HR Moves to the Cloud
Nearly every company is looking to find ways to lower operational costs and increase their bottom line. One of the ways that organizations are achieving this is through the utilization of cloud technology in their HR departments. According to a new research report released by Mercer, HR departments that use the new technologies are able to perform more of their work with increased efficiency and at a lower cost than ever before.
According to Katherine Jones, a leader in Mercer’s North American Talent Business, at the forefront of these cloud-based services that HR departments are turning to are what is known as human resources information systems (HRIS). The HRIS systems allow employees to work anywhere at any time and can help cut costs.
In the study conducted by Mercer that included 500, 45% percent reported as having implemented an HRIS system in the last five years. Most of that percentage indicated that the system made use of cloud technology that utilized a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) delivery model. An estimated 34% of the study participants indicated that they were planning to implement an HRIS system within three years. Among participants, it was indicated that part of the reason for the implementation of the cloud-based HR services was that it offered better user interfaces with higher quality data that lent itself to increased analytical capabilities.
Jones advises that a company’s HR department should first look at what processes they use the most and consider whether there may be a lack of efficiency or any redundancies before making the leap to cloud-based technologies. They should then determine what employee information, programs and procedures are used and when switching to a new system, consider how the implementation would potentially impact those employees.
Among the complaints cited by those using HRIS systems are added time and expense of customizing cloud services to meet the specific needs of the company and its workers, difficulty in running reports, and systems that do not take into consideration the HR capital management technologies.
The entire study is available for download at Mercer’s website here.
Cloud technology is here to stay and it’s affecting every aspect of our lives within companies, and especially within HR departments. It can be extremely confusing to know how to best utilize the new cloud-based systems. That is why at EinsteinHR, we are committed to helping you find the best way to do your HR duties more efficiently and at less cost to your bottom line. If you are considering moving your HR processes to the cloud, EinsteinHR will be there to help you. For all of your HR needs, contact us today at 770-962-1700 to find out how we can help.
