Are We There Yet? Navigating Digital Readiness in the HR Space

Kathy Osterland, Director, HR Systems and Learning & Development at Wajax

Kathy Osterland is a senior leader with over 15 years of experience within HR, IT, and Marketing. A proven strategic leader that gets things done within a collaborative, innovative and team orientated environment. 

I am a huge proponent of utilizing technology to automate processes and create efficiencies. I am sure many of you would agree that manual paper processes are not your favorite thing to do, and as HR professionals we are very familiar with these types of processes. There are so many options for HR related systems that can help alleviate the paper mountain, however, how will you know if your organization is ready for that type of solution?

There are many factors to consider before jumping on the HR system bandwagon. Below are a few key things to think about before you embark on that journey.1.

1. What is the Business Case?

New systems can be shiny and make you want to get them; however, we need to have a clear needs analysis. What is the problem or inefficiency we are trying to solve? Will a system be able to create an efficiency that will provide a clear return on investment (ROI) and in how much time? Answering these questions are critical to get executive buy-in and budget approval.

2. Information Technology infrastructure and know-how

A major piece to implementation of any system is knowing whether your IT infrastructure can handle it. If you have multiple locations, you will need to ensure they have the connectivity to be able to use the system or the efficiencies may wane. You will need to weigh if the system will create the intended efficiencies with the current infrastructure for all employees that interact with it. Flushing this out early will help with adoption of the chosen system and alleviate frustration.

“In any project roll-out, it is good to find allies. Find those individuals that are interested in technology, and that will back you up in meetings with others. These are critical partnerships to get your project the acceptance and validation it needs”

Another piece is evaluating if the current employee base has the know-how to utilize the system. In my career, I have dealt with employees with various levels of technology competency. Depending on the competencies of your employees you may need to add basic technology training into your roll-out plan.

3. Organization readiness to embrace a new way of doing things

Evaluating the readiness of your organization to embrace a new way of doing things is also something to look at. If your organization does not seem ready for the change, there are things you can do to work on that.

1. High-level buy-in

Get the folks at the top to buy into your idea. Utilize your Business Case to show the value the system will bring.

2. What’s in it for me?

Define the value proposition for your audience. Why would an employee want to use the system? What do they get out of it? Define this for the various levels of employees that will utilize the system and communicate that clearly to them. For example, for an HR Administrator, they may no longer have to manually enter an employee salary change into the system since the system automatically updates it upon manager approval. They can now focus on periodic auditing and working on other interesting projects.

3. Find allies

In any project roll-out it is good to find allies. Find those individuals that are interested in technology and that will back you up in meetings with others. These are critical partnerships to get your project the acceptance and validation it needs.

4. Resources to get it done, maintain and optimize

Systems are great when they are utilized well. Time after time I experience systems that are not used to their full potential. Primarily this is due to lack of resources and workload. When sourcing a system ensure you have the resources to implement the system properly and then sufficient resources to maintain and optimize the platform. There is nothing worse than pushing to get a system and then not having a proper roadmap to get the most out of it. That’s just a waste of money. Ensure to leverage vendor assistance on best practices and strategy support.

With so many options out in the marketplace you are going to need some help navigating which solution is right for you. When talking directly to a vendor you may get sold the world, however, what you are sold and what you get is not always the same. I have experienced this in the past and learned some valuable lessons.

1.Use a system comparison site such as G2, SoftwareReviews, or TrustRadius. This will save you valuable time in comparing and narrowing down systems based on your needs prior to any direct communications with vendors.

2. Ask lots of questions in the demos (and after) to the vendor. Simple things you assume the vendor should have may not be the reality. Bring in other colleagues to the demo, as this can drum up additional questions you may not have thought of.

3. Check references. References are critical to find out what the system does well and what it does not. The references are typically customers that like the product – the vendor gave them to you after all – however you can still get valuable information about things that may be quirky or potential work arounds they may have to use. This is great information as it is coming from individuals who utilize the system day-to-day like you and your team will be.

Ultimately, you need to explore what will work best for your organization. Ensure you get the buy-in and that your organization is ready enough to embrace the new technology. The 80/20 rule is a long-standing rule I operate by. There will most likely be push back at the beginning, change can be hard, however with a clearly formulated value proposition for your varying audiences you will be well on your way.

Information Technology

IT Infrastructure

ROI