BlueSnap is a global payments company that’s on a mission to help clients grow by simplifying the complexities of payments. Through its All-in-One Payment Platform for eCommerce, B2B, and SaaS companies, BlueSnap constantly strive to find “a better way” to accept payments, sell globally, and design a stellar customer experience.
After graduating from Northeastern University with a Computer Science degree and from The University of Notre Dame with an MBA in International Business, Ken kicked off his career in project management.
“Although I studied Computer Science in undergrad and was a developer for several years, I realized that development would not be a long term career for me, so I returned to school to learn more about business. Upon graduation, I accepted a technical project management role for a high-growth consulting firm. As I grew with the company I realized that I loved managing and mentoring the teams I led and decided to move into a business operations—which gave me my first look into HR. In this role, I was responsible for staffing all of our projects, providing career development for our consultants, and determining hiring and training plans for the company as we grew.”
After working in business operations, Ken moved into a pure HR role at a small cash management software company.
“From recruiting to employee training and benefits, this role gave me a holistic view of HR. At the time, Ralph Dangelmaier, BlueSnap’s current CEO, was the CEO of that company. Within the 6 years I worked there, we grew the company and sold it. After the company’s acquisition, I moved to an energy efficiency software company and worked there for 5 years. We grew that company from 250 to 1,200 employees around the world, it was the first time I ran HR on a global scale. Then 8 years ago, I reunited with Ralph at BlueSnap and have been here ever since.”
Before implementing Namely, BlueSnap did not have a centralized HR solution.
“At the time, none of our HR processes were streamlined because we didn’t have HCM software. We used Paychex to run U.S. payroll and Vistra to run global payroll, but our other HR processes were very manual. We tracked employees’ PTO in spreadsheets and didn’t have any kind of performance review software. Microsoft Word and Excel were our best friends at the time.”
BlueSnap’s search for a new HR solution started with the need for a performance review software that could be used on a global scale.
“When we first started looking for a streamlined system, our main focus was performance management. At the time, we were struggling to organize reviews and make sure that employees got the feedback they needed in an appropriate time frame. Since we are a global company, HR couldn’t just run down the hall and ask every employee for an update on their performance review. We needed a software that would simplify the performance review process for all of our employees—no matter where they are located.”
“Since we didn’t have an HR software partner, our biggest challenge was automating HR processes. At the time we were looking for a solution, BlueSnap had about 160 employees around the world, but our HR department only consisted of two people. We needed an HCM solution that would streamline several of our HR processes and make our lives easier from an HR admin perspective.”
Most of BlueSnap’s HR processes, like PTO tracking, were very manual.
“We were using spreadsheets to track PTO. Manually tracking PTO can easily lead to errors. Managers would have to approve PTO via email, which meant requests would get lost sometimes. And once requests were approved, we would have to enter them into our payroll system manually, which created more room for error.”
“At the beginning of our search, I asked my International HR Manager, who is located in Israel, to vet the first round of performance review solutions on the market. After narrowing it down to a select few, she pulled me in to help evaluate BambooHR, HiBob, and Namely.
It was funny timing because, at the same time we were evaluating Namely’s HR platform, Namely was searching for a new payment processing partner. So as Namely was coming to BlueSnap as a potential client, we started taking a closer look at them as a potential partner as well. After looking at Namely, we realized that they offered much more than just a performance review software; they also had automated PTO tracking, an interactive news feed, a dynamic company org chart, and other features that we could leverage in the future. Everything Namely had to offer was excellent, so becoming mutual clients of each other was a no brainer.”
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“As a company that has employees located across the world, we needed a solution that would keep them engaged and connected. From an employee engagement perspective, Namely is the only system we have that’s truly global. The platform gives employees visibility into the rest of the company that they wouldn’t have otherwise. Our employees who live in different countries may never meet each other in person, but they can view each other’s profiles to see their roles, how long they’ve been with the company, where they’re located, and who their manager is. They also utilize the org chart to see who’s on what team. This especially helps our new hires match names to faces. Of course it’s been great to streamline HR processes, like performance reviews and PTO tracking, but the engagement piece of Namely is very important to us, too.”
“Namely makes our employees’ and managers’ lives easier because its platform is so intuitive and flexible. We don’t have a huge HR team, so the fact that Namely is scalable and can grow with our team and company is so helpful. Namely is very dependable, and as we continue putting more and more out on the platform, BlueSnap will confidently depend on it more as well.”
BlueSnap is one of more than 1,400 companies that use Namely to streamline people operations, payroll, benefits, and time & attendance needs.