Organizations are fast adopting HR technology and often find it difficult to choose from the plethora of Human Capital Management (HCM) solutions that flood the market. HR professionals must devote time and attention to the selection process, so as to get the best of it and add value to business through the right talent interventions. Not only must the software suit your business needs, but it must also suit your employees—the end users. This balancing act requires careful consideration of HR software selection.

Here are five important points to consider while making the selection.

  1. Intuitive UI: To make HR software a success, it is important that it be embraced and adopted wholly by your employee population, i.e., the target users. Employees today want software to be a reflection of their personal tech engagements. Easy and quick are the two formulas to software empowerment. Your oldest and your newest employee must be equally comfortable using it. Likewise, your on-site employee as well as your remote worker must be able to leverage it equally well. An intuitive user interface (UI) will make this possible. For this, HR must look at what your employees prefer using and what their work styles are. With this, HR will end up spending less time (and money) on training them on the new software and getting them to use it.
  2. Integration with other software and processes: Today, a number of emerging technologies, including software, co-exist with legacy ones. This is similar to getting a new laptop with a different make and finding it impossible to fit your previous laptop accessories into it. With software, one has to be extra careful, since non-integration can lead to grave consequences like loss of data, security loopholes, etc. The goal of an HCM is to increase efficiency and effectiveness of HR processes, and not to disrupt them by causing integration challenges. Look for built-in integrations and always-on integration support in the HR software that you evaluate.
  3. Prefer scalable software: An HR software investment is not something you will redo every year. Hence, you must consider the long-term timeframe and look for scalable options. Software that has been implemented only to be found redundant and inefficient two years from now is a useless one. Evaluate the scalability in terms of the number of employees it can handle, scope and scale of HR interventions envisioned, number and scale of processes it can support and integrate, etc. This decision is in line with the company strategy; hence it is important for HR to know the business strategy in and out to make the right choice.
  4. Level of service and support: Even the best-designed intuitive and integrated platform will malfunction occasionally, and then you have no option but to turn to support. But what if the support is sporadic and low quality? This can throw your HR plans entirely out of gear—definitely not what any HR wants! Look for high quality frontline service representations with the service providers, and opt for 24/7 support through various channels such as on call, email, chat, and even in person for mission-critical applications.
  5. Cost and ROI: Finally, any HR intervention must make economic sense for the business to thrive. The right approach is not to evaluate how the investment in the HR software will pay off or add value to the business, and over what timeframe. One must avoid the tendency to opt for the cheapest software, but rather treat HR software as a cost reduction tool in itself (automation). Also, be sure to look for hidden costs such as add-on services, scaling-up packages, etc.

Investing in HR software is a big leap for both HR and line managers. Make sure you involve the business in the decision, by understanding their talent needs and incorporating their recommendations on what works best for them. Line managers are after all both the stakeholders and the customers of HR.

Source of this Article is HR Technologist

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