As the downturn hits, many HR departments are finding that their technology investments no longer provide an appropriate fit for their organisations. Dion Groeneweg, CEO of The Cape Group, says companies need to take careful stock of their information systems
In the days before the economic downturn, companies boldly bought HR technology as it came onto the market. The buying spree included eRecruitment, onboarding systems, learning management systems, performance management systems and talent management systems.
These new and often complicated systems were often implemented across the organisation without the necessary due diligence. They often lacked detailed business cases, requirements gathering and deployment plans. One reason for this was the persuasive selling skills of the vendors.
This HR technology was being sold to organisations on the premise it would deliver the silver bullet to solve the skills shortages and talent crisis faced by companies. The result was that the companies ended up buying technology they didn't need or their organisation wanted.
In today's world of shrinking budgets and workforces, companies are much more cautious about making any new technology purchases and more inclined to make better use of what they already have in place. The difficulty that many of these organisations now face is that their past technology investments no longer meet their needs. This is not to say that the technology purchased is mediocre, far from it. Rather, the technology chosen does not match requirements or has been poorly implemented.
If you are facing this dilemma, now is the time to go back and assess not only what your organisation requires but also what your current HR technology does to meet these needs. The first step is to understand business objectives for the short, medium and long terms. Although there may be budget and hiring constraints at the moment, your organisation also needs to be prepared for market recovery.
The next step is to conduct a comprehensive inventory of what technology you currently have in place, how available functionality is being used across the business and the level of user satisfaction with current systems. When conducting this assessment, look at your technologies holistically and not in silos; examine how systems integrate. Can data be pulled together for integrated reporting? Does data from the eRecruitment system pass into the wider HR information system? And so on.
The final step is to create an action plan on how you are going to enhance the deployment of the same technology. Focus on creating a plan that is going to bring you quick wins. The plan does not have to be strategic, but needs to focus on delivering benefits to the business. Take advantage of the technology the company has purchased to know what talent you have, where the talent is and what talent you are going to need going forward.
In a recent survey, we found that organisations are often only using 10 to 15 % of the functionality available from their HR technology systems. Companies are failing to make the most of what they already have and will possibly end up spending more due to their inability to take advantage of their existing investments.
The key is to exploit and fully utilise what you already have in place. Not only will you be able to save your organisation money by curbing your technology spend, you may also find further opportunities to achieve savings by streamlining processes and systems. You may be surprised by what you find. Perhaps the solution you have been looking for is already there.
diong@capegroupglobal.com
www.capegroupglobal.com