ATLAS SP didn’t get what they expected from a 16-week HR transformation—they got much more

Growing too fast for its PEO

Many small and medium-sized businesses use Professional Employment Organizations (PEOs) to manage their human resource (HR) service needs. It’s often easier and faster than building an in-house HR department. By entering a co-employment arrangement, a PEO can handle responsibilities such as payroll processing, benefits administration, workers’ compensation, regulatory compliance assistance, and employee recruitment and training. As a new entity, ATLAS SP had chosen a PEO as a temporary solution to ensure continuity of HR services for its approximately 150 employees. However, a fast-growing investment management firm has some unique needs, and the limitations of the PEO became clear. ATLAS made the decision to bring HR in-house to better support leadership and finance teams in the pursuit of key goals:

• Ensure the company continued to provide industry leading benefits—401(k) choices and medical, dental, and vision plans—to continue to recruit and retain top talent
• Establish an efficient, end-to-end recruiting and onboarding system aligned to ATLAS’s culture of speed and efficiency
• Further refine and enhance the finance team’s reporting and forecasting capabilities while continuing to consolidate and streamline processes across ATLAS
• Identify and implement more economical, effective alternatives for all the HR responsibilities the PEO had been leading.

Oracle technology offers enormous HR potential

Choosing the right technology didn’t take ATLAS long. Oracle’s high-performing and user-friendly functionality would give ATLAS greater power, flexibility, and control over HR data and operations. ATLAS’s finance and accounting teams were already using Oracle, so expanding its role would help consolidate all corporate back-office functions onto a single platform and allow ATLAS to scale seamlessly.

But ATLAS faced other, tougher questions, including whether it was even possible to implement a comprehensive Oracle human capital management (HCM) system within the company’s accelerated timeframe. In addition, Finance needed accurate HR and compensation data to establish a labor cost-capture process that would be mission critical to billing for the transactions the ATLAS teams work on.

Recognizing the complexities it was facing—from the technical, such as systems integration, to the human-centered, such as how to structure benefits and user experiences designed for deep employee engagement—ATLAS sought an ally in KPMG LLC (KPMG).

Converting raw power into a finely tuned system for ATLAS SP

Time was a critical factor in successfully meeting the company’s needs—with the clock ticking down on a 16-week deadline—but KPMG knew there were no shortcuts to be had.

“Our goal was to help ATLAS succeed on all fronts,” said Raj Elangovan, KPMG engagement leader. “So, we brought in not only our Oracle practice, but also our Total Rewards & Wellness practice and our Human Capital Advisory practice. Then we worked as one team with a single goal.”

While the extensive background of KPMG in these areas, shaped by hundreds of engagements, was valuable, it was their drive to innovate—to devise approaches as novel as ATLAS’s needs—that really made the difference.

“During the ATLAS engagement, we recognized the need for a more agile and flexible approach to meet the tight timeline and complex requirements,” said Rich Isola, a valued leader with KPMG. “We utilized a rapid implementation methodology that combined testing and training sessions, which not only accelerated the project but also helped ensure that the ATLAS team was fully prepared and confident in using the new systems.”

Evan Tyner, chief human capital and experience officer of ATLAS SP, praised this approach, noting, “The way KPMG turned testing into training was a game-changer. It allowed our team to get hands-on experience and feel more comfortable with the new systems from the start.”

Greater insights, deeper engagement, and cost savings from the start

Shortly after the Oracle platform and supporting processes were in place, ATLAS realized several key efficiencies were gained. Key finance professionals saved approximately 10 hours a month as the system’s time and labor module replaced outmoded Excel spreadsheets. And thanks to a KPMG-developed bonus costing solution that married human and enterprise resources, ATLAS unlocked the ability to run a process once and apply the data in multiple situations.

The onboarding process, too, became faster and easier as KPMG centralized information. By housing all preboarding and onboarding materials in one place, KPMG transformed a formerly cumbersome operation into something dynamic. Employees can go in at any time to update goals, communicate with their managers, and update conversations.

These changes helped ATLAS become more efficient and competitive in a notoriously competitive industry. ATLAS can now:

• Offer high-quality benefits and continue to actively compete for top talent with larger firms
• Take greater control of benefits and rewards and ensure HR costs are sustainable
• Realize HR cost savings, starting with $1.5 million in the first six months
• Dedicate more time to higher-value work, thanks to the automation of routine tasks
• Develop insights, spot trends, and make accurate cost projections by mining the information in a centralized data repository
• Provide a consistent service experience to US and international employees.

A strong platform for future enhancements

“We’re a small firm, but we’ve got ambitious goals and growth targets,” said Evan Tyner. “From our first conversation, KPMG brought ideas, solutions, and helped us think strategically about our needs. KPMG is and will be my first phone call for anything that we want to do going forward.”

This strategic alliance with KPMG and the robust technology solutions they have adopted positions ATLAS on the front foot for growth. Raj Elangovan noted, “We knew that whatever we were building for ATLAS wasn’t going to stay static. They had big ambitions and were growing fast. So, we built a custom solution that’s completely future-proof and something that can scale.”

Rich Isola emphasized the importance of Oracle’s ongoing investment in innovation, noting, “Oracle’s commitment to innovation is leadership level, and they share their advancements with subscribers through quarterly updates, helping ensure that clients like ATLAS SP are always at the forefront of technology. Leveraging our Managed Services, we continue to support ATLAS SP as they consume software from the Oracle Cloud across HR, financials, and enterprise performance management.”

The two companies share a clear vision—one where skilled ATLAS employees focus on what the firm is meant to do: provide cutting-edge capital and financing solutions, deliver exceptional value to clients and stakeholders, and have an outsized impact on global investing.

About ATLAS SP Partners

ATLAS is a global investment firm providing stable capital, financing, advisory, and institutional products to market participants seeking innovative and bespoke structured credit and asset-backed solutions. ATLAS is proud to build upon a legacy of client excellence that includes certainty of execution, deep expertise, and full-service capabilities across the asset management landscape. For more information, visit www.atlas-sp.com.

Not a paid endorsement or testimonial. The use of brand names and/or any mention or listing of specific services herein is solely for informational purposes and reflect the speakers’ opinions. Conflicts of interest may be posed by separate service engagements for compensation, including such engagements in the ordinary course between KPMG LLP and Atlas SP Partners LP and/or its affiliates.