
Empower plans to undertake regular customer surveys as one of the mechanisms to feed into its continuous improvement process.
If you want to learn more about Empower’s customer survey, contact Alan Greig on 08 8332 6988 or emaill alan.greig@empower.com.au.
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Web-based reporting planned by year-end
The Empower-HR National User conference in May was given a sneak preview of an exciting new product due out before the end of this year – a web-based reporting tool.
The as-yet-unnamed product, which will integrate with and extract data from Empower-HR, will provide a breakthrough tool to better equip managers through Manager Self-Service.
Empower Director Customer Services Daryl Rasheed said he had received enthusiastic feedback from people attending the user conference. “This is part of our commitment to equipping managers to manage better,” he said.
“The simple-to-use report writer is designed for managers or supervisors who require reporting access to the system. We are making it easy by designing it as a drag and drop report builder, with built-in report wizards to assist even the most novice user.
“Because it is web-based, it will allow managers to generate reports from wherever they are working rather than having to request it from the HR or payroll section. That becomes a real win-win outcome.”
The Empower-HR web-based report writer will provide comprehensive business views, predesigned format report as well as spreadsheets and even offer the ability to design customised dashboards of key performance indicators.
Daryl said the objective of the new report writer was to share complex information quickly. “We are including drill-down and drill-through capabilities so you can move easily from an overview to a detailed analysis of the data,” he said.
Empower Masterpay has scheduled the release of its web-based report writer for the second half of this year.
For more details about this product, call Daryl Rasheed on 08 8332 6988 or email daryl.rasheed@empower.com.au.
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Empower invests in young talent
Empower Masterpay’s Systems Architect James Galdes scored an outstanding academic achievement at his recent graduation from Adelaide’s Flinders University.
James, who graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering (Computer Engineering) degree with Honours (First Class), was awarded a University Medal, which recognised his grades among the university top nine per cent.
This outstanding achievement also secured him entry to the prestigious Golden Key Honours Society, an international organisation that accepts only the top 15 per cent of university students.
D
emonstrating its ability to pick young talent early, Empower hired James two years ago, while he was still undertaking his studies. James is responsible for designing, deploying and maintaining Empower’s technology infrastructure, ranging form its storage area network to its networking and communication systems.
Empower Masterpay has a track record of investing in young talent, for example, through its sponsorship of the iCarnegie program, presented by Adelaide Institute of TAFE from 2002 and backed by the top-ranked School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon university in the US.
Empower’s Senior Technical Consultant John Saunders was a 2003 graduate of the iCarnegie program, having attended through gaining the Premier’s Carnegie Technology Education Scholarship.
In May 2004, John won the gold medal for SA in the Worldskills Australia IT programming competition. After three years with Empower’s development team, he moved to the technical services group
Another example of Empower’s commitment to youth is its corporate support of young performing and visual artists through the Helpmann Academy’s Ashington Mentorship Scheme. Formed in 1994, the Helpmann Academy is a unique partnership of the major tertiary arts training establishments in South Australia offering award courses for people seeking professional careers in the arts. The Academy unifies the skills and resources of South Australia's universities and TafeSA, bringing together courses in music, dance, drama, directing, visual arts, technical theatre production and design.
Empower CEO Alan Greig said the company’s staff were keen to support young talent. “At a recent fundraising dinner, several of us ended up going home with new artwork after the event’s auction,” he said.
“We hope their development is as remarkable as James’ has been. He has demonstrated his ability and application as strongly in the workplace as he did in his academic scores. We are all very proud of his achievement in winning the University Medal and gaining acceptance into the Golden Key Honours Society.”
According to James, the appreciation is mutual. “Empower is a great place to work,” he said.
“We have exposure to some bleeding-edge technologies and many opportunities to grow – both in terms of technical skills and as a person. During my time here, I have become a Novell Certified Linux Professional, predominantly thanks to real-world experience working daily on Empower servers.
“The hours can be long, but the outcome is always rewarding. Also, being a relatively small company, the ability to function well in a team (especially under pressure) is essential, and something I have come to value greatly.”
You can congratulate James Galdes by calling Empower on 08 8332 6988 or emailing him at james.galdez@empower.com.au.
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