The event will be held on October 12 and 13. 2011. You should attend if you want to learn more about SaaS and On-Demand, HR Software
Social networking tools
Social networking tools have matured to become part of an employee’s work day. Many organisations have realised their value to the HR practice and are implementing policies to ensure their correct usage.
The introduction of social media to mainstream HR has brought with it change to the way organisations recruit their staff, how employees communicate and how companies engage with their staff. Like any new technology there is a period of adjustment and alignment to business strategy. New collaborative and communication tools such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube offer features that need to be understood and evaluated to see how they integrate with HR processes and add value. But they also bring new challenges to HR in the same way email and the Internet did a decade ago. HR must decide whether they are right for the organisation and if there is a valid business case for their introduction. There must be policies for their usage and HR must be aware of the potential dangers of misusing the new technology.
Software as a Service
Software as a Service (SaaS) revolutionised the HRMS landscape when it burst on the scene in 2006 with a new software delivery model and promised to reduce technology ownership costs. But has it peaked and what is the future?
HR has seen many different hosting models for HR software application delivery, mainly driven by the payroll processes, but new technology innovation such as multi-tenant architecture and in-memory databases made SaaS a logical choice for human resource management systems.
New products have emerged and further integration improvements have consolidated SaaS’s position. However, Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) have added complexity to the buying decision. It is important to know the full implications of SaaS, what is its’ future and what can we expect to see in the next generation of SaaS products. Any company developing an HR management system strategy needs to know the latest trend in SaaS and what role it will play in system architecture, now that ERP is declining in popularity.
Cloud computing
Cloud computing brings together hosting platforms for infrastructure, software and application development in a new service delivery model. But the future of cloud computing is very much dependent upon network capability and the ability to support technology growth with the right infrastructure. What are the impediments and what initiatives will be necessary to make Australia globally competitive?
Cloud computing introduced new opportunities for on-demand service delivery models. Apart from social media, games, and video, business applications promise to be a major beneficiary. Software can be delivered anywhere and at any time. However, speed of delivery, reliability and general security concerns has slowed the growth of cloud computing. To achieve the potential to change the economics of technology ownership there is a dependency upon the right infrastructure being in place. We are seeing the growth of infrastructure hosting, software delivery and application development platforms making great progress outside Australia, so what is needed to help us catch up with other economies?
Shared Services
Shared Services is a popular way to reduce costs and improve service delivery. The rationalisation of employee and technology resources and the process improvement benefits make Shared Services an attractive option. But it has challenges and not every company has the right cultural fit or HR practice to make it work.
It is not possible to take the same Shared Service model and implement it in any organisation. There are regional, global and business practice differences that makes every implementation a little different. Early adopters of the practice were often disappointed with results and the companies that followed later were able to benefit from the earlier experiences. However, new collaborative and communication technology, along with self-service and workflow features in most new products has caused us to revisit the whole concept and challenge some early assumptions.
Security, privacy and risk
Security, privacy and risk are major considerations for every executive in the current global network era. Compliance with international law, especially in regard to the European Union conditions and the provisions of Safe Harbour in the USA, make it an important consideration when doing business internationally. The recent breaches to personal privacy have made the issue very topical.
The ability to deliver HR software applications via the Internet has allowed Software-as-a-Service to reach every corner of the world and to every user that has access to a browser. Data can be stored anywhere – client’s data may physically reside on a server in any country and subject to local laws. Also, data should be secure, but is it? The issue of security is of utmost concern to HR. New social networking tools have introduced privacy issues and opportunities for identity theft. Measures must be taken to protect individual’s privacy and minimise the risk to the person and the business.
Workforce planning
Workforce planning has not matured at the same pace as other areas of the HR practice, despite new technology tools to find, analyse and present data. Business intelligence, workforce metrics and predictive modelling techniques are possible through the new range of products available today. What is preventing the uptake?
Successful workforce planning relies on accurate and reliable data. The challenge of providing data in a unified database platform is assisted by good integration techniques. HR data may reside in multiple systems and combining data in a consistent, traceable and repeatable format is necessary to give company management confidence in strategic and operational information. New dashboard tools and mobile delivery opportunities has transformed the way executives consume HR information. The barrier to greater uptake of workforce planning information may be traced to the historic distrust of HR provided information. Regaining management confidence is supported by new technology to integrate, analyse and disseminate information.
Development platforms
Development platforms are changing the way HR perceives Human Resource Management Systems. Traditional HRMS off-the-shelf on-premise products were never able to deliver total solutions. Now cloud computing has enabled user controlled custom development platforms to close the functional gaps and better support the HR practice.
The popularity of cloud computing for HR software delivery is not just SaaS. The new flexible custom development platforms supplement SaaS by allowing business users to extend the applications with custom built solutions that collect and present the data needed for the HR practice. What was once the domain of professional developers is now in the hands of users and new development platforms provide the total infrastructure, including the database and user interface, to allow applications to be built and deployed within the same day. But platforms go beyond application development and provide an integrated platform for reporting and create the flexible backend to for mobile computing.
Source: http://www.hrtech.ahri.com.au/technology.php . All Copyright of the information in this Article belongs to AHRI.
