I admit – I used to be one… A vendor that is. I was one of those people who told HR technology buyers, “Great HR technology will allow you to be more strategic!!!” I’m sorry. But actually (in my and every vendor’s defense), it’s not a lie. We just need to understand what salespeople tell us and we also need to understand that with an HR technology implementation, there’s more that needs to happen than just “going live.”
As we have talked about strategy and HR technology, we need to recognize that great HR technology does indeed get us to a place where we can focus on strategy. The problem is that technology projects often go like this:
10 steps to doomed technology
- Phase 1: Initial core implementation and go-live
- Phase 2: ESS and MSS implementation and go-live
- Phase 3: BI implementation
- Phase 4: Upgrade and fix everything that went wrong in Phases 1 & 2
- Phase 5: Get distracted by TAS and LMS implementations
- Phase 6: Implement performance and comp through new TMS application
- Phase 7: Realize your core HRMS does not adequately support your point solutions as originally implemented
- Phase 8: Realize your core HRMS does not adequately support your core requirements as originally implemented
- Phase 9: Select new vendor
- Phase 10: Return to Phase 1
You know I’m right too. And in all of that mass of confusion, we either ignored our lack of focus on strategy, or we blamed the technology for not giving us the right data we needed to be strategic.
A good technology project is not only going to provide you with good technology that is implemented well, it will also provide a concurrent focus on how the technology can be applied, and the HR workforce redeployed once the new infrastructure takes place. Jeff’s posts have more than adequately pointed out that most senior HR practitioners do not understand HR strategy at an executive level, let alone how to apply it to the HR function.
- Technology is a tactical tool that allows us to automate work for which strategic decisions have already been made
- HR technology allows us to understand our workforce through greater access to data
3 responses to “HR Technology Does Not Make Us Strategic”
came too soon for the nominations. I would have had no choice but to give him the award last week. He sooo premature. Double Dubs dishes out regular portions of meat at SystematicHR. This week’s menu included two gems: The Role of HRIS – Part 1 andHR Technology Does Not Make Us Strategic. -“As we have talked about strategy and HR technology, we need to recognize that great HR technology does indeed get us to a place where we can focus on strategy. The problem is that technology projects often go like this:” (Now race over to see the
[…] I was speaking with Donald Glade from Sourcing Analytics the other day and through our discussion I realized I needed to follow-up on my post about “HR Technology Does Not Make Us Strategic.” As I went through my bullets of “dooming HR technology to failure,” I thought that a discussion on why the failures happen might be appropriate. Certainly this is not a comprehensive list: […]
[…] https://systematichr.com/?p=294 […]