Considerations When Choosing HR Software
Most businesses do not fully utilize their Human Resource Information System’s potential. Considering the cost of use and the failure to use, you have to wonder why.
The problem and solution both lie in the decision to buy and/or in the implementation of the HRIS. Specifically, you should choose your HRIS for the capacity you want to employ – not necessarily for its potential capacity.
Don’t overbuy
For most HR decision makers, shopping can be overwhelming. It’s like buying a laptop. You really have to ask if you need all the bells and whistles. For example, if you don’t game, processing speed and virtual memory are not priorities. If you don’t use all the popular apps available, you don’t need to pay for them.
It’s true that brainstorming will create a list “desirables,” but it can be scattered and overwrought. You need to narrow, qualify, and prioritize features into a short list of real needs. For example, you may want to select a program with scalability, something able to grow with your organization. On the other hand, if at 150 employees you foresee growth to a maximum of 500, you do not need the cost of more growth than that.
Must haves
Any list of core requirements should include:
- Time and attendance
- Payroll administration
- Tax withholding and reporting
- Group benefits administration
- Personal employee data
Strategic haves
Other functions you might want – only if you have a strategy for their use:
- Applicant tracking and evaluation
- Wage history and compensation planning
- Performance and discipline reporting
- Talent management and succession planning
- Affirmative Action and other compliance data management
How to get there
HRIS becomes cost-effective when it meets both specific current needs and realistically foreseeable ones. It should be treated with all the scrutiny of any capital investment:
- Identify the number of employees you want to process now and the number you expect to handle in a period of projected growth.
- Pinpoint the information systems with which your HRIS will have to integrate.
- Analyze in detail what you want the HRIS to report on and how you want the output to look.
- Address the organizational functions you want to serve and how they want to be served.
- Determine if the system will manage personnel at single, multiple, or mobile sites.
- Establish the upfront costs of installation, continuing operation, and future expansion.
- Work with your HRIS vendor to map needs to the technology’s potential.
It takes time, talent, and expert advice to select the HRIS product that best serves your identified needs, the one that fulfills the capacity you want to employ – not necessarily the potential capacity.
Tools, such as the HRIS Selector Tool at compareHRIS.com, can start the shopping and decision making with a disciplined approach to identify your needs and narrow potential choices.