Companies that aspire to sustain their competitive edge require human force well-equipped with recent techniques and technologies to face the changes and upcoming challenges. There will be a huge amount of pressure on today’s organisation, with the HR department having a very critical role to play in order to help and navigate through evolutions. No wonder, HR needs to improve its performance and real value by adopting recent tech.
SHRM stated that the face of HR today is often a portal, rather than a person, with nearly all firms providing universal access to HR services through technology and web-based applications, changing the practice of human resource management. SHRM survey also found that organisations that successfully adopt sophisticated HR technology tools outperform those that do not. However, simple automation of HR processes can no longer assure a competitive advantage. For example, when a new technology emerges, businesses must upgrade the new tech, otherwise, they can lack behind and lose out to their competitors.
See also: Maximising Technology for Employee Health Improvement
Bersin by Deloitte mentioned that HR technology tends to improve significantly every five to seven years, meaning that tech challenge is to stay ahead of the curve, forcing businesses to adapt to the newest technology in order to survive. Upgrading to the latest software or buying the newest technology might solve certain problems, however, this will obviously require companies to allocate more and more budget. Will this be worth the investment?
The short answer is YES, adapting to new technology is always worth the investment. Not only will new technology help streamline the business, it will also help strive and thrive in today’s market competition. In particular, digitising the HR functions help improve the overall business productivity. Employees are also looking for a company that can provide them with the latest technology, and companies that cannot provide could see higher turnover. In addition, adopting the latest technologies can increase the interest of candidates. That said, modernised HR tech is no longer a nice-to-have but a need-to-have.
If you have a dilemma whether this investment might destroy the company’s budget, nonetheless, Deloitte advised the following solutions for companies in adopting the HR technology while saving a huge amount of money.
When selecting a technology, security should always be at the forefront, because it prevents any cyberattack that can viciously harm the company’s bottom line. You should find a system that has the most up-to-date encryption and security measures in place, not forgetting about rigorous support to respond and help in case of problems. You might want to consider consulting the tech professional when choosing the best tech with the best safety measure.
Modern businesses are full of regulations and rules, therefore, when selecting technology, companies should pay close attention to finding a system that is able to respond to these changes without problems. This robust knowledge is usually a part of integrated, cloud-based solutions.
Budget can be tricky during your investment because sometimes a piecemeal system can be notoriously buggy rather than a bit expensive, time-consuming IT support and add-ons. In fact, Deloitte found that the true cost of individual solutions can exceed the cost of comprehensive platforms. For example, there is maintenance, software upgrades, manual transfer of data between individual software systems and add-on services that cost extra. That being said, it is advisable to choose a single, integrated HR system which can both eliminate the future cost and streamline HR operations.
Scalable platforms allow companies to expand without the need to disrupt its operations. HR management software that responds to the HR processes, such as employee numbers, data storage needs and support requirements is usually the most desired choice because it can adapt to organisation changes without hustle.
Read also: From Piecemeal to Integrated Solutions: Rethinking HR Tech Strategy with Adrian Tan, APAC Regional Leader of PeopleStrong
