03/19/07
Elwood Staffing Grows Revenue 35 Percent Annually with help of StaffSuite staffing software
Purchasing new StaffSuite staffing software during the 2001-2002 recession, Elwood Staffing has gone on to make Staffing Industry Analysts' list of fastest-growing staffing firms three years running with more efficient operations.
Elwood Staffing, a family-owned and operated staffing firm, is no stranger to success. Dave Elwood, patriarch of the family, serves as Chairman of the Board while his sons, John, Mark and Mike, run the operations of one of the fastest-growing staffing firms in the country.
With 39 offices in seven states, Indiana-based Elwood Staffing continues to grow at a compounded rate of 35 percent a year (2003-2007) according to Staffing Industry Analyst's "America's Fastest-Growing Private Staffing Companies" list. In fact, they are one of the few staffing firms to receive this designation three years running. Showing no signs of slowing down, Elwood Staffing and its related companies continued its growth in 2007 with revenue of $159 million, up 24 percent from 2006.
So how do they continually grow within the highly competitive staffing industry?
"We selected VCG's StaffSuite rather than other solutions for a number of reasons. First, VCG's reputation within the industry played a strong part in our decision. We also needed an integrated solution with a strong back office that could scale to meet our growth plans."
John Elwood
President and COO
Elwood Staffing
The answer to that question begins in early 2002, when Elwood Staffing replaced their proprietary in-house developed software with VCG's StaffSuite® staffing software to help facilitate their strategy for growth, operations and profitability. They made the strategic investment despite the fact that the country was in the middle of a recession that saw staffing company revenues plummet more than 20 percent on average. By implementing StaffSuite's scalable technology they were able to position themselves for explosive growth as the economy improved.
And what have been the results?
| Results that generate profits! |
| Payroll and billing processing efficiency improved by 182 percent |
| Improved customer service and reduced cost of service delivery |
| Revenue growth of 550 percent from 2002 through 2006 |
| Gross revenue per software user license in excess of one million dollars |
Steve Hunnicutt, CFO of Elwood Staffing said, "Revenue has grown 550 percent since the first year we implemented StaffSuite, and efficiency in PayBill processing has improved by 182 percent."
The benefits here are twofold. Not only does an effective back office process reduce internal effort, but it improves levels of customer service and dramatically reduces the cost of that service delivery.
The ability to grow seamlessly with core technology that supported their growth and changing needs was critical to their continued success. StaffSuite gave them that ability. Starting with just 40 users in 2002, Elwood Staffing today has more than 130 users -- each of whom generate more than one million dollars in gross revenue (2007).
John Elwood, President & COO of Elwood Staffing said, "We selected VCG's StaffSuite rather than other solutions for a number of reasons. First, VCG's reputation within the industry played a strong part in our decision. We also needed an integrated solution with a strong back office that could scale to meet our growth plans."
StaffSuite, a fully-integrated front and back office solution, was designed to scale to meet Elwood Staffing's needs. As their business continued to grow, StaffSuite grew with them. In fact, StaffSuite is the only independently certified staffing software to handle the real-world workload environment of 1,000 simultaneous users performing 'day-in-the-life' activities for a staffing firm in all areas of functionality including running payroll for up to 18,000 contingent employees.
And Elwood Staffing's employees have responded positively to StaffSuite as well.
"Our employees find StaffSuite to be a very robust solution with strong functionality. They know that the information they need is at their fingertips. When an applicant has a question, virtually any staff member can answer it for them -- whether it's availability, check history or work status," said Elwood.
"Support does an outstanding job when we have an issue. They are good at prioritizing support cases and getting us the answers we need," said Elwood. In fact, VCG's support has been independently rated as "excellent," well above industry-level norms.
It's clear that Elwood Staffing will continue to find success and growth in the coming years. Besides being named one of the fastest-growing private companies in America, Elwood Staffing received a finalist award from Indiana University's Kelley School of Business in the Growth category.
Elwood attributes the company's growth to their staff as well.
"We hire the best and brightest internal staff, provide them with the tools and training they will need and together, we set out to deliver superior customer service not only to our clients, but also our job applicants," said Elwood.
Elwood Staffing has comprehensive incentive programs for their staff, 80 percent of whom are certified staffing professionals (CSP), accredited by the American Staffing Association. With a strong organizational foundation and a strong, scalable staffing solution, Elwood Staffing is headed for even greater growth in the future.
More about VCG staffing and recruiting software solutions.
About VCG
VCG provides comprehensive staffing and recruiting solutions that power success. Since 1976, VCG has helped hundreds of companies and more than 14,000 professionals worldwide achieve operational excellence by streamlining their unique business processes and accelerating finding and placing the people most likely to thrive. VCG, C-PAS, StaffSuite, TempWare-V, WebPAS, StaffSuite WorldLink and WebPAS WorldLink are registered trademarks of VCG, Inc. For more information visit: www.vcgsoftware.com or call 1.800.318.4983.
About Elwood Staffing, Inc.
Indiana-based Elwood Staffing was founded in 1980 and has more than 32 offices throughout a five state area. Elwood provides office, industrial, professional and supervisory staffing to a wide range of clients. For more information on Elwood Staffing, visit: www.elwoodstaffing.com.