Smart SaaS

Company:            iCIMS

Started:               1999

Located:              Hazlet, NJ

Geography:        Global

Market:               Software-as-a-Service Talent Acquisition Solutions

Products:            iCIMS Pre-Hire Solutions and iCIMS Post-Hire Solutions

Key Customers:  Continental Airlines, Canon, esurance, Hershey’s and Whole Foods

Website:              www.icims.com

Recent News:

iCIMS Honored for Outstanding Client Satisfaction in Both US & UK Awards

Growing Number of Healthcare Organizations Select iCIMS for Talent Management Needs

iCIMS Powers into 3rd Quarter with Unwavering Momentum

iCIMS Continues on Record Breaking Path Surpassing the 750 Customer Mark and Signing its 100th Client of 2009

I asked Susan Vitale, iCIMS Director of Marketing a few questions about their business and her view of the SaaS market in 2009.

Did you start out as a Software-as-a-Service company?

The company started out in 1999 with as a broad ERP solution but was repositioned to just be a simplified ASP recruiting solution. Since we were late the Internet party, we never took any venture capital money and have been profitable since 2003. Initially we were focused on selling to small agencies and then over time switched to selling to corporate customers. Our target was companies that had less than 500 employees but over time we have scaled to support large, global organizations as well. iCIMS’ Talent Platform has always differentiated itself from competing vendors and recently has emerged as an industry leader, securing the position as the third largest talent acquisition software provider in the space – this ascension largely attributed to iCIMS’ focus on the customer experience.

Why do your customers buy from iCIMS?

iCIMS offers an alternative to disparate HR components and complex data integrations through the use of one, single-source coded platform, these clients are able to take advantage of the singular system for their entire employee lifecycle. We offer a very configurable talent platform that can be set up very quickly; in fact Hershey’s was set up in only two weeks. iCIMS offers a wide array of talent acquisition products that our customers can grow into over time, including workforce planning, onboarding, performance management, succession planning and even offboarding.

Our products are also easy to use and can interfaced with many popular payroll and HR systems.

What do you see as the key trend emerging in the SaaS industry?

In addition to being a leading provider in the North American market space, iCIMS is proving to be the solution of choice for mid-market organizations around the world. Since the grand opening of the company’s newest office in London, UK, iCIMS is taking the international market by storm, with Mid-Market organizations across the globe growing eager to take advantage of iCIMS’ end-to-end Talent Management tools. Just last month, iCIMS signed several international organizations including ALEC, which is based in Dubai and serves the middle east, and Optical Express, based in the UK and operating throughout most of Europe.

For iCIMS the ability to support a global organization’s talent requirements is increasingly important. We have recently expanded in Asia Pacific with the opening of a customer support center in Beijing, China. This was in response to our client’s use of talent around the globe, including Tyco Electronics who hires more than 75% of their workforce in Asia.

Another interesting trend is the use of Cloud Computing. A majority of our global clients are supported in data centers in the US, hosted by AT&T utilizing technology from Akamai. In fact we have more than 15,000 servers hosting all of our clients but we are starting to experiment with Amazon’s Cloud Computing capabilities, which could offer tremendous flexibility and cost savings for iCIMS.

What is your outlook for 2009?

2009 has been a tough year for most companies but iCIMS has been diversified across our business and growth this is year is faster than in 2008. We offer a very nice mid-priced replacement recruiting solution that is attractive to customers looking for a more modern, Internet-based solution.

Since day one, iCIMS has been dedicated to ensuring a positive overall customer experience and has molded the company’s offerings with this priority in mind. The Talent Platform’s cost-effectiveness, inherent configurability, ease-of-use, and industry acclaimed customer service all largely contribute to this commitment to an unparalleled customer experience, in fact our customer retention rates are at 97%. We are excited about the expansion possibilities within our customer-base of over 700 customers, because we can start with recruiting and offer them on-boarding, performance and other products.

Thank you to Colin Day, Susan Vitale and Caitrin O’Sullivan for contributing to this profile.