You’re not the only one dissatisfied with UKG. Users consistently complain about their customer service, and many found their response when customers’ data privacy was in jeopardy to be lacking.
There’s a clear reason for this — UKG isn’t set up to provide good HCM functionality. In fact, Ultimate-Kronos Group didn’t even exist before 2020. While Ultimate Software and Kronos may have been strong competitors in their respective categories, today it’s a mess of different databases merged into one clunky, ineffective platform.
If you’re looking for a viable alternative to UKG that offers the robust functionality and configurability modern organizations need, look no further than Criterion HCM. We offer better customer support and a more intuitive user interface at an affordable price.
UKG has a complicated history. After merging two large companies to expand their influence and enter new markets, the corporation continued buying up smaller competitors to add more features to their suite of HR offerings.
Unfortunately, these attempts at integration have created a disjointed collection of databases for different tools that don’t communicate well.
With the merging of multiple teams and budget cuts over the years, the folks at UKG have spread themselves too thin to be effective.
Currently, they have about 10 different software products — and customer feedback suggests they aren't able to support this expansive suite of products well.
The bottom line: UKG is more focused on expansion than delivering a great experience for their customers.
At Criterion, we care about one thing: providing great HCM software to our customers. That’s it.
We’ve been providing HCM software to midmarket and enterprise companies for 20+ years. Our platform is designed specifically for your HR and Accounting departments. With one common database, all Criterion modules communicate directly with one another.
Our team is small enough to be agile, but large and experienced enough to support even the most complex HR use cases. Every customer gets a dedicated customer success rep who knows your needs and setup inside & out.
The bottom line: At Criterion, we’re here to make our HCM work for your unique setup and support you as much as possible — no matter how complex or unique your business.
In December of 2021, UKG had a major data breach. But it wasn’t just UKG Pro users that were affected — the breach affected users of several UKG software products. Multiple organizations and their employees had data exposed and bank accounts compromised as a result of the breach. What’s more, the resulting recovery process caused many companies to lose data and functionality in multiple areas.
The fallout was terrible. PepsiCo, P.F. Chang’s, Tesla, Puma, The City of Cleveland — these are just some of the notable entities affected by the breach. Class action lawsuits have been filed against UKG Kronos for data loss, failed payroll processing, and more.
What was UKG’s response? Little more than sending a warning email to their customers.
Criterion’s security is top-notch. Since our founding, we have not had a single data breach with our system.
None of our customers or their employees have had their information compromised as a result of using Criterion HCM. We don’t plan on letting that happen any time soon.
UKG Pro’s Recovery Point Objective (RPO) is 24 hours. That means that if UKG were to crash, you could lose up to 24 hours of data.
Imagine how many changes you might make to your HR database in a day — then imagine losing all that data. That’s serious for any company, but for larger organizations — that’s unacceptable.
Criterion’s Recovery Point Objective (RPO) is 1 minute. Our system backs up your data every 60 seconds and continues to store that data for 35 days. That means you have a rolling 35-day version history of all the latest changes to your entire HR database.
In the unlikely event that Criterion crashes, you have little risk of suffering any serious data loss.
UKG uses a microservices architecture, meaning the structure of their software is incredibly complex and difficult to change. If you need something tweaked or customized with the UKG platform, good luck doing it without a team of software engineers. Even with UKG’s help, the customization will likely take a long time.
This complexity also puts the platform at a much higher risk of failure and makes it harder to find and fix errors.
While UKG might give you access to your data (with some difficulty), they don’t give you easy access to all of the related settings. Why? Because they really don’t want you to customize the platform. They want you to buy more add-ons and more of their software products.
Criterion uses a single database, allowing for ultimate granularity in workflows and reporting. We make it easy for you to configure the software to meet your needs, so you don’t always need to rely on us for help if you don’t want to.
Our HCM is a cloud-based solution that uses a pod-style structure, designed to grow seamlessly with your business and data needs. This also means lower risk of crashing and makes errors easier to find and fix quickly.
At Criterion, we give you complete access to everything you want — our open API (at no additional cost), all your data, and all related settings. With our HCM, you gain complete configurability and data transparency.
UKG users have spoken — their customer service needs some work:
“What I dislike the most is the customer support experience. As an Administrator, the level of responsiveness to our cases and service requests is poor.”
“The customer service is lacking - we've been passed around to several Account Managers, Customer Success Managers, and Executive Relationship Managers. Also, there's a large lag time in support cases.”
“The UKG customer service could use some additional training. I have found that often I have to request additional support since the initial person may not give a complete answer or may miss the intent of my question or concern.”
“The customer service is terrible and when we create [a] service request they go unanswered and unworked. We only get attention when we escalate and it’s payroll critical and even then we get responses too late.”
All Criterion users get a dedicated customer success rep that they can call or email for help anytime. Users across the board love Criterion’s customer service and implementation team:
“Their support is crackerjack. They get right back to us. They’re really helpful and knowledgeable.”
“The support is very reliable, and it’s nice to know that your issue will be resolved quickly.”
“We had the support that we needed … which was nice. Like we weren’t left on the side. They were supportive all the way through, which was definitely a big plus.”
“I would recommend Criterion to other companies in our industry because their customer service is easy to talk to, very responsive, and super helpful — which I think is the biggest part of any company that you do your payroll or HR through.”
Plenty of companies looking for an HR, payroll, or talent engagement solution are surprised by the level of complexity Criterion can handle. We do things that other HR software products simply can’t — with a human touch that big companies like UKG simply cannot provide.
“I think their whole implementation process is really good. It’s really well managed. We had a chance to compare it to some others … and Criterion is definitely the best.”
“When we were going through vetting the other payroll companies out and even starting the implementation process we found the things [other companies] said they could do, they really couldn't do anyway — and the price is incredibly reasonable for what we're provided."
“You’re able to see everything on the backend of the payroll module, and even everything on the backend of an employee profile. It’s tedious in the best way because you’re able to see everything. Nothing is hidden from you. Everything has a place where it’s set up and put out. You’re able to adjust things to your liking or how you need it to be. It’s not something you always have to go through Criterion to do. It’s something you’re able to do on your own, so if you need it in a pinch, you’re able to adjust it right then and there.”
Payroll with union employees and collective bargaining agreements can be complicated. Criterion easily handles payroll across multiple states, multiple countries, and with multiple unions — all in the same interface. With many of the necessary calculations built in, you can trust your payroll is accurate, compliant, and always on-time.
In Criterion any field can become the subject of a new custom report. With hundreds of report options, you can easily access the data you need to make informed decisions about your workforce. You can even create reports for different business units or territories. Need a new report that’s not built into the platform? Our team will help you create any custom report you need and generate it automatically.
Few other HCM providers offer a truly open API. But with Criterion, our API allows you to access all your data, with no credit limits or additional costs. You have access to everything on the backend. Easily integrate the software with any ERP or project management solution to keep your data secure across platforms — even custom, in-house software.
At Criterion, we’re a more agile company with one focus: providing an HCM with real value to real HR professionals. We’re not a behemoth that doesn’t care about you — we’re a team of people dedicated to helping your company succeed. Your trust in us means everything.
Yes! Criterion offers an open API that integrates seamlessly with any 3rd party software — even custom-built, in-house tools. We want you to have complete access to integrate with any other tool you use, without additional costs.
No matter what industry you’re in, our HCM can benefit you. We have experience working with organizations from a variety of sectors, including Construction, Non-Profits, Higher Education and School Districts, Local Government, Manufacturing, Utilities, and more. We also work with Tribal and First Nations Governments.
At Criterion, our Service Level Agreement includes a 90% or more Customer Satisfaction level. If your satisfaction level remains at 90% or below for a year, you get a 1% annual subscription refund. We also promise a 99.9% uptime (compared to UKG’s 99.75%).
You’ll be hard-pressed to find this much configurability in a single database (with complete, open API access) from any other HCM provider. We’ll even help you figure out how to make it work with all of your existing systems. That’s not the type of attention and care you typically get from big companies like UKG. We’ll work with you to make sure Criterion provides you exactly what you need, with a dedicated customer success rep who knows your business and your unique setup.
Stop trying to get UKG to care. Why deal with service interruptions, clunky functionality, and poor customer support any longer than you have to? Find an HCM that’s made for you and your needs, backed by a team that cares about you.
Criterion HCM combines enterprise functionality and configurability, with a simple, best in-class user experience. You get a unified cloud database, advanced data encryption, and seamless integration with any other platform you rely on — all at a mid-market price. Set-up is fast and flexible, with a dedicated success manager on-hand to deal with any question or issue you might have.
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