Case Study | Zoho People & Zoho Recruit Implementation

Software Company
ZOHO RECRUIT & ZOHO PEOPLE IMPLEMENTATION

The Company

The client is a rapidly growing software company specialising in delivering innovative digital solutions. With a diverse workforce and dynamic operational needs, the organisation required robust and integrated systems to efficiently manage its human resources and recruitment processes.

The Software Company sought assistance migrating its existing HR and recruitment systems from Leapsome and Zoho Connect to Zoho People and Zoho Recruit respectively. The goal was to maintain existing functionalities while improving integration, automating manual processes, and reducing their overall system costs by leveraging the Zoho One platform.

The Problem Statement

The company faced difficulties with disconnected systems, which led to recruitment inefficiencies and inconsistent employee experiences. Managing data had become cumbersome, making gaining insights into performance and employee engagement challenging.

The project involved carefully transferring detailed employee and performance data from Leapsome and Zoho Connect to Zoho People without interrupting ongoing operations. Additionally, the company required a straightforward recruitment solution that would integrate easily with existing systems. The ongoing cost of maintaining separate systems like Leapsome was also a significant consideration.

The Solution

The solution involved:

A careful migration of employee and performance data to Zoho People, ensuring accuracy and continuity.
Implementation of Zoho Recruit to simplify recruitment and improve candidate onboarding.
Maximising the use of native Zoho functionalities within Zoho One, providing a cost-effective alternative to the previously separate Leapsome system.

Zoho Recruit Implementation

The process was mapped out using BPMN. This workflow adhered closely to Zoho Recruit’s recommended out-of-the-box configuration, with selected enhancements introduced through custom automation. Key enhancements include the use of advanced Custom Functions to improve data integration across the following modules:

Job Openings
Departments
Candidates
Applications
Offers

These automations were specifically designed to:

Minimise redundant data entry across modules
Streamline integration with Zoho People, particularly for handovers between recruitment and onboarding processes.

Additionally, the native Assessments functionality in Zoho Recruit was configured and utilised for both pre-screening and interview stages. Assessment content was developed by Both& and formally reviewed and approved by the Product Owner. The native Interview module was also used in conjunction with the Google Calendar integration via the Zoho Marketplace extension.

Workflow automations were implemented to support both internal and external notifications, triggered by status changes or interactions on the candidate’s application record.

Examples include:

Notifications to Hiring Managers upon submission
Sharing candidate records via Zoho Cliq

Zoho People Implementation

Zoho People was implemented over a 1.5-month period, following the successful completion of a 1-month Zoho Recruit implementation. The project focused on configuring and activating the core HR modules required to support operational and compliance needs.

The following standard modules were enabled and configured:

Employee Onboarding and Offboarding
Organisational Structure
Employee Self-Service
Performance Management, including customisations to support the client's specific OKR framework on Goals.
Organisational Policies
LMS to facilitate formal onboarding journeys and training courses
Leave Management across various regions (South Africa, Dubai, Zimbabwe, Mauritius, etc.)
Payroll Integration via the Zimple extension for SimplePay
HR Letters, including custom forms as per the Product Owner's requirements with automated workflows that trigger Zoho Sign flows.
Employee Engagement Surveys

Implementation Approach for Zoho People

The deployment primarily leveraged Zoho People’s native capabilities.
Minimal custom development was required.

Custom functions were required specifically for Goals in the Performance Service to auto-update the Goal progress based on the underlying Key Results defined on the specific Goal.

Integration with third-party systems was limited to SimplePay, facilitated through a prebuilt marketplace extension.

Reporting

The goal of staying as close to native as possible was to reap the full benefits of the out of box reports available within each respective application. The advanced Zoho Analytics dashboards were also activated for both Recruit and People and training was provided on how to add new team members to the workspace, customise existing dashboards and reports, and how to build custom reports.

Project Implementation Timeline

Project Duration	2.5 months
Implementation	Burst 1: 1 November - 10 December 2024 Burst 2: 6 January - 7 February 2025
System Training	Weekly training and workshop sessions throughout the course of the project duration. Three 30-min training sessions per week One 30-min success session per week 1-hour workshop/design session per week for the first month of the project

Results Achieved

After implementation, the company reported several improvements:

A reduction in administrative tasks, due to automated processes.
Better employee engagement facilitated by structured feedback and improved visibility of performance metrics.
Time-to-hire improved, supported by streamlined recruitment workflows and LinkedIn integration.
Enhanced clarity and tracking of performance goals, enabling more informed professional development and management decisions.
Reduction in software costs through the consolidation onto Zoho One, eliminating the separate expense associated with Leapsome.

Overall, the migration helped the company streamline its HR and recruitment processes, improve internal engagement, reduce operational costs, and support clearer, data-driven decision-making.