How to evaluate 360 Feedback Products

The internet revolution has caused 360 Feedback products to flourish online. Several companies have now jumped into this business and the competition is getting heavy.

In India most of the Human Resources departments are often understaffed and over taxed. Due to this HR managers do not have the time to implement an in house 360 feedback. This is where consultants and consultancy companies come in. They provide the basic platform on which the feedback can be customized according to the company and executed with ease.

There are basically two types of feedback services available online:

• As a product: which give you the platform and make you implement the feedback - this means that they provide the infrastructure, a basic set of questions and products. 
• Pros:  
• Company confidential information need not be revealed to the Consultants
• Low Cost of product - one time cost and very minimal maintenance costs
• Cons: 
• Implementation load again falls on the HR department - this may sometimes outweigh the low product cost
• Sometimes HR department may not have high level expertise that come with consultants who have had experience from multiple companies and even industries.This may act against them while implementing feedback as they may choose wrong competencies which would again lead to improper measurement of the employees performance.
• As a service: The consultants implement the entire feedback, they analyze the company and the industry in which it is present. they choose the questions for your questionnaire and provide the implementation for you. They also would ensure tactics for proper follow up with employees and ensure there is a performance increase. 
• Pros:
• Expertise of consultants is properly leveraged
• Almost no administration involved as they take care of the entire implementation of the produce
• Cons
• Company confidential information may need to be revealed
• Cost of purchasing license per employee may be high 

What to expect from Vendors:

1. Provide standard template questions from which you can choose from 
2. Customization of your questionnaire
3. Allow feedback providers to add additional comments
4. They will automatically generate reports and do not require any data entry of feedback items unless you need to use some paper-based feed backs for certain individuals
5. They will allow you to customize your rating scales and define them as you wish
6. They will allow you have your respondents provide feedback directly on the Internet

You can look at a presentation of a service from Dhung called Dhung 360 feedback - This service is provided by  consultants who have HR experience of over 10 years for various firms. 


Presentation link: http://prezi.com/_rkwflc5niuv/dhung-360/
Other services Link: http://www.dhung.com/services

Based on : Evaluating Your Options By N. Elizabeth Fried, Ph.D., CCP