.png)
First Manhattan is a $34B+ AUM investment advisory firm that seeks to deliver strong financial returns, customized wealth planning advice, and personalized client service. The Firm has been a trusted partner to individuals, families, and fiduciaries — as well as partnerships, charitable trusts, and foundations — for over six decades.
Following decades with a traditional payroll system, First Manhattan decided to make the jump to a modern, cloud-based solution. But settling on the most bespoke option for their loyal base of 130 employees proved trickier than Wendy Mullen, partner and chief administrative officer, anticipated.
The first tool she tried served her team well for a while — until time-consuming manual interventions and creeping costs became unsustainable. So, Wendy decided to try out an incumbent solution. But this tool didn’t quite fit either. As a large vendor, its service team turned over frequently — which meant Wendy had to deal with slow response times to basic requests and inconsistent answers to pressing questions.
Sure a better match was out there, but she resolved to give the search another go. And, now armed with learnings from previous vendor searches, she had a definitive checklist of “must-haves” to look for.
The catch? After ruling out every mainstream vendor in the past, Wendy knew finding First Manhattan’s dream solution would take some serious digging. She didn’t want to respond to the first sales pitch that promised to do it all — she wanted to know her options in-depth. But, with HR operations to run, she didn’t have time to go down the rabbit hole of specialized payroll software alone.
Fortunately, Wendy was already connected with a trusted HR software broker who knew the landscape backwards and forwards. Spoiler alert: It was OutSail.
“We needed a neutral party who cared about more than just pushing a product. We knew OutSail would give expert opinions while letting us make our own decisions.”
Within a week of onboarding, OutSail cut to the chase and presented Wendy with a shortlist of two highly specialized payroll vendors. The shortlist evaluated the candidates on all essential criteria, including pricing, integrations, ease of use, and customer support.
Wendy immediately liked what she saw, so OutSail generated a detailed Request for Proposal (RFP) for her to send out to each vendor. Then, it was time to start reviewing proposals and scheduling demos with OutSail’s expert sales contacts.
To Wendy’s surprise, an option she’d never heard of resonated immediately. As a reseller of a primary vendor, this tailored system offered all the original’s software capabilities — but with a unique look and feel and much more comprehensive customer support.
“The platform is just so easy to use,” Wendy says. “And the rep OutSail introduced us to wasn’t just a smooth talker trying to make a sale. He was a real person ready to honestly answer every question.”
These deep conversations — followed by helpful debriefs with OutSail — convinced Wendy she had found what she was looking for. So, with OutSail’s help in negotiating the best deal, First Manhattan made the switch official.
And today, after an equally smooth implementation, Wendy’s team has hit a rhythm with their new payroll system. In addition to providing premium services, the new system automates previously clunky payroll processes, giving First Manhattan hours of valuable time back.
“OutSail has an eye for narrowing down the whole universe of options and finding the exact one that works for your organization. We never would have discovered our new payroll vendor without their deep industry knowledge.”
Wendy’s glad she refused to compromise on her quest for First Manhattan’s best-fit payroll platform. Thanks to OutSail’s expert guidance, First Manhattan saves money, reclaims lost time, and uses a payroll system that feels purpose-built for them.
The results?
Looking ahead, Wendy is eager to settle into what promises to be a long-lived partnership with the new vendor — all because of OutSail’s expert matchmaking.
“OutSail was super available through every step of the selection and implementation process. Whether they were pulling together a comparison deck or hopping on a phone call, they were always ready to answer every question and address every concern.”
