The Growing Role of HR in the Cloud

#HRISChat Session 5

Tuesday, July 2, 12:00 pm EDT/ 9:00 am PDT

With guest moderator from HR Cloud

According to research by Bersin by Deloitte and featured in a recent ComputerWeekly article, over the next 18 months, nearly 60% of organizations are planning to implement new HR or talent management systems. In fact, Josh Bersin was noted as saying they “have found that the average HR system is 6.5 to 7 years old. Most companies have four or five systems, so there is a huge replacement cycle, mostly replacing IT systems with cloud.”

Couple that with …

·    industry thought leader Paul Hamerman noting earlier this year that HR managers are now choosing cloud-based products almost exclusively;

·    Earlier this year, Jason Averbook, Heidi Spirgi and Wes Wu of Knowledge Infusion/Appirio co-authored a report, revealing that approximately 80% of attendees expected to have the majority of their companies' HR platforms in the  cloud over the next three years. Specifically, they note in the report that “moving HR to the cloud is not an IT initiative, but rather a functional and business transformation;” and

·    In its Top 10 Predictions for HR Technology in 2013, IHRIM cited that cloud computing would be one of the most significant trends that will impact HR Tech in 2013 …

… it’s easy to see why ‘HR in the Cloud’ is coming to the forefront of the c-suite and decision-makers of a lot of businesses worldwide.

It is with all this in mind that we are having our next HRISChat on Tuesday, July 2, 12:00 pm EDT) > The Growing Role of HR in the Cloud.

Here are the questions for this edition of #HRISChat:

Q1: What are the top ways that Human Resource Management (HRM) can utilize the Cloud?

Q2: What are the most critical elements to consider when selecting a system for implementing HR in the Cloud?

Q3. Security seems to be an issue with a bevy of HR professionals in regards to HR in the Cloud. What are the top things that HR leaders should do to ensure that their data and systems are secure in the Cloud?

Q4. To help manage the risks involved with cloud computing, what are the top questions that should be addressed before moving HR in to the Cloud?

Q5. In 2013 and beyond, what are going to be the biggest challenges for moving HR into the Cloud?

 

New to TweetChat? Don't worry, it's easy! Go to www.tweetchat.com, enter HRISChat at the top of the screen next to the # symbol and click "go." It will likely prompt you to login to Twitter. Then just watch for the questions and provide your answers.

We look forward to your participation on Tuesday, July 2 (12:00 pm EDT/ 9:00 am PDT).

Global Insights Gleaned at IHRIM 2013 Conference

IHRIM Eye Guest Blogger - Lexy Martin, CedarCrestone

When I attend a conference, I like to pick a theme for the sessions I will attend. This year, I chose the sessions covering “going global.” This is my term for those organizations operating in multiple countries, taking their HR systems global. There were several sessions that covered this theme and two stood out.

The first, SaaS in the Trenches: Real World Pros and Cons, with Joe Almodovar, Senior Director Global HRIS, A.T. Kearney and Jeanne Kalinowski, Director HRIS, Hyatt Hotels Corp. covered these two global organizations’ SaaS work. The gist of the session is that SaaS is still an HRIS and just because it’s SaaS doesn’t mean you deviate from good practices during due diligence, contract review, project plans, vendor selection, staffing, security, and configuration. But it is an HRIS of a different color around implementation timing, staffing differences, frequent releases and vendor support. They gave common-sense advice on the fact that SaaS still requires due diligence particularly pre-sales where organizations should spend lots of time up front to avoid issues on the back end. “As you can’t customize, good due diligence is a must.”

The global-specific advice included the following:

·         Inquire about language packs – how much do they cost and how priced? How are they updated? What’s coming? Which modules are multi-language capable?
·         Can they support multi-byte character sets for Asia?
·         Maintenance windows – what days and times? Frequency? Consider impact to your global business. If your operations work Saturdays when the vendor wants to do maintenance, you have an issue.
·         Black-out periods are particularly impactful for global organizations that operate everywhere. The provider may be US-centric but your operations are not. Find out when!
·         Data Privacy – have they reviewed their operations from a data privacy perspective? Find EMEA/Asia customer references and discuss how they manage data privacy issues.
 
Another great session was Inspect What You Expect: Building a Global Framework for Business Success, with Pat Crane, Regional Vice President and John Gibbons, Vice President, Research and Strategy from Jeitosa Group International.

The two provided a framework for understanding the complexity and business impact of data structures, language translations, business processes, and compliance to gauge vendors with global solutions.

Data structures are the easiest to support but provide the least business impact. Nevertheless, they are important. Things like data structures for international names, addresses, and telephone numbers, along with country-specific fields like religion in Germany, Hukou in China, etc. should be accommodated.

 

Language translation should be provided and done well to achieve some positive business impact. For example, the vendor should translate self-service screens not only for the employee but also for functions used by the HR partner and back-office administrators. Look to see whether the vendor provides for translation of code and table values as well as free-form text translations.

Business process level of globalization is much more complex for the vendor and represents significant business benefit for the organization. Here, the solution should allow for different business processes by country and region. The example provided was a discussion of the complexities of employment and severance agreements, vacation accrual and time off policies, and global benefits and pension programs in some countries.

Global compliance was the fourth level of vendor globalization and while the most complex to achieve, provides the organization with the greatest business value. Discerning how well the vendor supports your ability to comply globally with legislation around the world beyond simple data capture is key. Also understanding whether the vendor can provide for global governance, compliance, and data privacy and protection is critical.

One conclusion of the speakers was that “Global” vendors tend to be more mature with regard to data structures and language translations; however, there is considerable less maturity when it comes to global business processes and compliance. One item of particular value provided by the speakers was a sample scorecard to use to evaluate vendors under consideration. I highly recommend listening/viewing their presentation, available at http://bit.ly/IHRIM2013_Recordings.

 

It Was All Started by a Mouse

Walt Disney liked to say "I only hope that we don't lose sight of one thing - that it was all started by a mouse."

The same could be said for HR systems. We are where we are today in large part due to a mouse, a computer mouse.

The advent of the personal computer in the early 1980s along with IBM’s promotion of the information center concept signaled a change in our industry and profession. HR records moved from the mainframe to the desktop. We were able to not just collect and store the information, but we could catalog it and report on it. Granted the reports were fairly rudimentary (creating mountains of greenbar paper), but we could put together metrics on headcount and turnover and succession planning. Companies formed new departments within HR – the HR information center (HRIC) – and began staffing them with HRIC managers and system analysts.

As the technology grew more sophisticated, so did our HR systems and, one would like to think, the value we brought to the organization.
 
“We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths." – Walt Disney

We in HR systems also continue to move forward. 

Today our HR applications are in the cloud and on mobile devices. Our information has become intelligent, our data is analyzed, measured and graphically represented. Organization charts are more than just names in a box.

I encourage you, as HR systems and information management professionals, to put your curiosity to good use. Open your mind to the creative and imaginative solutions you will find when you share stories with colleagues and exhibitors you met at the IHRIM 2013 Conference. Continue to be educated and entertained by purchasing the conference audio presentations (a great way to get benefit from the conference if you were unable to attend or attended and had to choose from many great sessions). Going forward, take advantage of the learning opportunities provided through IHRIM’s upcoming webinar or in our library of webinar recordings.

“You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality.” – Walt Disney

There are so many people to thank who helped make the IHRIM 2013 Conference and Technology a success – the IHRIM Board of Directors, staff, volunteers, presenters, exhibitors and sponsors. Thank you!

Save the date for IHRIM 2014: HRMS Strategies Conference and Technology Expo, to be held June 1-4, 2014 at the Anaheim Marriott, Anaheim, California.

-- Lynne E. Mealy, HRIP, President & CEO, IHRIM

This blog is based on the welcome I gave at our 2013 Opening General Session on June 3 at Disney's Contemporary Resort.

Will the Role of HR Change in the next 10 Years? Join us on the #HRIS Chat, June 4

#HRISChat Session 3 - Tuesday, June 4th 1PM EST/ 10AM PST

Will the role of HR change in the next 10 years? A ½ hour power-chat.

Moderated by special guest Lexy Martin

Two weeks ago, Michael Koscec posed the following, simple question in the HR & Talent Management Executive Group on LinkedIn. “Do you think the role of HR will change in the next 10 years. If yes-how?” What has followed is a barrage of comments (32 at the time this is being written) which highlight the galvanizing nature of the question.

As an overall theme, answers tend to be at one of two ends of the spectrum:

1) HR won’t have made any drastic changes in by 2023 (just as it hasn’t since we had this conversation in 2003)

2) HR will have drastically changed in the short term, and completely changed by 2023.

75% of the opinions predict change and 25% suggest things will stay pretty much as they are.  At 15%, technology is shown to be the main driver of change, and an additional 10% expect change to come about as a result of redundancy (which may also be traced to technology).  This consistent theme in the responses makes this a great topic for our bi-weekly #HRISChat to be conducted live from IHRIM’s 2013 HRMS Strategies Conference and Technology Exposition in Orlando.

Here are the logistics.  On Tuesday, June 4^th at 1 EST (note the new time for this week), we’ll open the power chat with a vote, allowing for IHRIM conference attendees and the HR/HRIS community at large to weigh in. We will also accept votes placed in advance of the chat for those who cannot attend. Following the vote there will be a brief discussion about the why, the why not, and the how.  After the chat, we’ll broadcast a final tally of the votes, and 2 prizes will be given for the comments that support each end of the spectrum, as chosen by the guest moderator, Lexy Martin.

About our co-moderator:

Lexy Martin is Vice President, Research and Analytics for CedarCrestone. Lexy is responsible for CedarCrestone’s annual HR Systems Survey, now in its 15th year.  She also provides strategy, business case, metrics and analytics services and deep dive benchmarking in all industries. Working with many of the leading HCM vendors, Lexi has helped develop their value propositions and conducted numerous surveys of their customer bases. Few researchers in HR technology can match the experience that Lexy has accumulated during her career in introducing emerging technologies.

And here are the questions for this edition of #HRISChat:

Q1: Cast your vote. Will the role of HR change in the next 10 years? Briefly describe how (1 official answer per person, marked with an “A1:”).

Q2: What role, if any, will HR Technology play in the transformation?

Q3: Will HR earn a seat at the strategic table?

Q4: It’s 2023 and HRISChat asks you to recap the last 10 years of HR in one tweet. What does it say?

New to tweet chats? Don't worry, it's easy! Go to www.tweetchat.com, enter HRISChat at the top of the screen next to the # symbol and click "go." It will likely prompt you to login to Twitter. Then just watch for the questions and provide your answers. We look forward to your participation next Tuesday 6/4 at 1PM EST/10AM PST.

Jeremy Ames, Gaucho Group