How HelpSystems Grew Revenue 30% with Reflektive Partnership

The Challenge

Since 1982 HelpSystems has been supporting IT efforts for thousands of companies around the world. In 2018, HelpSystems was acquired by a new private equity firm. With that acquisition, the company was in “high-growth mode” and had aggressive corporate and departmental goals to complete.

Jordan Bengtson, Manager of Employee Success at HelpSystems, knew that change was needed to support the company’s success. He observed that teams were using different platforms to record their goals — some were using their HRIS’s goal tool, and some were using spreadsheets. This inconsistency created several challenges for HelpSystems, including:

• Lack of goal transparency and alignment across the company
• Annual goals that often became irrelevant
• Lower goal completion since employees infrequently logged into their HRIS

“We couldn’t solve these problems with traditional HR software,” said Jordan. “We knew what successful goal management should look like. We needed a solution to support an ongoing approach, with quarterly goal-setting, check-ins, and frequent 1:1 meetings.” 

Jordan evaluated Reflektive alongside other next-generation performance management solutions. He liked that Reflektive was intuitive for employees, and offered customization so it “feels like how we do things”. Jordan also appreciated the holistic nature of the Reflektive suite, and how requesting feedback, providing recognition, and scheduling 1:1s can all be done in the same place.

The Solution

Jordan selected Reflektive as HelpSystems’ dedicated performance management solution. Given the company’s rapid expansion, it was imperative to launch a new goal-setting program as soon as possible. HelpSystems’ HR team selected the SMART goal methodology, one of many goal methodologies that Reflektive supports. The SMART goal methodology perfectly aligned with the company-wide goals used at HelpSystems called The Vital Few.

Departments and teams aligned their goals to The Vital Few, while still enabling flexibility for employees to add their personal and developmental goals too. Kate Bloomfield, Senior Director of Professional Services at HelpSystems, said, “The value Reflektive brings is built into their name — performance management at HelpSystems is now much more reflective of the employee.” 

HelpSystems’ leaders, managers, and employees appreciated the goal visibility that Reflektive enabled. With their previous system, “there were no alignment or tracking mechanisms,” said Jordan.

By partnering with Reflektive, HelpSystems “is on track to knock our Vital Few out of the park,” Jordan said. Managers are already celebrating wins with Reflektive. Kathy Kurth, Technical Communications Manager at HelpSystems, said: “Reflektive makes goal management so much easier. It helps with goal-tracking and keeping corporate goals visible. I can also view goals during check-ins and 1:1s — Reflektive is my one go-to place for so many important employee conversations.”

The Results

By investing in a dedicated performance management solution, HelpSystems not only created a better employee experience — they also achieved real business results. Jordan said, “HelpSystems is a more successful company now that we tie individual goals all the way up to organizational goals. Engagement is high, and people are completing their goals.” 

Several of The Vital Few have been completed early, including impactful goals that contributed to the growth of HelpSystems’ business:

• Increase international software bookings by 30%
• Increase new product revenue from existing customers by $3 million
• Increase adoption of new product to 600 customers
• Grow revenue from hosted products to $1 million

By driving adoption of Reflektive, department leaders achieved powerful, quantifiable results too. 80% of goals in Kate’s department were completed last quarter. Kathy hit her milestones early: “We accomplished our product adoption goal 2 months before our deadline. Having a constant reminder of what we’re striving for set my team up for success.”

HelpSystems successfully scaled other performance management initiatives with Reflektive. For instance, check-ins used to be in Excel spreadsheets, and are now in Reflektive. “When we got Reflektive, it was so much better,” Jordan said. “Everything made sense. We can access historical check-ins easily, and everything is stored there, which managers love.” Jordan customized check-ins, and pulled in goals, to boost manager-employee alignment and provoke thoughtful discussion. 

Per Kate, “Reflektive is refreshing, it’s a different way to approach performance management versus the past tools I’ve used. I really enjoy using Reflektive, and my employees do too. Performance management is no longer a dreaded experience.”

Overview
HelpSystems aligns IT and business goals to help organizations build a competitive edge. Their software and services monitor and automate processes, encrypt and secure data, and provide easy access to the information people need. More than 17,000 organizations around the world rely on HelpSystems to make IT lives easier and keep business running smoothly.

Industry
Technology

Year Founded
1982

Headquarters
Minnesota

Employees
800

Mission
Provide IT enablement solutions that secure systems, automate IT, and inform key stakeholdersValuesSuccess should be recognized and rewarded, quality matters in everything that we do, exceptional customer service is a way of life, giving back to our community is the only option, happy employees make happy customers