As is often the case, user experience has guided this innovation from a consultant specialized in software design: Xavier Vilain, engineer and founder of Orinea, vendor of the Nicoka solution.
Before creating his own business, Xavier Vilain had been working for different companies for 15 years, where he had been faced with a wide range of human resources management solutions. These were evolving with the immediate needs of the enterprise – from multi-site project management to mileage allowance management – in a more or less disorganized way, and without any real productivity improvement for the employees or the enterprise.
Repeatedly asking themselves why there was no unique, intuitive, and comprehensive HR management solution available on the market, Xavier Vilain and his team eventually decided to invent it, and introduced Nicoka in January 2015.
Nicoka is a modular and accessible-to-all human resources management solution, enabling any organization to acquire the bricks it needs to ensure proper operations: hiring, on-boarding, online digital profile management, skills management and training tracking, timesheets and project follow- up, leave and expenses reports, off-boarding management.
In addition to these key functionalities, Nicoka is a tool with variable geometry adapting itself to the growth and specificities of each assignment. All these functionalities are in fact multilingual and multi-currency, and also work with multiple implementations and structures. Besides, the solution is compatible with all operating systems and navigators, and adapted for all types of devices.
The Nicoka solution is designed to allow the user to be quickly and easily operational. Xavier Vilain says: « In the enterprise, all employees are familiar with Facebook and Google, and they are not afraid to use digital tools. So, we designed our software with the same aesthetic and ergonomic features in mind, to accelerate its adoption by everyone. »
And he adds: “We also added a collaborative aspect to ensure transparency and trust between the enterprise and its employees, and allow everyone to save time.” On one side, the enterprise manager in charge of multiple tasks, or the HR leader, is able to manage all HR aspects of his/her activity. On the other side, employees can access the platform to display their information and send requests (administrative data, virtualized pay slips, paid leaves, right to training, etc.).
Nicoka also includes an integrated Business Intelligence module. With a few clicks, it is possible to extract and analyze data for a better management of human resources. The software comes standard with a report library, and hundreds of other customizable reports are offered as options.
“Business Intelligence is not for large enterprises only”, Xavier Vilain explains. “Let’s take the example of complementary health insurance: in France, it will be mandatory in all French companies starting January 2016, and it can be a real asset to attract talents. Nicoka extracts data about age and family status of employees within seconds, and this information is critical when negotiating the best complementary health insurance.”
In France, VSEs and SMEs account for 85 % of all job creations1. A good human resources management is essential for them to retain their employees and develop their business. Cost should not be a barrier when they need a HR management solution. Nicoka solution is affordable and starts at €25 a month.
Since its introduction in January 2015, Nicoka HR has already been deployed by 20 companies in 3 European countries. Its vendor Orinea intends to pursue its development to double this number by the end of this year.