The Business Case for HR Technology

The Business Case for HR Technology:

1. Reduce administration costs and resources via automation (Cost Savings)
2. Tracking, measurement, benchmarking, reporting and Business Intelligence (Make Informed Decisions)
3. Risk management including compliance & regulatory requirements (Peace-of-Mind)
4.   Hold managers, leaders, teams, employees, etc. accountable, while improving employee performance (Accountability and Performance)
5.  Engage the workforce (Employee Engagement)
6. Flexible/Adaptable workforce for both responding to change and planning for future needs (Organizational Efficiencies from Strategic HR)

The Adoption of HR Technology by Small Businesses

What percentage of small businesses have implemented a system? (i.e. an HRIS/HRMS (Human Resources Information/Management System), Talent Acquisition (Recruiting / ATS – applicant tracking system) or Talent Management System?)

A little online research reveals the adoption rates of HR technology at the mid-market and enterprise levels as follows:

• Enterprise level adoption rates have been forecast as high as 85% (although less than half are in an intermediate or advanced stage of talent management)
  • (Enterprise) Talent Management Software purchases were flat to slightly up in Q1, and we believe the market grew slightly (3-5% in Q2). Bersin Blog.
  • Only 14% of (Enterprise) buyers expect to use their ERP or HRMS vendor for talent management, Bersin Blog
• Numerous “experts” (read: online bloggers) have speculated that approximately 60% of the mid-market has partially adopted an HR system.
• Thirty-five percent of companies with 2,500 employees have adopted some module (www.unitedBIT.com).
   

Evaluation and Selection Criteria for HR Technology

“For years, we were able to practice HR without needing the numbers.  Those times have changed, and data deficiency has given the HR professional an Achilles’ heel.”  (Talent Management Magazine article: “All Aboard the Numbers Train”)

HR Systems Drive Efficiency: Profit-per-Employee 
“50 percent of companies are now implementing some form of ‘Talent Management’ and the value-add is 26 percent higher revenue-per-employee than companies with no integrated processes.” –Bersin research analyst group.

The equation is simple, if profit-per-employee can be increased through productivity, engagement or by eliminating waste and administration, the overall profit of your organization will increase.

The most important result of systems implementation is that HR becomes strategic and enables the organization to focus. 

While having an HR system becomes a requirement based on company size and complexity how do you choose from the hundreds of quality providers?  

The criteria system for evaluating HR Technology Systems that we start with, before adding custom requirements, is summarized as follows (i.e. a full list of features and functionality should also be compared in terms of the priority/need for your organization):

A trend we have seen start to spread is for the adoption of a “full Integrated Talent Management.”  An important note though is that the system is implemented in modules:

1. Core HR: Payroll, Benefits, ESS & MSS (Portals), Administration, Compensation, T&A, etc.
2. Employee Record
3. Training and Development: Competencies, Assessment, LMS, Performance Management, Workforce Management, etc.
4. Talent Acquisition: ATS, Onboarding, Assessment, Selection, Screening, Workforce Planning, Job Board integration, etc.
5. Enterprise Functionality: Workflow, Document Management, Testing and Surveys, Communication, CRM, Project Management, Social Networks, Web 2.0, etc..  For some organizations, it makes a lot of sense to take the CRM or ERP plunge in tandem with an HR investment in order to have true integration with core business processes.  

For a list of vendors contact Achilles Group.

For more best practices visit the Achilles Group' Resource Center.