HR Technology and why it is important

In the face of adversity (as we find ourselves in today), technology and especially HR Tech is our friend and ally. At culp in the past 3 days, we have had conversations with multiple clients from diverse industries about one common theme: “how do we provide for and engage a remote workforce?”. A significantly impactful question which in my mind is enabled by HR tech, culture and people and HR’s relationship with IT.

Technology is faster, more accurate and scalable. There are 1000s of technology partners that can help you (HR) deliver your unique employee experience. There is technology for:

1. Talent attraction:
   • Sourcing such as LinkedIn and Avature
   • Recruitment such as Greenhouse and Lever
   • Assessments such as Evalex and SHL
   • Onboarding such as Enboarder and HROnboard
2. Employee Engagement:
   • Culture & Surveys such as CultureAmp and CultureIQ
   • Communication such as Poppulo and Monday
   • Collaboration such as Donut and Slack
   • Psychometric Assessments such as Thomas and Gallup
   • Diversity and Inclusion such as Planbox and Diverst
3. Learning & Development:
   • Succession planning such as Head Light’s Talent Successor and Saba
   • Career pathways such as TalentGuard and Pathsavvy
   • Competency Management such as TalentGuard (in researching for this blog, most of the talent management software providers claim to have competency management features – although when we looked deeper, there was no indication that competency management was available. Which is alarming!)
   • Learning Experience such as Cornerstone and Degreed
   • Performance Management such as Perflo and Appraisd
4. Talent Retention:
   • Job and salary grading such as Willis Towers Watson and Payscale
   • Job evaluation such as Pilat and Gradar
   • Payroll such as Sage and SimplePay
   • Benefits management such as Paylocity and Gusto
   • Wellness such as Healthchase and Sprout
   • Reward and recognition such as RecognizePeers and Kudos
5. Workflow tools:
   • Such as Process Street and Papertrail

Above is just a bergy bit from the tip of the iceberg. The intention here is to show you that for each small area of talent management specialisation, there is HR tech that can partner and help you to provide for and engage a remote workforce. Subsequently, each one of these areas also have thousands of unique tools and apps that have been developed specifically for specific outcomes. The options are endless and like data, it is a very daunting space if you don’t know where to start.

There are of course more comprehensive systems for human capital management, much like an ERP system, that manages all human capital data such as Workday and SAP SuccessFactors. These systems are significantly more robust and complex. Often not customisable or open but may be the best option for your enterprise or global workforce. This just depends on the IT strategy at your organisation.

HR tech when implemented effectively, can respond to change faster than any human and maintain a consistent experience and outcome. HR, a traditionally manual and human-centred function, when dealing with change that is constant and tough can now build the resilience needed by implementing, integrating and maximising an HR architecture that makes sense for your business. Enabling HR through tech, the business will continue to deliver and improve consistency in HR, talent and organisational outcomes, that ensure a steady and world-class experience and permit HR to do what HR should always be doing; concentrate on people, culture and the business.