Even though the Czech Republic still has a lot of catching up to do in digitization, Czech IT has a world-class and long-standing history. Proof is the company Sprinx, which has been operating since 1996. Today it has five divisions – Sprinx Consulting, Sprinx The Doers, Sprinx Pharma, Sprinx Digital and AppOn.cloud. It offers its services from its Prague headquarters in Branicky brewery to the whole world.
At Sprinx, they specialize in consulting, development, sales, implementation and management of business systems, develop complex e-commerce solutions and specialized applications. They help companies with IT and infrastructure servicing. They also provide hosting services. Their services are used by companies such as: ESET, Olympus, Axa Assistance, Metrostav, Grada Publishing a.s. and many others.
The Sprinx journey for data driven HR
The HR agenda at Sprinx is handled by HR manager Hana Tomešova together with one colleague, and 1.5 FTE are allocated to HR activities.
The Sprinx core consists of a total of 85 people who work both from the office and from home. Flexibility in cooperation mode is a matter of course and full remote is used by about 15% of Doers.
The streamlining of multiple HR processes and a data-driven approach was one of the impulses that led HR to look for a more comprehensive solution:
„In the past, we were looking for a way to streamline a sub-process or facilitate specific types of HR activities such as recruitment, within which we tried to implement an ATS solution. But we also have experience with the development of our own candidate database and, of course, with the management of excels that helped us in reporting. However, we gradually came to the conclusion that it would be easier for us to have the data connected, or to have them in one place, and at that time we were also looking for a new tool to solve attendance,“ describes Hana Tomešova, who has been working at Sprinx since 2008.
That’s why they started looking for a comprehensive solution that would, among other things:
- Collected data within a single source.
- Solved the digitization or streamlining of selected HR processes.
- Had data security very well taken care of.
Sloneek as the winner of the competition
Why didn’t a company that provides smart and sophisticated IT systems create its own application? The HR manager glossed over this question with a proverb about a blacksmith’s mare, but then seriously adds that they saw no reason to create something that had already been invented by others.
But before the company acquired Sloneek, it was preceded by a detailed search.
„At the beginning, I mapped out what solutions are available in the Czech Republic and then tested three selected systems, then I presented two to the management. Primarily, we wanted the system to help us with attendance records and enable us to manage as many agendas as possible from one place,“ describes the selection of HRIS Tomešova.
What appealed to her about Sloneek was that the application was easy to implement, affordable and would meet the selection criteria. So, in December 2022, Sloneek emerged as the winner of the selection process, and the launch itself took place half a year later, in the summer of 2023.
The company’s adaptation to Sloneek went great, thanks to HR’s steps
But the launch itself was preceded by thorough preparation. In HR, they had to set up the system and adapt individual interfaces, which, according to Tomešova, was not entirely easy due to the sophistication of the system. “It really took me a while to get my bearings in the system to be able to set up the solution well for our needs. However, customer support or the customer manager on the Sloneek side always helped me. In order to get feedback and know whether we have set everything up correctly, we allowed selected employees to test the program,“ says Hana Tomešova.
During the implementation, she did not underestimate the familiarization of the rest of the team with the system or the introduction of Sloneek to the management. And after filling the system with data, she prepared a presentation for other colleagues, using which she presented the basic functions and the system of using Sloneek, and did not forget another important point – the transition period.
„I think the fact that we rolled out the system during the summer holidays and people had two months to adapt to it contributed to the fact that the vast majority welcomed Sloneek. After the first months, we still did a survey on how people accepted the system and most praised its intuitiveness. Only about 12% of the company expressed the need for some additional training,“ explains the HR manager of Sloneek’s beginnings at Sprinx.
Employees also appreciated the fact that they now have attendance and leave overview online and accessible from mobile.
„For every change in the company, it has proven to thoroughly prepare employees. Not everyone is a supporter of new technologies. But the example of Sprinx confirms that when everyone has time to get to know the new product, test it and know its benefits, they can accept it better. Buying a new system is definitely not a guarantee of success, it always depends on people’s willingness to use it,“ comments Milan Rataj, founder of Sloneek.
Sloneek keeps attendance and documents organized
What is Sloneek currently helping HRists do at Sprinx? First of all, it is the management of attendance and the preparation of documents for wages. It is also used to record information about employees, store and manage documents, and is an invaluable help when signing contracts and other documents that can be processed electronically.
„We also partially use it for onboarding, in the future I would also like to connect it with our career pages,“ plans Tomešova.
She sees the biggest time savings (by about 50%) in the simplification of attendance records and automatic reports. She is happy that employees can access their own data at any time, and documents that can be signed electronically no longer have to be handled on paper.
„We are happy that Sloneek will save time for HRists. And after a sometimes time-consuming start, they can finally reap the first fruits. Modern HR cannot do without data, and I’m glad that our clients see it the same way,“ concludes Milan Rataj.
