By Business & Finance 
An innovative new software product aimed at SME’s, which acts as a ‘live’ 24/7 staff manager, created and developed by an Irish company based in Longford, was officially launched today.
Elephant Smart Business is a cloud-based software product that eliminates paper-based systems traditionally used to manage staff such as sign-in sheets, sick pay, annual leave, public holiday entitlements and payroll preparation. The software, which was five years in the making, acts as a ‘silent staff manager’, reducing costs and increasing productivity by remotely managing all aspects of staff activity.
Employee attendance is monitored by a modern biometric touch-screen terminal on which employees sign in and out of work, record breaks, cigarette breaks and leave for work-related business. The system alerts management by text or email if members of the team are not available to work, absent or late, allowing him or her to make alternative arrangements. As the software records employees locations at all times, it constantly updates the company fire report.
The software also aids the HR and accounts function by creating reports on annual leave, appraisals, absences, payroll, NERA reports, rosters and budgets.
According to Sunil Kumar, IT director: “We have completely changed the industry standard and are the first to move staff management to the cloud at an affordable price for SME’s . We had to redesign biometric terminals to work in a cloud environment and handle the large volumes of data to be processed. We have successfully developed a completely live system which has enabled us to introduce new features such as SMS notifications. The big challenge was to make it as easy to use as a smart phone.”
According to Linda O’Reilly, financial director of Elephant Smart Business, the information produced by the software is endless. “The software really is like having a full time HR manager for your company. We have changed the way SME’s manage staff through an affordable product with functionality exceeding that of systems costing multiples that of Elephant Smart Business. The format is simple, and training can be completed in three hours. From three staff upwards the system pays for itself. It is an ideal HR tool for business including office workers, restaurant and hotel staff, retailers and factory or shift workers amongst others. It is a new way to manage that we liken to moving from writing letters to email.”
