Technology has been the driving the force for business change for quite some time now. According to a Constellation research since the 2000s, almost 52 percent of companies in the Fortune 500 have either gone bankrupt, been acquired or ceased to exist. This has been mainly driven by their inability in adapting to changing technological offering.

The biggest challenge in front of CHROs today is to design a successful HR technology architecture platform and applications that, in addition to creating a superior employee experience, also add value to business. This was the key issue that Yashwant Mahadik, Global CHRO at Sun Pharma chose to address in his Mega keynote address during TechHR 2016.  

The HR technology market is booming currently. As far as the creation of business management softwares are concerned, most have reached a plateau. But unlike most markets the technological application within the field of HR has grown increasingly. This comes in response to the demand from HR heads to use such tools and techniques that make people management processes easier and more efficient.

There are products available in almost every field within the ambit of HR. Such softwares either tackle the demand of making core HRMS more efficient or provide specialized platforms for HR professionals that take of the various verticals within HR like L&D, recruitment and workforce management. But unfortunately, this ends up complicating things for leaders at the helm of decision making.

Creating the right technology architecture entails understanding the kind of products that are available today. But before we do that, companies need to identify the processes that can actually benefit from a technological update. Yashwant, sharing his experience, added how in his search for the right software solution, he checked the viability of a particular software by connecting with other companies that are currently using the software. Although a good process to undertake, an important realization that he had was how many companies had invested in software solutions for processes that didn’t exist in them. For example, a company that had invested in knowledge management while not having a dedicated knowledge management process or a culture within the company. This according to Yashwant raised serious questions on how well equipped are CHROs today to make the right choice when it comes to investing in the right software solution. It points towards a necessary clarity with HR leaders today on how using certain software based solutions can actually help them in what process and by how much.

The problem gets intensified currently due to the plethora of software solutions available to a CHRO today to use. There are various kinds of software solutions available today. Some solutions are process specific while others cut across various processes to create ease for HR leaders. Then there also are some standalone processes which give a complete solution. The other hindrance that HR professionals today face is the lack of availability of quality data on the usage of HR technology.This makes benchmarking an even more excruciating process for HR professionals. These are some of the problems that CHROs have to overcome together to create the right HR IT architecture.

But HR today has a better clarity on the change it intends to make and the way it can influence business growth.  Having set goals that HR needs to achieve, leaders can look at software solutions today and figure out whether their current choice helps them improve the process to better achieve their goals. Albeit the handicaps present using this introspective process as an important yardstick will companies build an HR technology architecture that truly supports the needs of an organization