Link To Guest Website: https://www.invenias.com/

Title: “Software That Revolutionizes The Executive Search Industry”
Guest: Ashton Moran of Invenias / Bullhorn
Interviewer: Jonathan Freedman – MAGE LLC

Click here to read the transcript

Jonathan (0s):
Welcome back to Radio Entrepreneurs, I’m Jonathan Freedman, and our next guest up is Ashton Moran, GM of Invenias. Welcome to Radio Entrepreneurs. You so much for having me. So tell our listeners a little about Invenias, what it is that you do. Yeah.

Ashton (14s):
Yeah. So I’m Invenias is a product within the Bullhorn portfolio products. For those who don’t know a Bullhorn, is it is the member one or a software provider for staffing and recruitment agencies around the world Invenias is the number one software provider for executive search businesses around the world. So Invenias focuses specifically on a C level supporting businesses that do see level and the board level searches M actually a VP level, his as well. So that’s in various, in a nutshell,

Jonathan (49s):
No. Now that the software specifically services the soft a I’m sorry, you’re a software specifically services, is the software industry, or is it executive search across the board?

Ashton (59s):
So, yeah, so, so the, the, the service we provide is it software that supports the executive search consultants. So a SAR, our solution is a, it’s a CRM project management system make your day and your life easier platform for anybody and the executive search space.

Jonathan (1m 18s):
Excellent. So obviously a, you guys have been busy. I would imagine as the economy has been carrying and a, a Labour is tight and you guys see a surge in terms of a new client is scrambling to say, if we need to help you, no, we can’t process people quickly enough. We can’t find people quickly enough. Imagine your software helps them do all of that. Yeah,

Ashton (1m 38s):
No, I mean, it, it’s funny there, they were, there were a couple of months back when the pandemic kicked off and I think the world was just swinging to see what was the next right? So every one was, was quite on the Western front, Andy, and then all of the sudden, you know, there were some momentum that, that started happening when folks realized, okay, we can wait for this thing to fully, to fully play out. We just gotta go with it. And I, and that the executive level, you know, a strategic decisions needed to be made. So as a business, we’ll always need executives. And now more than ever, especially as we try to navigate, you know, the, I guess the tale of the pandemic and also the a, a what happens beyond this.

Ashton (2m 19s):
So yeah, the executive search firms had been calling to, to, to get the M to get a solution than the system in place. You know, historically speaking, when, when we think about I’m the executive search market, it, it, it, it really hasn’t been a place that has been, I say, has adopted technology as quickly as other, as other segments and other markets have, but

Jonathan (2m 46s):
The original role, a conventional industry that relies on my Rolodex

Ashton (2m 50s):
And all that, that is exactly the case. You no Rolodex, a relied on, on some memory as well, black books. And, and now that that mentality shifted, I think the a, a, a big reason for that is, you know, there, there was a less office environment to rely on you, no shoulders to tap onto ask. So look out for something up in the system, for example. So a, the adoption of technology has, has grown in the last, you know, in the last 18 months, which, which is quite exciting because then it gives others in the executive search technology space, you know, obviously including ourselves in that the ammunition, the continue to build them to innovate and to say, okay, we’re going to start at that thing.

Ashton (3m 32s):
Those really exciting things that happened to be in, in outside and outside markets and start to bring them into, into executive search in, you know, we, we, we’ve got the great fortune of being part of the Bullhorn family, which means that, you know, we’re, we’re always seeing what’s next on, on the horizon due to the industry trends and I’m in, or doing something about that with, with how we’re thinking about our roadmap and our vision for product innovation.

Jonathan (4m 1s):
So it gives our listeners a sense, ah, and particularly if they are in the executive search world, what, what is the platform geared towards? Is it geared towards that a solo practitioner, or is it geared more towards somebody that has a suite of a search officer’s had? Or how does it work? And what’s a, what’s the, what’s the sort of the target, if you will. Yeah, of course. Thanks

Ashton (4m 20s):
For that question, Jonathan. So, you know, the, the executive search space is a, they’re mostly made up of boutiques, right? So somewhere between six a to 20 people in size, that’s, that’s generally the M the customer that we serve, but we have a heap of, you know, single solo practitioners in, in are in our portfolio as well, that we absolutely love and they provide feedback and they, you know, we just have some great engagement with, with those customers. So, so we are, so we’re generally a M a in terms of have sales world, we are looking at, at the SNB, the small, medium size businesses and field size organization’s, which is, you know, and say under a 200 users, or so that’s the lion’s share of, of the business.

Ashton (5m 10s):
We do have a few that are above and beyond that that we’d consider more enterprise accounts, but, but if you look at the search market in general, you probably have maybe 20, 25 of those out in the world. So, so we’re, we mostly play is the SMB and field size space. Yes.

Jonathan (5m 29s):
And the deployment to the software, it’s a SaaS model, a monthly, or sort of a low, a low barrier for us, for clients to get on board. I would imagine. And the ramp up time is pretty quick.

Ashton (5m 41s):
We, we try it for it to be that way. I think, you know, the, the, the executive search base is so reliant on the intelligence that’s been captured on the talent that’s out there. So the, the, the requirement to make sure that that information goes from, you know, that whatever systems are being utilized today, it could be something as simple as Excel write, or even, or even out look emails. You no transferring that information in and giving you some structure to be able to really leverage it off the, you know, the powerful tools that Invenias offers. Customer’s, you know, that if a customer can say, look, I want to keep that information. They’re I want to start from scratch and, and start to build out the Invenias platform and do it in a, in a really thoughtful fashion.

Ashton (6m 25s):
And they can get up and running like that. ’cause it is a SaaS model, the business, as long as you mentioned, but for the most part, because I’m a customer is trying to be thoughtful about how that information comes across in to Invenias. It could take it a little while longer, you know, so it, it, it could be, it could be a couple of weeks. It could be a couple of months, but a, but nonetheless at the end of the day, Jonathan what’s what’s worth noting is that customers are super happy. You know, they had the information in a single place, a system of record and are able to do something with the intelligence that they’ve captured throughout the years.

Jonathan (6m 58s):
That is fabulous. I always the goal and as many as a no, who have the points after a garbage in garbage out. So it makes sense that you think about what your trying to do and make sure you can do it right, because there’s only one that, you know, I I’ve seen some clients who have done a second deployment because their data was so screwed up. So

Ashton (7m 16s):
That’s a rough thing, right. You know what to say, Hey, all this engineering work that we’ve done, we kind of botched this up and now we needed to go back and re-engineer it just M it, there is some momentum loss there for sure. A knock on wood that really hasn’t happened on our side. So well, we are, we’ve got a, a great team of individuals and great partners that no, how to see your customers in, in, in the right way and, and really collaborate and partner on, on the vision that the customer has is to what their end goal is.

Jonathan (7m 45s):
So just a, a sort of a big picture on the industry, because it’s fascinating to me to be, it seemed to me that executive search is, is by and large are either regional or local and nature, or at least a, you know, certainly the small companies and because the technology, we sort of become national and global, but is it, that, is that true? Is the industry, so to maintain this local sorta flavor or that the executive level, or we seeing people or a mobile and they’re moving across the country. So it, it, it means that the search has to be national and perhaps a global in nature. Yeah.

Ashton (8m 18s):
That is a good question on trend. So that was a phrase coined, and I don’t remember who coined it some time we will call it glocal. Right. Which was, you know, I’m a local, a local presence with a, with a global, with a global reach. So I’m, so there is a, you know, they, they were a couple of, of search business’s that because of the size of the business, you know, they, they a heavily rely on referrals. Really they’ve done great work customers locally we’ll reach out to them, but, but there are a lot of search firms that say, you know, that we need, we need to expand out of this, a local scenario or regional, or a scenario.

Ashton (9m 1s):
We, we want to go nationally. We want to go international. So we, we do see that there are a number of firms that are associated with, with network groups, right? So they were a couple, a couple out there there’s AMRAP, just boys in a, a, to, to, to an extent, a, a few, a few others as well that have decided to, to, to almost act as this small, independent, local offices that are attached to and share the branding with and share the same processes, policies, and so on with what the entire global network of a small, a small offices.

Ashton (9m 42s):
So

Jonathan (9m 42s):
That just from a similar to the real estate industry, some, somewhere along those lines where you would see a national player that has local offices yeah, exactly.

Ashton (9m 50s):
The case and, and that, and that gives a certain power to that business to say, you know, well, yeah, we’re working here in New York city, but a you’ve got this surge happening in Frankfurt. And we got partners over there that do fantastic work. Right. And, and so, so that, that kind of global presence, I feel this is required is more so than more than ever do executors relocate all the time, write like that’s, that’s, that’s the nature that you find the right executive cross borders or whatever, and you want them in your business. You’re going to, you’re going to look to, to make that, to make that happen. And the executive search consultant is as a facilitator, have that kind of engagement. But, so to answer your question or a long-winded way, a glocal has been the, the, the way to go four, a lot of search firms and, and has been a successful model.

Jonathan (10m 36s):
Excellent. A Ashlynn moron, GM of videos in our guests on a Radio Entrepreneurs. If people want to get in touch with you and find out more about your, a offerings about your, your software, but your industry, because you are knowledgeable guy was the best way for them to reach out to you. Yeah.

Ashton (10m 50s):
So feel free to reach out to me at Ashton Moran, gmail.com, and I’m also available on LinkedIn. So feel free to send me an invite request. Then just let me know if you listen to, to this podcast and I’d be happy to connect

Jonathan (11m 5s):
Ashton Moran, GME videos. So it’s been a pleasure having you on Radio Entrepreneurs and will be right back with another segment on Radio Entrepreneurs.

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