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Mahesh Krishnamoorthy, Managing Director Of Core Integra sat down with TechGraph’s editorial team to understand how the HR industry is utilizing technology to streamline compliance and staffing processes in India, and how the upcoming digital transformation initiatives for labor law compliance will impact businesses.
Read the complete interview
TechGraph: How technologies are simplifying compliance and staffing processes. What are the trending technologies in the Indian Market?
Mahesh Krishnamoorthy: Traditionally, HR Operations of which Staffing processes and Compliance management, is a subset has been a combination of manual efforts and spreadsheet calculations.
Over the last decade, technology has been introduced in this space, and the pandemic phase was appropriately used for rapid digitalization and transformation of processes from person dependent to tech-enabled.
Currently, the entire staffing process, including recruitment, onboarding, employee lifecycle, payroll, compliances, and self-help mediums, can be done remotely using technology. Earlier Staffing companies used to have implants at client sites or set up their own offices where large numbers of manpower deployed.
Today, most staffing companies manage end-to-end employee lifecycle and HR operations remotely. This is a mutual win for Clients and Staffing companies in terms of cost reduction, enhanced productivity, transparency, and the ability to allow Client supervisors to focus on delivery with the off-roll manpower rather than attending to HR grievances.
On the Compliance side, the progress has been relatively slow as compared to the Staffing and HR operations. It would be fair to state that there has been the introduction of technology platforms in the labor law compliance space. However, adoption has been low due to the inherent nature of processes which require liaisons with authorities and government officials to explain and resolve matters.
Over the next five years, this space will undergo significant digital transformation which is evident from the initiatives from the Government over the last few years and the announcements by the Hon. Finance Minister in the recent budget.
TechGraph: Explain the recent changes to India’s labor laws and how they will help businesses prepare for the future.
Mahesh Krishnamoorthy: Over the last decade or two, India has focused on financial and tax compliance in India. Our country has made significant strides to emerge as a global leader in governance and control. Over the last few years, under the aegis of promoting ease of doing business in India, the focus has been on other regulatory compliances, especially labor law compliances. Some examples would be the Shram Suvidha portal, the Online PF and ESIC portal, and the Samadhan portal.
The largest and most discussed initiative in the labor law domain is the New Wage Code where almost 30 States have prepared draft rules. The New Wage Code would consolidate 29 prevailing laws into 4 codes thereby simplifying labor laws and enabling a major step towards digitalization.
TechGraph: What problems do the industries face with regard to compliance or HR solutions?
Mahesh Krishnamoorthy: The problem ranges from awareness of available solutions, resistance to change, and feasibility of integrating multiple software since one software may not provide the entire range of solutions from HR operations to Payroll to Compliances. This scenario is changing though the pace could be better. There is a positive outlook in the industry in terms of using technology to reduce costs and increase efficiencies.
TechGraph: What growth plan for Core Integra are you currently working on for the financial year 2023–2024?
Mahesh Krishnamoorthy: Core Integra has been well supported by its existing clients and client referrals have been our biggest source of business growth. With over 500 Enterprise level clients across 30 industries and 7000+ enterprise users on the platform, we are poised for rapid growth. We are on track to add another 300 new logos this financial year. We will increase our wallet share with existing clients through cross-selling. We are opening 3-4 new offices every quarter this financial year.
There are many enhancements and enhanced modules being developed in our platforms including introducing new age technologies like RPA and AI as embedded solutions. The Partner Network plays a significant role in complementing our growth strategy. We strongly believe this will help increase our penetration into domestic markets rapidly.
On the international markets, we will introduce some of our tech solutions in 2-3 geographies this financial year. Rather than revenue growth, we are strongly focused on adding value to the industry, our stakeholders, and the community at large. Hence, we are more bottom-line focused and take pride in being a debt-free, profitable company with cash reserves which is prompting us to move towards inorganic growth from this year onwards.
TechGraph: Could you tell us about Core Integra and its flagship Ctrl F platform?
Mahesh Krishnamoorthy: Ctrl F easily tracks the ever-changing labor compliance environment. Ctrl F brings a centralized compliance monitoring framework with a complete checklist of all applicable central, state, and industry-specific laws.
The SaaS-based plug-and-play tool gives free access to 40,000 pages of Indian labor laws; 1000+ Laws and Acts, 10,000+ compliances, 20000+ legal updates, 1000+ register and return formats including approx. 200 bi-lingual formats and more.
Being integrated governance, risk, and compliance software, it manages contracts, litigation, risks, controls, and audits. The software also tracks policies, procedures, SOPs, etc. With automated alerts and triggers supporting comprehensive dashboards and reports, the intuitive and easy-to-use modern design will enhance your visual experience.