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ADP Begins to Roll Out a Zenefits Competitor

blog.zenefits.com

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Re: ADP Begins to Roll Out a Zenefits Competitor

#91

Post by hamburglar »

eropple wrote: post #82
hamburglar wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok, let's for the sake of argument grant you that a public web app is an official interface (I'm not saying API because it's not a "programming" interface). The implied contract is that humans will continue to be able to use the web app to access the functionality it's intended to provide. Anything in the HTML is an implementation detail, not part of the contract, and is subject to change at any time, so long as the…

> The existence of a public interface usable by humans (a web app) does not in any way imply the existence of a machine-usable protocol for accessing that same functionality. Is that non-implication better for consumers? For people ? If not, why should it exist?

> Is that non-implication better for consumers? For people?

How is that relevant? Putting up a web site does not obligate you to then do more just because it would be even better.

Re: ADP Begins to Roll Out a Zenefits Competitor

#92

Post by ganeumann »

spdustin wrote: post #86
ganeumann wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Asking for forgiveness rather than permission is a risky strategy, but one that pays off well when it works. Where it seems to have worked: Uber, Paypal, et al. Where it failed: Twitter clients, Craigslist front-ends, et al.

I'm not so sure it's worked for Uber, given this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9694530 The "right way" is hard, and more likely to be painful, certainly. But when you're done, you're done. The "forgiveness>permission" way has the added downside of your customers getting screwed too, and likely considering litigation.

By "worked" I meant building a large business. Sort of undeniable that Uber has done that. That lawsuit, despite its merits, isn't going to slow Uber's growth a whit.

Every U.S. business gets sued, it's the American way.

As a gratuitous side-note: despite the HN hatred of Uber (and I'm one of those who hate the company), the company wouldn't be growing if it's users didn't love it. Unlike the other most hated companies--mainly airlines, cable TV providers, and telecomms--users of Uber can very easily choose to use an alternative. Here in NYC, the alternative--flagging down a yellow cab--is probably actually easier to use than Uber, yet everyone I know uses Uber anyway. They're clearly doing something right.

Re: ADP Begins to Roll Out a Zenefits Competitor

#93

Post by jasonlotito »

eropple wrote: post #50
jasonlotito wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I can't seem to argue with Zenefits stance that they are being sued for complaining that their access was cut off in an attempt to kill them off while ADP launches a similar product... That's not their claim. Their claim is that the reason they were cut off was because of this product launch. They haven't presented any proof of this. Simple fact is, the claim is coming from a company that has already made it clear…

> the claim is coming from a company that has already made it clear they are doing things they should not be doing I'm troubled by this assertion. I know firsthand that ADP will actively fight attempts to integrate with them; their APIs are bad, poorly documented, and have reliability problems. Should somebody attempting to do well for the customer--and, yes, make some money, but it's not like Zenefits is inventing p…

> I'm troubled by this assertion. I know firsthand that ADP will actively fight attempts to integrate with them; their APIs are bad, poorly documented, and have reliability problems.

I'm sorry, but I've seen numerous comments to the contrary.

Regardless, that they have APIs and documentation, regardless of your opinion of their quality, only supports my assertion.

Re: ADP Begins to Roll Out a Zenefits Competitor

#94

Post by paulhauggis »

theaccordance wrote: post #70
paulhauggis wrote: post #29

"We call on ADP to stop making life more difficult for small business customers and live up to its corporate value: “integrity is everything.”" See: Twitter, Facebook, and even Google. All of these companies have destroyed 3rd party companies by basically using them as a test base for new ideas and features and then directly competing (and many times, cutting off the 3rd party completely). If you are going to base yo…

This isn't that situation - Zenefits didn't build their entire platform on top of ADP; they simply offered an integration for a portion of their customer base that uses ADP.

It is the situation. They based a portion of their business on someone else's platform and it was pulled out from under them.

If it wasn't such a big deal, it wouldn't be all over the Internet.

Re: ADP Begins to Roll Out a Zenefits Competitor

#95

Post by theaccordance »

paulhauggis wrote: post #94
theaccordance wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't that situation - Zenefits didn't build their entire platform on top of ADP; they simply offered an integration for a portion of their customer base that uses ADP.

It is the situation. They based a portion of their business on someone else's platform and it was pulled out from under them. If it wasn't such a big deal, it wouldn't be all over the Internet.

10% is not "their entire platform" http://techcrunch.com/2015/06/09/payroll-giant-adp-cuts-off-...

Re: ADP Begins to Roll Out a Zenefits Competitor

#96

Post by healthnetwork »

parkerconrad wrote: post #67
cddotdotslash wrote: post #4

I admittedly don't know a lot about this situation beyond what I've read in the news the past day or so. However, isn't it the case that Zenefits is simply building an interface on top of ADP's payroll data? And, from what I've read, it seems like they did this without following the proper procedures (did they write some kind of web scraper?). So if that is the case, ADP has every right to block them. If the situatio…

ADP has for years, and still does, allow bookkeepers, accountants, and HR services firms similar to Zenefits to access client accounts via 3rd-party administrative logins that clients themselves set up in their payroll. The way this works is that you, as an ADP client, call them up and says "hey, I've asked my HR firm, XYZ-HR, to manage my payroll. Can you create an account for them to access my payroll system?" ADP…

Parker when are you going to do another ADP post on Zenefits blog that contains more information on the email that was forwarded to you? I think it could be helpful if you included the screen shots and additional materials the ADP sales rep mentioned. If that was not included in the email, than it seems like that rep knew you would get that email, and you were just baited.
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