Examining the Role that Technology Plays in HR Transformation

HR transformation in recent years has meant that the role of the human resources professional has changed greatly compared to what it was just as recently as a decade ago. Those working in these departments were previously seen as administrative staff, according to a report in The Economist, but HR transformation has meant that they are now viewed as being key in the strategic decision-making surrounding a company.

This means that teams can be merged to create a center of excellence within your organization comprised of staff that will bring their skills together to promote best practices in their day-to-day HR roles.

The first thing that will need to be done to make sure that firms are operating to the best of their abilities when it comes to creating these centers is to examine the role that technology plays in the current job of the HR department.

The center of excellence's focus will be on making sure that there is a strategic system in place to ensure that things such as the remuneration package that firms are offering are suitable at all levels to make sure that staff are attracted in, and to guarantee that the company is doing enough to bring the skills that it needs to into its ranks. In order to do this, the center of excellence may require such tools as analytical programs, which will allow them to see what other firms offer and compare, as well as algorithms to strategically work out what they should be offering.
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Because there will be a range of different people working in this department, all of whom may have differing levels of skill when it comes to making use of technology, analyzing staff on the current payroll can help to decide whether or not you need to bring in learning software to help those with lesser skill-sets.

Learning and engagement are also key roles, which will need to be filled by your center of excellence in any company. In these stages, it will be important to take a look at how learning, for example, is currently handled at different levels throughout the firm, and whether this is already in tune with technology, or if your business will need to make large-scale upgrades.

For some firms, moving training online through an intranet system is now becoming an ever-more popular way to help staff learn without having to pay external companies to come in and conduct training services. At this stage, it will be vital to know the limitations of your firm's software, hardware and bandwidth to know if it will need upgraded before it comes time to implement the changes.