In a world where instant information rules, to be distracted is to be dis-empowered. Therefore, having access to the information that is essential for business plays an important role in taking informed decisions with confidence.
Cisive fuses technology and human insight into clear and actionable intelligence for any HR leader. Cisive incorporates statutory and regulatory considerations, benchmarking, best practices, company culture, and hiring risk levels to ensure the best background screening program in the industry.
James Owens is the President and CEO of Cisive. He is an experienced Chief Executive Officer with a demonstrated history of working in the human resources and security industry. He is a thought leader in the human capital management and talent acquisition space.
Below are the highlights of the interview:
Brief our audience about your company, its values, vision, and mission.
Cisive is a global provider of compliance-driven human capital management and risk management solutions. We are experts in the specific risks and regulations that apply to the financial services and other highly regulated industries. For over 40 years, we have provided tailored solutions to meet the unique requirements of our enterprise clients.
Governed by a mission to mitigate risk for employers, Cisive empowers clients with actionable intelligence and clarity throughout the hiring process. The uniqueness of Cisive’s pre-employment screening services stems from our unwavering focus on truthful reporting, legal compliance, and integrity of source material. The company draws on our rich experience to offer the right solutions to enterprise organizations in highly regulated industries such as financial services.
Cisive leverages technology to automate processes where achievable by technology, but also employs highly trained personnel for review of background investigation information at critical points. This approach provides our clients unparalleled insight and the most accurate information and ensures that they overcome employment background check challenges and bring the most qualified candidates on board. Our accuracy rates are high; our turnaround times are competitive; and our dispute rates are low.
All these operational and background screening capabilities work in cohesion to improve the candidate experience. We don’t cut corners; as a result, clients don’t have to make a choice between the technology and quality of background screening with Cisive.
How do Cisive’s prominent service offerings stand out from the competition?
Cisive provides comprehensive global background investigations on potential and current employees, vendors, clients, and business partners. Comprehensive services include background screening, vendor/contractor screening, executive screening, drug testing, fingerprinting, paperless onboarding, and electronic Form I-9/E-Verify solutions. We launched our onboarding suite of technologies in 2007 to cater to enterprise clients’ talent acquisition needs and have been enhancing the platform ever since.
Also, we recently took our global background screening capability to the next level by acquiring the Pre-Employment Screening division of Blue Umbrella (now Cisive’s global division), a well-known and highly regarded background screening and due-diligence company in the APAC region; PreCheck, the preeminent background screening company in the healthcare vertical; and IntelliCorp, a well-trusted provider of background checks and employment screening solutions for small and mid-size businesses and non-profit organizations, adding to our presence in transportation with Driver iQ, and railroad and vendor screening with eVerifile.
These were major milestones in Cisive’s strategy to provide true, global background screening capabilities for every regulated vertical. With Cisive, you will not only get a background screening partner, but a lifelong partner—a company that stands by their work, protects their clients, and provides the consultation and guidance world class organizations are looking for. It is for these reasons that many of our clients have been with us for over 30 years.
Cisive’s quality of service, robust reporting, cost-effectiveness, and state of the art – 100% configurable, proprietary technology sets us apart from all others in the industry.
Being an experienced business leader, what is your opinion on the adaptation of newer technological developments to sustain your organization’s market competency?
I think the human capital landscape is going to continue to change over the next few years. Cisive will be at the forefront. We are going to continue to develop leading-edge technology as the approach to talent acquisition and management continues to evolve.
The nature of background screening is going to undergo a revolution in the next few years due to advances in technologies such as distributed ledgers (blockchain) and this will change the business models for background screening companies. We are and will continue to seize on this growing opportunity.
Taking into consideration, the current pandemic, and its impact on global economies, how are you driving your organization to enhance operations and ensuring safety of your employees at the same time?
In April 2020, Cisive released SAFE19, a COVID-19 Clearinghouse solution, developed to address the world’s journey to re-open after the coronavirus pandemic. Cisive’s SAFE19 solution is a secure, paperless, central repository specifically designed to handle the uploading, validation, and compliance reporting on COVID-19 test and immunization data. With SAFE19, governments, businesses, and education institutions can safely re-open while controlling the spread of COVID-19.
Also, SAFE19 is a flexible, data-driven solution designed to mitigate the risk of COVID-19 with the capability to evolve as vaccines and various testing options become available. The system has the capability to use an individual’s profile data and immunization status to generate a digital or physical badge to verify their immunity.
Moreover, SAFE19 protects public health data and eliminates privacy concerns by offering a solution that is federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliant. Designed to provide peace of mind to both organizations and end-users, SAFE19 provides confirmation authenticity of testing with dispute resolution to ensure the validity of individual records.
In May 2020, Cisive announced its CONTACT19 contact tracing solution, designed to allow employers to take a proactive approach to testing and contact tracing to ensure the safety of their workforce. The program encourages employees to self-report if they have COVID-19 symptoms or a positive test and can identify and notify other employees who may have been in proximity, making recommendations for isolation or quarantine.
In June 2020, to complete its suite of COVID-19 compliance solutions, Cisive released its ACCESS19 solution. ACCESS19 is a secure, paperless, safety solution specifically designed to allow businesses to resume day-to-day operations while keeping their workforce safe from COVID-19.
ACCESS19 eliminates paper documentation COVID19 attestation processes for businesses by enabling the entire procedure to be complete from a secure, mobile device. ACCESS19 provides attestation digital badges valid for one day, minimizing the risk of coronavirus by enforcing daily attestation procedures.
With these three solutions, our team can ensure the ongoing safety of employees and remain compliant with federal, state, and local guidelines.
What would be your advice to the emerging entrepreneurs aspiring to make an impact on the world of business?
Don’t give up! You will definitely run into roadblocks that will make you doubt yourself along the way. Just remember the following: Dream big. Plan loosely. Take action. Adjust accordingly. There’s no straight path toward success or achieving your goals.
Where do you envision your organization to be in the long run and what are your future goals?
Looking ahead, the company will continue to expand its global footprint. At the rate it is growing, Cisive will continue to significantly grow and be the top choice for Fortune 1000 companies in the highly regulated industries all over the globe!
Cisive recently joined 14 other leading, enterprise multinational labor market organizations to launch the Velocity Network Foundation (VNF). VNF is a collaborative, vendor-neutral, nonprofit organization established to define, deploy, and champion the Velocity Network: a globally accessible, trustworthy “Internet of Careers” powered by innovative blockchain technology in response to growing data privacy, security, and market pressures.
As Artificial Intelligence in HR gets smarter and more focused on solving specific problems, we all expect to see even further capabilities: smart matching of individuals and career opportunities, predictive analytics and smart people development recommendations.
About the Leader
As CEO, James Owens has transformed Cisive into an HR technology-enabled services company with a dual focus on HR onboarding and background screening at industry-leading quality levels. Before joining Cisive, Mr. Owens was a senior architect at Cap Gemini Ernst and Young (CGEY). He designed and implemented large-scale systems, including several innovative webbased applications.