HR people pros, especially those working for small and medium-sized businesses, find themselves at a crossroads.  Recruiting remains a struggle, employee expectations are rising and compliance continues to grow more complex. SMBs need a trusted partner to help them solve challenges and identify new opportunities. In Sapient Insights Group’s 28th Annual HR Systems Survey, isolved was the most-awarded SMB vendor for the second year in a row—earning 38 overall badges and ranking #1 across 13 SMB categories.

The Stakes

Remember how I said HR pros are at a crossroads? On one side, employees have grown to expect more from their organizations. Employers, on the other side, feel that employees have come to expect too much. One-third of business owners say increased employee expectations are making it more complicated to own a business. HR, talent, benefits and payroll professionals need to find balance between the needs of their people and organizational goals (we wrote a book on it recently). Luckily, data from the longest-running HR Systems survey can provide a roadmap through the current crossroads.

How the Report Works

Sapient Insights Group is a research and advisory firm that focuses on providing clients with data-driven insights to guide successful HR outcomes. To create its report, Sapient Insights Group truly captures the voice of the customer. It’s no easy feat—the firm has over 4,500 HR pros weigh in on the solutions they like the best. The firm splits feedback into two different categories: user experience (UX) and vendor satisfaction (VS). Based on that feedback, Sapient ranks the top vendors.

The Results

isolved earned 38 badges, with more top placements and overall recognition than in previous years.

Here is the entire list of badges isolved earned:

Core HR & Pay

• Payroll — SMB: 1st in User Experience and Vendor Satisfaction
• HRMS — SMB: 1st in Vendor Satisfaction and Top 5 in User Experience
• Benefits — SMB: 1st in User Experience and Top 5 in Vendor Satisfaction

HR Service Delivery (HRSD)

• HRSD Portal — SMB: 1st in Vendor Satisfaction and Top 5 in User Experience
• HRSD Content Management — SMB: 1st in User Experience and Vendor Satisfaction
• HRSD Help Desk — SMB: 1st in Vendor Satisfaction and Top 5 in User Experience
• HRSD Survey — SMB: 1st in User Experience and Vendor Satisfaction

Talent Acquisition & Onboarding

• Recruiting — SMB: 1st in User Experience and Vendor Satisfaction
• Onboarding — SMB: Top 5 in User Experience and Vendor Satisfaction
• Contingent Management — AGG: Top 5 in User Experience and Vendor Satisfaction

Talent Development

• Learning — SMB: Top 5 in User Experience and Vendor Satisfaction
• Performance — SMB: Top 5 in User Experience and Vendor Satisfaction
• Skills Management — SMB: 1st in User Experience and Top 5 in Vendor Satisfaction
• Rewards & Recognition — SMB: 1st in User Experience and Top 5 in Vendor Satisfaction

Workforce Management

• Time & Attendance — SMB: 1st in User Experience and Vendor Satisfaction
• Time Absence — SMB: 1st in User Experience and Vendor Satisfaction
• Time Leave Management — SMB: 1st in User Experience and Vendor Satisfaction
• Time WF Scheduling — SMB: 1st in User Experience and Top 5 in Vendor Satisfaction
• Time & Labor Budgeting — SMB: Top 5 in User Experience and Vendor Satisfaction

“What’s noticeable about isolved is the company’s deeply ingrained commitment to improve to better serve customers, especially in the SMB space. The product continues to evolve and provide smaller companies with enterprise-grade technology that’s user-friendly and produces results,” said Stacey Harris, Chief Research Officer and Managing Partner at Sapient Insights Group.

isolved's recognition spanned the entire employee lifecycle, from finding talented employees to ensuring they perform to the best of their abilities, and everything in between.

“People forget that the ‘H’ in HCM stands for human. Our customers are often HR practitioners juggling multiple priorities. Our solution is designed to be easy to use, improve the employee experience and make work better and simpler for all humans involved—especially for SMB HR teams trying to accomplish a lot with limited resources,” says Yutaka Takagi, Principal Product Evangelist at isolved.

The report made one point clear: too few customers recognize the depth of AI already built into isolved People Cloud™. Going forward, we’ll spotlight these capabilities so HR teams and practitioners can work smarter, faster and more strategically.

Looking Forward

While 2025 has brought isolved the most validation and recognition yet, there is much more to come. Pragya Gupta, Chief Marketing and Technology Officer at isolved, says “Validation from firms like Sapient Insights Group, based on real-world feedback, confirms that our solution is making an impact. But we’re nowhere near finished. We’re looking ahead—and our roadmap includes using actionable AI to perfect payroll, simplifying benefits, bolstering security and enabling HR to become more strategic and proactive.  We’re on a mission to provide businesses of all sizes with world-class HCM. And we’re just getting started.”

Is your SMB looking for an HCM partner to help you take your business to the next level? See what isolved can do for your business.

Print