How to Find a Best Practices HR Tech Package

Just what are you looking for in a Human Resources technology package? Perhaps, it “exactly meets your needs, with a positive return on investment that fits your culture and improves your process, while being accepted by all concerned, offered by a stable publisher with flawless implementation, including customized training and ongoing support.” Is that too much to ask for?

Joe Rotella, SPHR does not think so. In a SHRM Conference presentation, Joe (CMO for Delphia Consulting) laid out a blueprint for selecting HR information technology that will “help free you from administrivia so you can focus on strategic goals.” It provides a simple framework for how to find a best practices HR tech package.

1.  Don’t run from problems: Word-of-mouth and peer influences press any attentive HR professional to find ways to escape the administrative burdens that dominate the job. You just don’t want to be the only kid on the block without the new tech toy.

However, shopping without strategic purpose escalates the possibility of an already sizable risk. You need to study deep and wide about functionality, document management, integration, implementation, and scalability. You want to know something about process automation and architecture. And, if any of this terminology is new to you, you need a consultant to direct your self-assessment and internal needs analysis. There is too much at stake to shop for solutions when you have not identified how to find a best practices HR tech package.

2.  Organizational goals rule: You must collaborate with all those functions that support business goals. Those goals will likely integrate increased income with decreased expenses, improved cash flow and customer satisfaction, and cultural and process improvements. Any return on investment lies in achieving these goals, not in simplifying your office.

The priorities presented by these goals then dictate the measures and reports needed from your HR technology. With those in hand, you have a basic engineering requirement worth discussing with an HR tech provider.

3.  Shop smart: You can prepare a checklist of needs with the help of HR decision-makers from the outside, peer managers inside, and end-users inside and outside the organization. This is not a browser search or online review; it takes thorough research into providers, experiences, and testimonials.

Selection is a long process in which you assess your needs independently, collaborate with management, and conduct early interviews with your short list of providers. Once you reduce the possible vendors to three, you must schedule demonstrations – for your office and, then, for all the stakeholders.

4.  Return to scratch: The demonstration results have to meet the needs you already prioritized. Your decision has to favor the vendors who make the best match. Their ability to map their skills to your needs makes the buy decision – not their feel-good presentation.

5.  Get it in writing: The written proposal will be the document discussed at the executive level. The proposal must comply with your requirements. It must identify and address the same concerns and priorities, solve the same problems, and demonstrate a cost-benefit analysis. When it defends the return on investment, it had better parallel the way your C-suite calculates ROI.

Long before you launch your search for solutions in HR technology, you need to get your head and hands around how to find a best practices HR tech package. That requires personal focus and executive commitment. You will need to anticipate risk, training, and change issues. The HRIS Selector Tool at compareHRIS.com is a best practice way to start that search.