Growing, 4,000-Employee Ultimate Software Intersourcing Customer Achieves Savings and Efficiencies

Business Wire,  June 18, 2008  

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WESTON, Fla. -- Ultimate Software (Nasdaq:ULTI), a leading provider of end-to-end strategic human resources, payroll, and talent management solutions, announced today that ACE Cash Express, Inc. has cut costs and improved efficiencies with UltiPro. ACE uses UltiPro for managing core human resource and benefits management, payroll processing, manager and employee self-service, online benefits enrollment, and recruitment.

An Ultimate Software customer since 1999, ACE has thousands of employees in more than 1,700 locations across the country. With the UltiPro solution, the financial services retailer:

* achieves hard cost savings of approximately $160,000 annually,

* has streamlined critical HR activities like talent acquisition and benefits enrollment, and

* has improved information delivery to managers and employees who work in 39 states.

ACE Cash Express had been using multiple solutions, including a service bureau and an in-house recruitment product -- a combination that company leaders found costly and inefficient. By switching to UltiPro, the nationwide business has been able to reduce costs while updating and improving the effectiveness of its human resource processes.

"UltiPro has allowed us to shift our means of communication with employees from paper to electronic, so we no longer print newsletters, forms, handbooks, or many other HR or payroll documents, leading to tremendous savings," said David Hall, senior manager of HR systems for ACE Cash Express. "Additionally, our previous recruitment solution didn't integrate with our human resource management system (HRMS), provided little more than a companywide report of applicants, and proved to be expensive to maintain. We had to pay our vendor each time we made a change, such as adding or removing a location, and considering the fact that we are adding hundreds of locations each year, this made no sense for us. With UltiPro, we can make those modifications ourselves and are saving hundreds of thousands of dollars each year."

Unlike ACE Cash Express's previous recruitment solution, UltiPro allows the company to include screening questions as part of the application process, and according to Hall, applicants can complete and submit the answers in half the time. Once managers select a candidate, applicant data is pushed to HR managers, who use UltiPro's wizards to move the candidate's details directly into UltiPro without data entry. Wizards walk administrators through detail-laden processes so that no steps are omitted. Another feature of UltiPro Recruitment that reduces inconsistencies and opportunities for error is a standardized offer letter than can be automatically forwarded to candidates.

By automating cumbersome processes such as those associated with recruitment, remote managers and HR associates can accomplish tasks quicker than before. Also, because ACE Cash Express uses UltiPro through Intersourcing, Ultimate Software's software-as-a-service model, other processes, like benefits enrollment, create efficiencies. Employees make benefits selections via the Internet, and new employees can take advantage of monthly online sessions to enroll in benefits at their convenience.

"We appreciate the capability UltiPro gives us to configure and manage our own benefits sessions," said Hall. "After our annual or monthly benefits enrollment is complete, UltiPro exports collected data to appropriate vendors. UltiPro gives us the control we need to adapt the solution to meet our unique needs and it gives our HR team, employees, and managers round-the-clock access to information they need as well."

Through online self-service, ACE Cash Express managers and employees can see their own personal HR, benefits, and payroll details, as well as specifics for the teams they manage. These features are especially valuable for the business because its large workforce is spread throughout the United States.

"The UltiPro workforce portal is a central repository for employee records, so regardless of the time of day or location, our workforce knows where to look first when they need something related to human resources. The portal is convenient for employees and managers, frees HR staff to focus on more strategic projects, helps hold down printing and shipping expenses, and supports the environment," said Hall. "Managers have facts at their fingertips such as their employees' vacation dates or accruals without seeking assistance from human resources. so UltiPro is delivering process improvements for us all."

"Intersourcing is an excellent model for companies in growth mode because it's scalable, flexible, and gives businesses the in-house control they need while freeing them from system maintenance," said Greg Swick, chief sales officer for Ultimate Software. "It's rewarding for us to see ACE Cash Express experiencing both business-process and financial benefits with our recruitment-to-retirement functionality, and we look forward to being their HR business partner as they continue to grow."