Get Prepared: HR Shared Services is turning into an "App"

If you are an HR shared services leader, one of the questions you’ll be breaking your head over is: which technologies are really essential? You’ll also want to know what’s being developed next, and you may want some help in making a business case for investing in technology. I heard answers to all these questions earlier today, when I listened to a presentation by Jim Scully, from the Shared Services Institute, based on a survey he ran recently. A fascinating analysis of trends. Some stats were not surprising – 95% of respondents use e-mail – but on the other hand, 20% are today also using "chat". This is a small percentage, agreed, but what's notable is that it's doubled in the last year alone. Other results: 75% of you use a portal or knowledge base, 45% use document management [lower than I would have expected], and 65% use a case management approach. The clear trend here is that portal, case management, and chat have all been consistently on the rise. And while most of you are sourcing your core HRMS internally [49%], cloud-based applications [software as a service] are at 24% and growing daily. What emerges clearly is the fact that HR technology is exploding, and practitioners are realizing the opportunities ahead: 50% of respondents said they planned to invest in talent management in the near future, and 25% [that's a full quarter] say they plan to change their portal solution within the next 12 months. What this tells us is this: the market is about to embark on a frenzy of upgrading, and we can expect a lot of activity and dynamic in this sector in the next 12 to 24 months. One of the most significant, perhaps, of the various HR tools is case management, capturing as it does all the operational detail and insight, which a standard HRMS cannot provide. Four things to consider with regards to your case management software: you need to be clear on whether it you want your case management to operate as a stand-alone or across multiple domains [e.g. IT or finance] as this will affect your market choice. How important is it for you to link your knowledgebase/portal with this case management tool? How important is business process automation? Are you enabling unnecessary actions that create a lot of unnecessary extra handoffs? A few other points I thought worth sharing: Portal use, or knowledgebase repository, is growing in popularity and application. One point to consider, however, is that if you're going to commit to self-sufficiency as a strategy you need to also commit to having the resources you need. This means not just keeping content up to date also to grow the content –a point often overlooked. On telephony, many operators are falsely assuming that the internal solution will always be easier and cheaper. This is not the case, and it's worth investigating. Chat is one of the fastest-growing areas within HR shared services, but it does imply embracing "multitasking" as part of its application. You need to give sufficient thought to how your employees are going to use their time. One of the concerns is how to document it. Jim also commented on self case creation, consolidation within the vendor market, and trends for future developments. Watch the whole webinar on demand here. [inlinead]

Get Prepared: HR Shared Services is turning into an "App"

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