Sep 19, 2014 By Laura Fagan

Deloitte: How Cloud and Other Technology Trends Are Transforming HR

in Cloud, IT, Platform

Many human resources departments are facing a huge shift. There’s an urgency by them to introduce the new technology employees of today expect. The challenge often comes in executing these changes fast enough on the IT side.

Cloud technology can connect information from back-office HR and HCM systems with an agile social, mobile app layer to speed time to market and remove common barriers to innovation. HR and IT can now quickly automate, streamline, and expand processes with applications that help solve business problems fast and appeal to today’s worker.

Marc Solow, the HR Shared Services Practices Leader for Deloitte Consulting LLP, has been in the HR industry for 25 years. He works to help clients with their new HR delivery service models, including developing strategies and utilizing cloud technologies, along with process and organization redesign.

Below Solow shares the recent trends he’s observed in how companies are approaching their HR transformations:

1. Integrated talent systems

According to Solow, the focus of many of companies has shifted to how they manage HR talent and the data around it. As a result, integrated suites of software have become the primary starting point and catalyst for HR transformation. These suites help companies get started with items such as security and compensation.

2. Differentiated HR service delivery

Many companies are seeing very different requirements across their workforce. What is a good fit for office staff and employees on the factory floor can differ dramatically from what works for sales and delivery people who spend most of their time on the road. Companies need to provide their staff with the ability to access HR via the channel that works best.

The Salesforce1 Platform and the Salesforce1 Service Cloud offer companies the ability to scale a delivery model that can address the needs of these various segments through mobile and social tools, as well as employee communities.

3. Cloud-based HR solutions preferred

Many on premise solutions for application development are slower to change, and require upgrades and a dependency on IT. Many HR departments are discovering that in contrast, cloud solutions include automatic upgrades and can scale with their company, freeing up IT to build new business solutions, instead of maintaining the old.

A recent IDC white paper, sponsored by salesforce.com, found that surveyed companies that leveraged the power of the Salesforce1 Platform for IT app development reported a 70% reduced time to market for app development, and as a result, the launch of 80% more apps.

4. Social and mobile are transforming processes

This ties back into the second trend and the need to differentiate HR service based on the workforce segment. Employees are typically more engaged when they can access HR information and get their questions answered through a variety of channels, including self-service, social, and mobile options. Deploying these technologies can also be cost-efficient for companies. For example, self-service solutions are cheaper to run than having someone manning the phone.

5. Specialized outsourcing can drive better outcomes

Instead of outsourcing the majority of HR services to a single partner, many companies are now being more strategic and moving to a best of hybrid model combining a blend insourced and outsourced services. And when they do outsource, these companies are seeking best-of-breed solutions to deliver higher levels of quality, a better employee and manager experience, and more predictable levels of cost.

6. Shared service operations evolving and moving up value chain

Solow says that many of his clients have started to consolidate the processes of transactions through shared services. By doing so, they’ve found a better unit cost compared to paying someone to spend just half their time on items such as training, benefits administration, or compensation. This also frees up higher paid experts to focus on the work they were hired to do, versus very repeatable process work.

Tune into the free webinar recording Jump-Starting Your HR Transformation with Social, Mobile, and Cloud to hear more from Deloitte, plus DuPont and salesforce.com on the following topics: