In the first decade of the 21st century, social media and mobile technologies have risen to the forefront in the recruitment of new talent by human capital management departments. More recently, these same “consumer tech” tools have begun to be leveraged in other HR functions, most notably in intracompany communication and collaboration.
While business owners and upper management certainly recognize the value of these social media and mobile technology tools, there is no general agreement as to who in the organization should administer, monitor and safeguard the company business that is conducted on them.
The Conundrum for Management
When it comes to technology, most business leaders do not automatically think of the HCM department as the “go to” people. They are more likely to envision HR personnel as people-centric and non-technologically oriented. Nevertheless, HR is most probably the department that has most readily embraced customer technology and integrated it into their ongoing functions.
In fact, they have already dealt with many of the problems that arise when conducting proprietary company business on social media sites, over the Internet and through mobile devices. It may not seem a natural fit but the HCM personnel may indeed be the most qualified candidates for the job of implementing consumer tech tools across the entire organization.
Expanding the Role of HCM
No one is saying that the IT department will not play a part – just that HCM can handle the administration and enforcement processes. After all, it is only when the technology fails to work that problems develop. Then, people must become involved in the resolution and no one is better than HCM at dealing with people.
If ultimately given the responsibility to oversee an enterprise wide implementation, one of the challenges that HR departments will face is changing their outlook on the traditional ways of dealing with inter-office communications. After all, it would be unfair and ultimately counterproductive to use social media and mobile technologies to find new talent and then prohibit that talent from using the same social tools in the fulfillment of their work-related duties.
In short, HCM (or whichever department is placed in charge) must not see themselves as a hindrance to social communication but rather as a catalyst to engagement, communication and collaboration. In this way, HCM will fulfill an even greater strategic role in the organization.
The Three Steps to Expansion
Developing a consumer tech strategy for implementation across an entire organization is itself a collaborative process. All departments must contribute to the identification of needs and also align their efforts with each other while IT develops and implements the solution with the oversight of HCM.
1. Identify the Need
The use of surveys at all employee levels about the current state of consumer tech usage is essential. Once an overall picture is drawn, further assessments can be made as to what is desired and actually needed to facilitate the use of social media and mobile technology.
2. Align the Effort
With its access to the employee background info, current performance reports, and forecasted talent needs, the HCM department is ideally placed to coordinate the collaboration efforts of the organization across all manner of business goals. This overview is powerful and can create some insights and will allow HR to further facilitate communication between department heads and IT. The end result is better technology solutions for the needs that matter.
3. Provide the Solution
Once IT makes its recommendations and the solution is green lit by upper management, HCM can, again, oversee the implementation. Kickoff meetings, introductory videos and online tutorials are just some of the tools that will allow HCM to promote engagement by all stakeholders in the new solution
The Opportunity for HCM
There is a lot of work in expanding the consumer tech across an organization but the rewards are a better insight into company operations and a more strategic voice in management. In short, HCM cannot afford to ignore technology or even innovation.
Instead, it must be the leader in its implementation in all its forms and across the entire organization. While there will undoubtedly be issues that arise as a result of this expansion, the other risk is to simply be left behind as an important but minor arbiter of company policy as it relates to its employees.
