Impact of Technology on HR Practices

Over time as technology progressed, so did its infusion into the management and control practices for HR. This lead to an improvement in the way HR could manage employees, store valuable information, analyze performance, and become more efficient in their overall practices. However, at the same time, we also find new challenges emerging for HR when it comes to effective deployment and implementation of technology. These we will discuss later on in our post.

Since HR primarily deals with working with and through people, these technologies were mainly being used to create better reporting and management methods. The basic idea was to make these practices more effective and efficient. Technology made communication much easier as well as the assimilation of viable data that can help managers to make adequate decisions.

One of the most fundamental tools that emerged out this was DSS. Decision Support Systems are a type of Information Management Systems that help businesses and organization to make decisions. As data and information became more bundled and intricate with time, MCDMs were introduced. Multi-Criteria Decision Support System can cater to a broader audience and can easily handle various attributes and objectives in a complex and sophisticated environment.  With the help of technology, HR can manage multifaceted concerns and issues related to human resources and the workforce of an organization.

How Tech is Shaping Human Resources

AI for Better Recruitment Process

AI will help assist managers in screening out candidates from a large pool of applications. AI will allow the workflow to become automated; therefore, it would be able to engage, screen, and assess candidates. Other uses for the induction of AI in the recruitment segment include automated candidate sourcing and hiring of remote workers.  In fact, you can also use AI to deploy analytics that can help you facilitate new employees to get on board with your company and familiarize them with its norms.

According to Forbes Magazine, many companies will initially use AI to enhance candidates' experience, making it seamless, simple to understand and be intuitive enough to grab their attention. One of the best examples is DBS Bank, where their talent acquisition team developed Jobs Intelligence Maestro, or JIM, a virtual recruitment bot powered by artificial intelligence. The bot not only helps HR conduct candidate screening but also offers assistance to wealth planning managers, which is considered a high-volume job in the consumer banking industry.

Analytics-Driven Performance Management

The majority of software solutions for Human Resource departments offer a dashboard user interface that is populated with various metrics and calculations based on accumulated data. The software is designed to keep information secure, organize employee data, create workflows, deliver time tracking, and gauge performance along with a range of different processes. Hence when the supervisor and team lead view the dashboard with proper authentication, they can see a lot of values presented to them on screen. Various graphs, tables, and other graphical elements make these values easy to read and comprehend.

Typical values include a person's attendance, work hours, accomplished tasks/milestones, pending work/WIP (work in progress), and various other key performance indicators. With proper analytics fueling the displays of such dashboards, management can then perform appraisals, reward loyal employees, share bonuses, or give out warning letters to those who are not keeping themselves in check.

Assistance for Strategic Decision Making

With carefully planned metrics into your software such as CRM (Customer Relationship Management), ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), and HRIS (Human Resource Information System), to name a few, a lot can be achieved. These systems help businesses, and enterprises make long-term plans, set future goals, help HR plan ahead of their time, analyze current scenarios, and devise state of affairs in the coming years.

Big Data Empowering Future Approaches

Big Data can help businesses shape the very future and the fate of their ventures with a large volume of data at your disposal that can be both structured and unstructured. Consider ideal for industrialists that can see the bigger picture and ready to deliver a robust vision for the next 5-10 years.

Cloud Base HR Applications

Lastly, we have cloud-based applications that allow HR to make its management tools and applications to become mobile. With everything connecting to cloud-based servers today, people can work from remote places and still have HR record their performance comprehensively. This is the beauty of technology. No longer are people required to be confided into small and suffocating rooms. Today thanks to information technology and cloud networking services, you can travel with your business resources and all the tools you need right in your pocket.

Challenges Faced By HR Tech

However, all that shines is not gold. With the advancement in technology, HR faced new apprehensions and trepidations. Some of the most common problems faced by HR with regards to technology include:

Expensive & Time-Consuming IT Support

The inclusions of new tech, whether in the shape of hardware or software, require financial investment to purchase and install them at your organization. Plus, it would help if you had a team of skilled workers like Dissertation Assistance running them accordingly so that company goals and objectives can be effectively derived through them. Lastly, if you face any concerns regarding the maintenance of such hardware or upgrade for software, then it will again put a dent in your company's financial assets.

Non-Scalable Platforms

There are times when technology is considered inadequate to provide enormous scope for HR activities and procedures. The current technology is not able to comply with the present request, or time is required for newer technologies to emerge. During these situations, many corporations seek out temporary solutions that can assist them in managing their tasks. Non-scalable platforms are hence restricted to their own particular domain and have limitations to their application. Therefore, if the technology is unable to gratify user requests or demands and deliver results through various channels, the company faces a technological bottleneck. In such cases, either the company itself pools in its resources to perform R&D or wait for other parties to deliver a feasible solution.

Data Safety & Compliance Issues

In recent times we have observed a global surge in cybercriminal activities. Hence the fear of hackers and valuable information being leaked is a constant threat. Many companies take extreme precautions to keep their sensitive and volatile information safe and away from people with malign intentions. The recent rise in cybercriminal activities has forced many organizations to deploy various network security measures just to keep their business information protected. Encrypted databases, firewalls, and numerous other software types are being used by corporations today to ensure that none of their data is kept unprotected.

Conclusion

There is no doubt that technology continues to shape the ecosystem of the corporate sector as we speak. The changes in innovative technology and the internet brought to the way we do business are also evident in how human resource practices are being carried out. However, while tools can be replaced with better upgrades and latest gizmos, HR needs to train its people and the management to use technologies competently. This will, in the end, help them to drive better results.