Taking HR global with iVantage^®

With iVantage, Key Equipment Finance manages its international employees from thousands of miles away.

In today’s world, when a company is managing over 200 international employees in 25 countries with simple spreadsheets, things can get chaotic. That’s why Key Equipment Finance (KEF) went searching for an integrated HR system with international capabilities.

KEF, an international equipment leasing corporation, has provided equipment financing for over 30 years to a broad range of customers—from non–profit entities and corporations to governments and multi–national equipment manufacturers. Of the company’s 1,100 employees, over 200 of them were spread out overseas.

A much–needed change
For years, KEF tracked important information on its 200–plus international employees with spreadsheets generated at regional offices. In 2003, the company realized that spreadsheets weren’t enough.

KEF needed an HR system with consistent and centralized reporting, as well as access for its U.S. headquarters staff. The company also needed enough flexibility to keep up with its changing needs. In other words, KEF needed a system it could customize.

A customizable solution
Initially, KEF looked at the system the company was already using for its U.S. employees, but in the end iVantage offered a better solution.

“We had special needs which included a system that could be easily customized,” said Tim Maxwell, planning manager at KEF. “iVantage fit that requirement while still being a cost–effective solution that was intuitive and easy for our staff to use.”

Working together to get it right
As expected, KEF’s iVantage implementation was more complicated than most. Along with multiple customizations, the system needed to run behind the company’s identity management software. Spectrum staff took the system through two pre-production testing environments. They also worked with KEF’s HR staff to transfer the company’s HR information into the new system, making additional customizations while troubleshooting compatibility issues.

“During the implementation process, Spectrum was responsive to our needs,” said Maxwell. “Product Support and Education as well as Professional Services were both great to work with.”

A true partnership
KEF has benefited from using iVantage over the last several years, accessing and managing data in one central system. HR personnel at KEF’s U.S. headquarters can easily access whatever information they need. They can also generate reports for international managers on a timely basis. In the future, the company hopes to get even more out of iVantage by interfacing the system with a payroll vendor.

On the other side of the coin, Spectrum has also seen benefits from its collaboration with KEF. The iVantage implementation highlighted a need for international compatibility in HR systems. To address this, Spectrum has made certain international features standard in the latest iVantage releases.