Despite current economic challenges, global organizations continue to invest and find value in human resource (HR) technology systems, according to a recent study by Towers Perrin. Although survey respondents expressed mixed views on the effectiveness of certain technologies, particularly around talent management, technology investment overall remains a clear focus for organizations in 2008.According to Towers Perrin's 11th annual study of HR service delivery and technology, close to a third of the respondents (30 percent) have increased their investment in HR-related technologies, a figure that lags last year’s findings. However, only 15 percent of respondents are decreasing their technology spend in 2008, and the remaining 55 percent are maintaining their technology budgets at 2007 levels.
“For organizations to sustain and even increase their HR-related technology spend in a year of such economic uncertainty and cost-cutting is a testament to the importance companies are placing on managing their talent and having the right systems and capabilities in place to do that well,” said Thomas Keebler, leader of Towers Perrin's global HR Function Effectiveness practice. “This is borne out not only in the level of investment, but in its planned use. Typically, we see a high level of upgrading and streamlining technology. Although that remains a key investment area, organizations are now focused on investing in performance, staffing and other talent management-related technologies. Clearly, this is a signal that the priority for 2008 and beyond is in driving companies' growth and people agendas.”
Performance and talent management.
This year, 40 percent of respondents indicated that talent and performance management systems were their top service delivery issues. However, the study also showed that success in leveraging these technologies remains mixed. While about half of the respondents reported that their technology was somewhat or very effective in addressing issues such as compensation administration, performance management, and internal and external recruitment and staffing, the other half felt their technologies were either neutral or ineffective at meeting their needs. Levels of satisfaction were even lower in areas such as onboarding, workforce analytics, succession planning and career planning.
“Organizations clearly find some value in performance and talent management-related technologies, although not nearly at the level one would hope for,” said Keebler. “The next steps in implementing capabilities in this area will be to focus on the non-transactional aspects of the user experience and more seamless integration across these often siloed applications. The goal is to have these technologies connect across HR domains —to mirror the way in which the line managers and employees think of career management —in order to provide one destination for employees and employers to track career paths, from onboarding through to succession planning and everywhere in between. That's when the true value of these systems will not only be evident, but start to show a measurably improved impact on business strategy.”
Global data architecture.
As companies continue to search for ways to manage their growing —both in breadth and depth —global workforces, HR faces unprecedented demand to find global technology solutions to streamline often disparate and complex workforce processes. This year's study confirms that priority, with many respondents developing a standard global architecture for HR data. Although many are only in the first stages of implementing such systems (just about half were only a quarter of the way, or less, in implementing a system), those that had implemented a global system were pleased with the results, with 84 percent reporting the technology met or exceeded expectations.
“There's no question that standard, global technology systems to track workforce-related data is a growing focus for many large companies,” said Keebler. “It's a critical need and an area where HR can provide significant value in helping organizations navigate increasingly volatile global market conditions.”
