AI & Emerging Tech

Here’s a checklist to assess the future readiness of your HR tech

Gurjeet KaurKamakshi•

1 September 2018|

Updated on 6 March 2019

Shifting through the maze of technology products can be a tough task. Here are a few tips from the experts.

In an HR tech marketplace estimated at $400 billion, knowing whether a particular technology addresses your business need is critical.

According to Brian Sommers, a leading HR technology analyst, one of the first steps while embarking on a digital transformation journey is to do with having clarity. Being clear about your journey means one needs to: 1) Honestly state your current status 2) Be conscious of each step of change and don’t assume you can move up to the top right away and 3) Don’t underestimate the impact of each step.

The technologies at the top of the maturity pyramid –which have the potential to transform the industry include those using artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and predictive analytics. A rung lower are those technologies using big data. And below them are technologies using Cloud-based ERPs with basic analytics capabilities. At the bottom end of the pyramid are companies which are using excel spreadsheets and on-premise ERPs.

Research on the use of workplace technologies suggests that there are a variety of business needs. A High impact HR study by Deloitte showed that 45% of the companies are focused on basic process automation. Still another study showed that using mobile HR when compared to traditional web desktop applications, may show greater adoption.

There are a number of innovations that crowd out the market, here are a few pointers to help you ascertain whether the product you are exploring is HR Tech that matters:

Recruitment & Onboarding

Consolidated Access: A single window or application that can consolidate all sourcing channels – including job boards, social media, vendors, employee referrals, etc., can ease your reporting concerns and save precious work hours.

Unified Experience: Providing a consistent and unified experience is a crucial feature to drive adoption. A hiring manager with a native mobile app should have the provision of a flexible and unified experience to assist in requisition approvals and to give interview feedback. According to PeopleStrong research, using new-age HR technology can improve the employee experience by 50%.

Effective candidate interface: Having a seamless candidate interface to effectively communicate with a candidate can enable your candidate relationship management process.

Security: Having enterprise-grade secure document management for all documents will be critical to a recruitment and onboarding process. The capacity to create a master employee digital file for use will support paperless onboarding and core HRIS.

Workforce management

Contextual conversations: Check if your workforce management application has a messaging and communication platform that can help managers and teams have contextual conversations. Are they able to create groups to ease their communication?

Dynamic Roster management: Advanced HR technology tools are capable of managing complex shifts and hourly rosters – whether it is a project based effort for permanent employees or engage with the gig workforce.

Configurable leave engine: Time-off flexibility is one of the key asks for managing a young mobile workforce. Workforce management tools should also able to configure leave rules based on employee location, department, function, and grade.

Chatbots: Tackle your transactional queries using chatbot. The usefulness and application of the chatbot will improve over time with the inclusion of data. Take Jinie, a Chabot that is designed to support employees through the lifecycle, it not only improves communication, and experience but is capable of 24x7 support.

Mobile interface: Tasks can be automated using mobile and don’t need employees to log in through a web application.

Core HRIS

Sharing data ownership with employees: Advanced HRIS systems give the employees the access to add, edit and update personal information with or without approval workflow.

Lifecycle management: Is your HRIS empowering ease of managing life cycle transitions through robust workflows? If not, you need an update. Advanced HRIS systems give the functionality of life cycle updates (such as confirmation, transfer, promotion, and exit) based on employee types. Is the employee full-time or contractual?

Collaboration: HRIS applications can also help in mobile messaging and other secure methods of communication to help employees collaborate and share information.

Power of AI to complete data: Using AI based insights for employees to take action, HRIS applications such as work-life assistants and Chatbots ensure a 24x7 access to data and manage transactions through conversations.

Learning tools

Mobile access: The mobile phone is the most accessible product in today’s world. With a variety of learning resources made available in the form of apps, make sure that your learning tools are compatible with these devices.

Personalized learning: Apart from the wealth of resources, HR professionals should look for learning tools that can help personalize resources based on the role, experience, and aspirations of the employee.

On-demand: Access to learning content on-demand is the key selling point of the digital age that means an ‘always on’ learning access. Leveraging learning tools at the point of learning is the key to successful adoption.

The success of implementing your technology tools depends on a number of factors including how teams are structured, technology and design, data and support, process and change management. Leadership buy-in and adequate support from business and IT will be critical to assess whether you’re ready to digitize your HR processes.

Click here to assess your future readiness

This article is a part of our campaign #HRTechThatMatters in partnership with PeopleStrong. Click here to read other articles in this series.

Topics

#HR Tech That Matters

#HR Tech Market

Author

Gurjeet KaurKamakshi

Pawaan Juneja

Kamakshi Pant