The HR Reset: How Midsize Businesses Can Prioritize Intelligent Technology
In today’s times, companies are embracing the digital economy at a much faster pace than ever before. This has led to a higher acceptance of new work models such as work from home, hybrid, and others. With the workforce becoming increasingly geographically dispersed, it is imperative to integrate technology in managing an organization’s workforce.
HR leaders forming the backbone of organizations
HR leaders today play a critical role in organizational growth. CHROs and their teams are at the helm of ensuring they enable organizations to embed intelligence into their company’s operations. The most progressive CHROs and functions are adopting digital technology and focusing more on enabling internal stakeholders to make informed decisions. Integrating the various data assets and CRMs enable the function to make informed and intuitive decisions across the entire value chain of HR processes.
HR leaders playing a pivotal role in businesses undergoing digital transformations
The digital economy results from billions of everyday online connections amongst teams, businesses, devices, data, and processes. HR leaders are the helm of digital transformation today, working closely with Executives across functions to ensure expectations and objectives of all are incorporated. The function is the custodian of this shift responsible for driving internal change management, communication, training, and onboarding.
It is the technology that helps the HR leaders to encourage digital culture, ensure seamless resource management, enhance the process of data collection, and ensure effective communication. Digital adoption has transformed the working style and ensured increased connectivity options for people amidst the increasingly common remote working model. Several jobs can now be done from hundreds or even thousands of miles away across any corner of the world without any difficulty. This acts as a benefit for the workers as it gives them the flexibility to work as per their pace and convenience without them feeling isolated.
Integrating the various data assets and CRMs internally enables the HR leaders to make informed and intuitive decisions across the entire value chain of HR processes. CHROs are at the helm of ensuring they enable their organizations to embed intelligence into their operations.
Benefits of digital transformation
Artificial intelligence and Machine Learning are important evolutions in computer science and data processing that are quickly transforming a vast array of industries. Deployment of these technologies surely brings with it benefits for the company and the function:
Through the use of advanced technologies, organizations have improved their candidate screening ratios and invest more time and effort in interviewing job fit candidates
The availability of cloud-based tools has eased critical processes like employee onboarding & training, workflow management, employee development, etc.
Technology through the integration of internal portals has enabled managers and leaders to hypothesize potential employee exits. Thus, equipping managers to plan interventions and engage with team members in managing attrition.
While advanced technologies can have a direct impact on certain HR processes, human intervention and judgment will still be required. For instance, important aspects of Executive Hiring, such as, storytelling, persuasion, candidate experience, and negotiation, to name a few cannot be outsourced to intelligent technology.
Technology redefining HR strategies
Scope of automation and digitization today is not limited to certain aspects of Human Resources and now span across the entire employment lifecycle. Progressive HR functions are combining the strengths of humans and technology to upgrade capabilities and embed intelligence into an organization’s processes.
HR teams are increasingly embedding the use of advanced technologies and data-driven approach as a benchmark to make smarter decisions related to budgetary planning, recruitment, employee onboarding, promotions, compensations, succession planning, managing attrition, employee engagement.
Organizations today utilize chatbots that help simulate and enable processes while reducing human intervention. It is an effective way of managing common employee concerns and queries. This has saved the function valuable time and money and additionally allowing professionals to manage concerns requiring a human intervention
Intranet brings together multiple applications and information into one portal, helping to improve employee efficiency and productivity. Employees now have all the information at one place, thus improving job enablement and efficiency.
Summing up!
AI, Machine Learning, and other advanced technologies will continue to evolve enabling companies to make data-based decisions, and in making important choices that are essentially driving profit-altering business results. This is the perfect time to think about how these advanced technologies can add long term benefit to your organization. Technology will not replace humans; rather the two will coexist utilizing their mix of strengths in driving future organizational growth and development.
Arjun Jolly
Principal, Athena Executive Search & Consulting
