Over the last several years, Human Resource professionals have witnessed significant changes in their unemployment tax management service programs, namely the result of industry sweeping consolidation activity. Most privately held regional and local service providers have been rolled up in to a large, publicly traded corporation whose primary focus has been market share in payroll and timekeeping systems and more recently, data management. Employers that had engaged in multi-year contracts with their former service providers now find they are the “unintended customers” of the single largest service provider in the industry, offering little in terms of real cost management or service. This situation was particularly difficult for those employers in need of a competent national service provider that could handle high volume claim activity. Consequently, employers accustomed to dealing with client-focused service providers are now out in the market seeking vendors who can provide more customized and effective solutions, designed to actually reduce unemployment costs.