The move to the HR Cloud for organizations around the globe has been progressing at a rapid pace. There are a number of substantial benefits for moving Human Capital Management (HCM) to the cloud, and even some factors that are forcing companies’ hands.
Despite this fact, and millions of dollars of investment in the technology, many companies in the U.S. are still unsatisfied with their HR Cloud solutions and/or aren’t fully equipped to handle these essential tasks fully on the cloud.
According to a Deloitte survey titled “2019 Global Human Capital Trends,” 65 percent of respondents said they believe their HR Cloud technology is “inadequate” or “only fair” at achieving the company’s overall objectives … despite spending more than $20 billion in HR technology over the last five years.
Overall, the respondents to the Deloitte survey reported they only believe their satisfaction with their HCM systems to be a 3.3 out of 5. Here are some other eye-opening statistics from the survey:
- 74 percent of respondents rated HCM as the important or very important.
- 21 percent said it was among the three most urgent topics for their organizations in 2019.
- 26 percent said they are effectively using technology and analytics.
- Only 6 percent believe their HR technology is excellent.
The overarching theme of the study, then, is that while business leaders recognize the extreme importance of HR Cloud technology, most are unhappy about the current state of their company’s HCM technology, despite throwing plenty of money at the problem already.
It’s hard to ignore the way business is changing in the USA, no matter what industry you’re in. As such, it’s essential that companies not only embrace the importance of HR Cloud technology, but begin figuring out an all-encompassing solution.
Here are some of the most important trends in business today and why an effective cloud-based HCM technology package is necessary for more and more companies.
Staffing is Changing
There once was a time when hiring was relatively straightforward. Companies were predominantly focused on hiring full-time workers to fill specific full-time jobs at specific physical locations. Thanks to a constantly shifting and fragmented labor market, though, both jobs, skills and employees are getting more complex.
Today, jobs are less about working 9-to-5 hours at a desk and more about finding the best fit for the tasks that need to be completed – regardless of when the hours or worked or where the work is done. Sometimes, the best employee for a job may be located hundreds of miles away from a company’s physical location, but that is no longer an issue. Remote work is at an all-time high, and that’s because it is so simple to complete work from anywhere in the world.
In addition, there is a growing trend toward including contract workers instead of just full-time employees. This creates a complex system for rates of pay and taxing that HR departments have to deal with.
All told, this has caused an extra strain on HCM. Not only is time tracking and project management more difficult, but recruiting is as well.
Through the use of cloud-based HR technology, recruiting, assigning and tracking remote workers has become almost as easy as managing a group of employees in person. Without effective HR Cloud technology, many companies are left scrambling.
The best HR Cloud solutions for such a situation integrate time management and tracking with payroll, at the very minimum. More advanced capabilities such as geotracking employees who work in the field or biometric scanning for clock in/clock out functions are also available for companies that are in the construction industry, for example.
Data Collection and Analysis is Essential
It’s no secret that decisions in all facets of business are increasingly being based on data analytics. Collecting and analyzing data is quite the important task, but it has for years been difficult at best. With the amount of data that’s available today, this is becoming even more difficult without an effective and integrated HCM process.
Moving HR services to the cloud is an easy and efficient way to collect and store data from various systems in one place, allowing for a quicker and better way to HR personnel to analyze and then use this data. But HR Cloud services can help companies do more than track and analyze simple data points such as cost metrics, salary and headcount.
HR Cloud services can help companies better analyze more intricate and focused data points that can help a company drive real change in the organization. This could include, for example, figuring out employee turnover rates for each level of the organization. With this data calculated, a company could see which areas, if any, they fall short in and make substantive changes to affect positive outcomes.
The Focus is Changing to Self-Service
Perhaps one of the largest changes to how business is being done today is the shift to self-service for employees. Companies across the country are looking for ways to better their employee experience, which in turn can improve employee satisfaction.
Today, this means creating an environment where employees feel less burdened by mundane tasks, and where their tasks are made as simple and straightforward as possible. Employees want to feel like they’re more productive, and removing their barriers to being so is important.
HR Cloud services can help companies provide this to their employees. Instead of filling out mundane paperwork for timesheets, for example, cloud-based HCM software can allow employees to clock in and out using their mobile devices from anywhere in the world. Important personnel information such as company policies, information on health insurance and other benefits can also be provided on a secure cloud-based environment so employees can access it at any time.
Move Your Company’s HR Services to the Cloud
It’s more important than ever for businesses in the U.S. to concentrate on the state of affairs in their company’s HCM systems and move their HR services to the cloud. Embracing HR Cloud services will make HR management easier, simpler and more efficient, thereby improving employee satisfaction and productivity, and ultimately boosting the company’s bottom line.
