The PrismHCM Story: What If a PEO Could Keep a Client Easier Even as It Grows? 

By Eric Carlson and Jennifer Romano 

By now you might have heard the news about PrismHCM, but you’re still wondering: What exactly is it and what does it mean for my business? 

These are great questions, and we’re excited to share the news. 

Think of the initiative as taking a page from the popular What If? Marvel comic book series that took a different spin on established superhero story lines. For PrismHR, we asked ourselves, “What if we reimagined what our platform could do for PEOs and the Administrative Services Organization (ASO) market?” 

We’ve Been Listening 

For years, we’ve heard from our customers about the impact it has on them when their small and medium-sized business (SMB) clients outgrow the PEO space. As a PEO, you thrive on the growth of your SMB clients and want them to succeed, of course, but when they get to a certain size, they might look to bring their HR processes in house.  

Great for them, but that can be a big hit to your bottom line.  

It hurts, we know. 

But we also know that the ASO space provides an obvious opportunity for our customers. 

Consider that there are around 500 PEOs in this country servicing 173,00 SMBs that employ 4 million people. Most U.S. businesses (99.9%) fall into the SMB category, and there are roughly 240,000 businesses that employ 50 to 249 people, and the sweet spot for ASO software is roughly in the 75 to 200 employee range.  

By offering PrismHCM, which can be white-labeled to suit your needs, our PEO customers have a much better chance of retaining their clients as they grow and attracting new ones as well. 

Why HCM and Not ASO?  

Deep breath here: We might not like to admit it, but ASO is a term that is only pretty well entrenched in the PEO space. Outside of the PEO world, ASO is usually a nonstarter for a conversation with SMBs because they simply don’t know what it means. To avoid the Land of Confusion, we decided to go with Human Capital Management or HCM, which is much more recognized and accepted. So by labelling your PrismHCM solution as AcmeHCM or whatever you prefer, it gives you a marketing advantage to penetrate new opportunities with clarity. 

Even more important than the name, of course, is the functionality. PrismHCM (or insert your preferred name here) gives your clients the chance to take their HR in-house and provide their worksite employees (WSEs) a modern, intuitive, state-of-the-art platform to help them continue to retain current employees and attract new talent. 

They want to do it themselves? Great. Go for it, but it also gives you the opportunity to decide how to price any extra support your client might need. 

Staying Put  

Without a doubt, switching platforms is never convenient, never fun. Have you ever tried to switch cable providers? We’re still waking up with night sweats from the last time we did. Instead, you can offer your customers from the very beginning the chance to stay on the same platform even as they grow. That way they are already familiar with the functionality and don’t have to worry about exporting data to a new platform. Their info remains safe and secure. 

The difference is simply you do it or they do it. 

With PrismHCM, the days of wondering “What if we could keep a client easier even as it grows?” are over. Ready to explore a world filled with exciting opportunities? Contact us today.

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Eric Carlson is PrismHR’s senior vice president of shared technology. He was previously the founder and CEO of AgileHR, a talent management platform acquired by PrismHR in 2019. Eric has been in the HCM software space for over 20 years as an engineer and product leader, working primarily with Employee Compensation and Talent Management systems, and is currently leading the PrismHR shared technology and PrismHCM engineering and product teams. Eric holds an M.S. in Management Information Systems. 

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Jennifer Romano is PrismHR’s director of product management. Jennifer started her career with PrismHR as a support analyst. In that role, she was able to use her knowledge as a platform user to help customers with their daily processes and to gain a broader knowledge of the inner workings of the PrismHR software. After moving into support management, Jennifer wanted to have more influence on helping customers through product development and decided to pursue a future in Product Management. She now works with Eric on the PrismHCM team.