Ultimate Software's Intersourcing Gives 13,500-Employee Financial Institution the Technology to Manage Growth

WESTON, Fla., Dec. 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Ultimate Software , a leading provider of Web-based payroll and workforce management solutions, announced today that First Horizon National Corp. , one of the nation's most respected bank holding companies, is using Ultimate Software's on-demand delivery model, Intersourcing, to help manage rapid expansion. Leveraging UltiPro Workforce Management's Web access, robust payroll processing capabilities, and ease of use to become more strategic and improve efficiencies, First Horizon has added over 3,500 employees to its payroll in three years without adding to its 30-person HR and payroll staff. The company expects to continue to grow over the next three to five years, and looks forward to using the solution's Web-based functionality to further increase productivity.

"The UltiPro portal has allowed my staff to move away from tactical activities, such as changing an employee's direct deposit information or looking for an employee's review date, so they can spend more time dealing with larger issues. Plus, they are simply able to serve more people now that they are not caught up in minutia," said Karen Sones, senior vice president of operations and systems for First Horizon. "By serving as a central, online location for employees to view payroll information, UltiPro assisted us in migrating to a paperless payroll, and now we are saving $40,000 annually in mailing costs alone."

Since going "live" on Intersourcing in 2002, First Horizon has used UltiPro's Web-based capabilities to:

* empower employees and managers in 800 locations with the capacity to access and update personal information, decreasing the human resources staff's administrative workload

* give its workforce 24-7 access from home or office to their own payroll, HR, and benefits information, including benefits choices during annual open enrollment

* provide managers with the ability to review and update staff details such as job history, compensation, and required training without phone calls or e-mails to HR

* increase the accuracy of First Horizon's reporting, resulting in fewer hours spent inputting data and more time reviewing the quality of data before it impacts employees

* address the unique payroll needs specific to financial organizations

For instance, the bank has many employees who provide mortgage services to customers. These employees may receive a salary plus commission or be paid on commission alone. They are also assigned pretax marketing expense accounts that must be maintained, replenished, and tracked. Adding another special characteristic to the payroll process, mortgage employees who are paid monthly must have the employee-paid portion of their benefits deducted biweekly. Ultimate Software partnered with First Horizon to automate many of these processes.

"With UltiPro, we are able to handle more transactions without increasing headcount," said Sones. "UltiPro enabled us to streamline many processes that used to be manual and make them more accurate. Audit reports created in UltiPro add another check and balance to the system -- and we don't need a team of programmers to write the reports."

UltiPro's ease of use has helped First Horizon's staff reduce training costs and accomplish tasks quickly. Sones reported that her team in the HR call center requires little formal instruction to become proficient in answering questions related to benefit plan participation, job-related information, or individual paycheck details. The financial institution's call center specialists are able to move through UltiPro to find answers and respond quickly to employee inquiries. In addition to streamlining the call center process, First Horizon has automated its benefits enrollment process. Ninety-eight percent of its employees have enrolled online for benefit programs with no special training, saving hundreds of hours of manual processing of paper forms.

"We appreciate UltiPro's intuitive design. There's a practical logic about its navigation, so it's relatively easy to locate information or complete a process even if you haven't done it before," Sones added. "This ease of use plays an important role in efficiency and productivity gains because our users can operate the system independently, quickly, and properly. It's an important component in helping us provide the best possible service with the lowest possible headcount."

"Many of our larger customers like First Horizon appreciate Intersourcing's convenience factors along with the scalability and comprehensive HR, benefits, and payroll functionality that come with the UltiPro Workforce Management product-set," said Greg Swick, senior vice president of sales for Ultimate Software. "We've worked closely with First Horizon to understand its business objectives, and we're pleased that we've been able to help facilitate the management of its growth and contribute to the achievement of its strategic HR objectives."

About Ultimate Software

Ultimate Software, a leading provider of Web-based payroll and workforce management solutions, markets award-winning UltiPro as licensed software, as a hosted application through Intersourcing, and as a co-branded offering to Business Service Providers (BSPs) under the "Powered by UltiPro" brand. Employing approximately 500 professionals who are focused on developing the highest quality products and services, Ultimate Software was named the 2005 Payroll Provider of the Year by the Human Resources Outsourcing Association and listed among the 2005 Top 25 Best Medium-Sized Companies to Work for in America by the Great Place to Work Institute and the Society for Human Resource Management. Ultimate Software customers represent diverse industries and include such organizations as The Container Store, Elizabeth Arden, The Florida Marlins Baseball Team, The New York Yankees Baseball Team, Nintendo of America, Ruth's Chris Steak House, SkyWest Airlines, and Trammell Crow Residential. More information on Ultimate Software's products and services can be found at http://www.ultimatesoftware.com/

UltiPro and Intersourcing are registered trademarks of The Ultimate Software Group, Inc. All other trademarks referenced are the property of their respective owners.

For Sales Information: Ultimate Software Phone: (800) 432-1729 Web site: http://www.ultimatesoftware.com/