Ironflow Technologies Inc., a Dieppe, NB-based human resources software company, has launched its PurelyHR platform to expand the range of products it offers small and medium-sized businesses.

In 2010, Ironflow launched Time-Off Manager, a SaaS product that helps companies simplify the task of letting employees book time off. It is now being used by more than 1,700 companies in more than 65 countries.

Those 1,700 customers have now been upgraded to the PurelyHR platform, which gives them the option of subscribing to as many as four additional services, or modules. As well as the vacation-booking system, PurelyHR lets SMEs add modules so they can: maintain records on their staff;  monitor who’s in or out of the office in real-time; schedule and track working hours of employees; and issue warnings to staff members who have broken rules. A week or two after the official launch, about 100 of the existing clients have upgraded to add new modules.

“It’s definitely going to organize things a lot more within the [client’s] company and at the end of the day it’s going to save them time and money,” said Founder and CEO Jason Gendron in an interview. “Your managers now are spending a lot of time administering the employers to track vacations and do other things. By using a system like ours, it will help you administer your employees better.”

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Gendron has a background in programming and seven years ago developed Time-Off Manager as a simple way to help SMEs arrange vacation time for their staff. He never raised capital for the project, but grew through revenues so it now has 12 employees.

Over the years, clients asked Gendron to add new features to the product so they could use it for other HR-related tasks, like time management or maintaining records. So about two years ago, the team began to work on new features.

That work is going to continue. The company plans to add about three or four modules a year until PurelyHR has 14 or 15 modules, providing a full suite of human resources products from small businesses.

The Moncton-area company last year went through Propel ICT’s Build accelerator, which helps more advanced startups. This year, it joined the first cohort of Propel’s Growth program, the new service being offered to established companies that are growing in international markets.  

Gendron admitted he faces a lot of competition, as there is a vast range of SaaS products that help companies manage their staff. The key differentiator for Ironflow is that customers can pick and choose only the modules they need. That means they can save money because they don’t need to subscribe to a full portfolio of services, many of which they don’t use.

“We believe we are offering much more than HR software,” said Marketing Coordinator Rejean Martin. “We are giving our customers an opportunity to operate more efficiently so they can focus on what truly matters most, their employees. Essentially, we are the first step towards creating a beautiful and successful team.”