Article: Marrying HRIS and the cloud

Technology

Marrying HRIS and the cloud

Today's HRIS products leverage technologies like the Cloud and social networking to make HR deliver benefits in real time
Marrying HRIS and the cloud
 

In recent times, cloud-based HR software has become quite popular. However, their acceptance is largely dependent on the stage the organization is in

 

Business is now moving at a far rapid pace than it was five years ago. HR functions need modern technology that is flexible, social friendly, embraces change management and is available on-the-go on any device to enable their organization to perform better than its competitors.

In this age, information is travelling across people and hierarchies much faster than the earlier top-down approach. This makes it necessary for a business to adopt technology that helps in driving transparency in goals, policies and performance.

Over the past two years, Human Resources Information System (HRIS) and payroll systems have evolved significantly and are able to deliver amazing business benefits at a fraction of the cost of doing the same in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. Today’s HRIS products leverage technologies like the Cloud, social networking, security best practices, third party integration and much more. This is in stark contrast to traditional systems, which have a very high cost to own, deploy, maintain and customize.

HRIS technology is increasingly becoming social as it gains mainstream acceptance. The entry of digital natives into the workforce has only accelerated this trend and we’re seeing interesting ways in which social media is leveraged across recruitment, internal communications, innovation projects and performance management.

The three major trends pertaining to HRIS are:

  1. HRIS is no longer a standalone product. To give value to enterprise, it must integrate with other products and existing infrastructure
  2. Integration with social media is a given so that it could be made available on the go. Remember, it is not just about having a mobile version of your product but it is also about having a relevant technology available to mobile workforce based on their needs
  3. Business performance visualization is another key trend that’s gaining momentum, moving away from static dashboards and vendor-defined views of what you should be visualizing

In recent times, cloud-based HR software has become quite popular. However, their acceptance is largely dependent on the stage the company is in. Very large organizations still prefer on-premise installed systems, which they can control within their security perimeter and integrate with other systems. The mid-market companies and SMEs are very warm to cloud-based systems as it helps them get the same benefit as a large enterprise at a fraction of the cost. Even at large enterprises, cloud-based software is now replacing legacy systems, and IT departments are focusing more on business RoI instead of technology RoI. It’s only a matter of time that acceptance of public and private cloud gains more traction with the larger Indian enterprises. It is already happening with companies like Workday and SuccessFactors in global markets.

The key qualifying criteria that an enterprise must look before signing up for HRIS are:

  1. The product should meet the customers’ basic expectation and the service provider should be willing to make required modifications in their upcoming release
  2. Personnel information and compensation data are extremely sensitive for any company. Stringent security measures, security controls; in-built tools for reporting access violations, audit tracks of changes to data, and strong password policies is something that should be paid attention to. For instance, on our cloud product one of the things we offer is the ability to restrict login based on IP address, apart from various other controls
  3. Getting data into the HR system is one of the biggest pain points, especially when this originates outside the HRIS. The product should offer integration with most popular data formats. Integration requirements such as with biometric and other attendance systems should be met.
  4. Availability and access to data is something that shouldn’t be compromised. With the movement of data to the cloud, customers need not lose control over their own data. There should be clarity about data download capabilities, data backup, and data migration policy of the vendor from the very beginning.

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Topics: Technology, #Social Media, #HRIndustry, #Trends

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