Introduction

Peoplestrong, a leading HCM provider, offers an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) module that enables enterprise customers to manage hiring workflows. A key requirement for their customers was the ability to automatically trigger candidate assessments through third-party vendors like Mettl, Predictive Index, and others. However, Peoplestrong faced significant challenges in building and maintaining these integrations, leading to delays, increased costs, and inefficiencies.

Challenges

1. High Integration Time & Engineering Bottlenecks:
   
   • Each new assessment vendor integration took 4-6 weeks.
   • Even for assessment tools they had already integrated with, onboarding a new customer took 1 week.
   • Engineering resources were constrained, leading to delays and increased costs.
2. Customer Success Team Dependencies:
   
   • Customer success teams had to coordinate with engineering to deliver integrations.
   • Engineering bandwidth limitations caused long wait times for customers.
3. Scalability Issues:
   
   • As more customers requested integrations, the bottleneck worsened, impacting customer experience and margins.

The Knit Solution

Knit provided a unified middleware that streamlined assessment integrations for Peoplestrong’s ATS. Key aspects of the solution included:

• Vendor API Standardization: Knit worked with Peoplestrong’s preferred assessment vendors to ensure API alignment, even helping vendors modify their APIs where needed.
• Single API for Assessments: Peoplestrong engineers integrated with Knit in just two weeks, eliminating future engineering involvement for integrations.
• DIY Enablement: The customer success team could now activate integrations for new customers without engineering support.
• Scalability for Future Growth: Beyond assessments, Peoplestrong also leveraged Knit for a unified E-Signature API, now live with multiple enterprise customers to automate bulk post hire signatures from candidates.

Results & ROI

1. 85% Reduction in Integration Time

• Before Knit: 4-6 weeks per new vendor, 1 week per new customer
• With Knit: Instant activation for existing vendors, 1-2 weeks for new vendors

2. Cost Savings on Engineering Bandwidth

• Estimated engineering cost per integration (assuming $20/hour per engineer):
  
  • Before Knit: 160-240 hours per new vendor ($3200 - $4800 per integration)
  • Before Knt: 40 hours per customer onboarding ($800 per customer go live)
  • With Knit: 0 hours after initial setup in 2 weeks (100% cost savings for future integrations)
• Eliminated $30000 in upfront costs for building integration middleware to support all assessment partners.
• Annual savings of $45,000+ in engineering costs by eliminating integration maintenance and need for customer onboarding team for integrations.

3. Faster Customer Onboarding & Higher Satisfaction

• Immediate go-live for integrations = faster customer activation & retention
• Large enterprises like L&T, Godrej, and Muthoot Finance now seamlessly use these integrations.

Conclusion

By adopting Knit, Peoplestrong was able to scale its ATS offering efficiently, removing engineering bottlenecks and accelerating customer onboarding. The success of the assessment integrations led to an expansion of the partnership into e-signature integrations, further proving the value of Knit’s middleware approach.

Knit continues to be a strategic partner in enabling Peoplestrong’s growth and innovation, ensuring their HRMS platform remains best-in-class for enterprise customers.

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