ShinyDocs is a software that helps companies control access to files, documents, emails and more. Security and information governance is everything to them.

As a solution that aims to simplify information sharing, Jason Cassidy, CEO of ShinyDocs, and Cam David, Director of Marketing and Product Marketing, understand that value isn’t always derived from the product itself. No, it’s the intangibles behind a software — trust, support and problem solving — that can make or break a product's value.

Since ShinyDocs has high standards for how they treat their customers, it makes sense that the bar is raised for any partner they work with.

Seasoned in international hiring

ShinyDocs is no stranger to international employees. From the very beginning, they employed people in the UK, Europe and the U.S. But, hiring internationally doesn’t make things easier.

“We hired somebody directly in Germany and that was painful, and we hired people in the US and it was also painful,” Cassidy said. “Because of the regional work and legal issues that come with international hiring, when you're only hiring one person, it’s almost impossible.”

Quantifying the intangibles

“I had been involved with Communitech for a while, and I heard that they were trying to set up a turnkey solution for international hiring. I don’t even think it had a name yet.” Cassidy laughed.

“There's a few other intangibles that come into choosing any software.”

Typically, when choosing a partner in software, you look at what the actual tool can do, But you also need to consider ease of use, the company behind it that you’re supporting and the trust that can be placed on back-end processes. When they found themselves in need of an employer-of-record, ShinyDocs was looking beyond the solution for the best fit.

Being an engaged member of the Communitech community, Cassidy was already familiar with our goals, culture and mission.

“There's a few other intangibles that come into choosing any software, and it was the right thing to do, to go with Communitech. We’re happy to pay annually for Outposts, because of the size of our organization - it goes back into this community,” said Cassidy. “Everytime we interact with Outposts, it remains this human thing that's very similar to any other peer to peer group that Communitech does.”

“With a purply for-profit entity who is trying to maximize profit, I would be concerned about the best treatment of international staff. They’re still a part of our company. I want to be confident that they are getting the best. The second that our employees are treated poorly through a vendor that we have an agreement with… It reflects on us. So, we can't have that. And with Outposts, we don’t,” he added.

The best for international staff

That’s what it comes down to, really. Any third-party provider you’re hiring to interact with your employees — international or local — becomes a representative of you and how you want them to be treated.

“We were in the process of hiring an individual in the UK when we decided to go with Outposts. We actually withdrew and reoffered them a contract through Outposts,” Cassidy said.  “We were a small company of maybe 25 people so it was a really big deal for us. It was fun to be the guinea pig and help this program get started.”

A diehard Outposts user

“We've used Outpost several times since then, mostly in the United States. We recently went to Denver and put together a sales team there,” Cassidy said. “It’s automatic. Finding employees is great. Their experience onboarding with Outposts was great. Everything has been a good experience. We will continue to use it in the future.”