By Vijay Yalamanchilli, Founder, Keka
Technology has undoubtedly revolutionized every aspect of the world. Today, all sectors have assimilated innovation into their functioning. Moreover, the pandemic outbreak has accelerated digitization across all business functions. The situation is no different for Human Resources (HR)- a critical element of an organization, irrespective of the sector.
Of late, the HR industry is witnessing surreal and disruptive technological evolutions being integrated with its operations. If we talk about the state of HR tech in India, advanced technology and cutting-edge solutions like artificial intelligence, machine learning, and blockchain have taken charge of a myriad of human capital management tasks with much more ease and grace. As per a report, India’s HR Tech market is poised to grow from USD 23.32 billion in 2021 to USD 38.36 billion in 2030. The availability of comprehensive human resource management system (HRMS) tools helps organizations maintain and direct a realm of human resource tasks and responsibilities including payroll, employee benefits, candidate recruitment and more.
Here are some features HRMS tools must have to help organizations with workforce management, recruitment, personalized dashboards and workflow automation.
Going beyond what is traditional:
Gone are the days when HRMS solutions were only considered a system to keep records and stack data. Today, with a paradigm shift propelled by technology, HRMS tools are increasingly becoming an an inextricable part of the HR sector. Now, HRMS tools are used in recruitment, onboarding, leave and attendance policy, employee information management, policy implementation and adherence, payroll, and exit process management. With modern HRMS tools, the traditional spreadsheet and paper-based processes have been replaced with fast and technologically-backed solutions. Besides, using HRMS also reduces human errors and time-consuming manual processes.
Embracing mobile technology:
Nowadays, more than 50% of online activities are happening on mobile phones rather than desktops and laptops. It is time for HR practitioners to embrace the power of smartphones and fit into reality. With mobile-enabled HRMS software, users can save time usually spent on going through the regular HR processes like leave application approval, expense claims approvals, and more. Lately, we have witnessed a burgeoning number of mobile payroll apps in the market, enabling companies to offer transparency to their employees by making them aware of their leaves and day-to-day performance. Employees can also access other details like attendance, taxation and payslips.
Incessant cravings for analytics:
An increasing number of businesses are turning out to be analytics-driven. These businesses endeavour day in and day out to unveil data for receiving insightful analytics to make sound decisions based on those metrics. This can be attributed to the growing number of HR professionals adopting new solutions and technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to gather, manage, and assess data. HR analytics provide companies with data to analyze people, workforce and talent. With the increasing popularity of artificial intelligence (AI), businesses are bound to adopt AI-enabled HR software to automate and manage HR processes with ease. With relevant insights, HR professionals can improve recruitment, training, and performance and make strategic decisions to help an organization meet its goals efficiently. Analytics also offer support in the hiring process by optimizing and streamlining it. This is achieved by enabling HR professionals to collect, store and evaluate the CVs of thousands of applicants and choose the right talent, thus reducing the time spent on the manual evaluation of candidates. It also helps companies enhance employee experience by driving engagement and lowering the possibilities of attrition.
Learning and development:
The competitive landscape in today’s business world demands professionals with the right skill set. Organizations can upskill and reskill their workforce by introducing learning and development (L&D) programs through HRMS platforms. With the help of L&D programs, potential skill gaps in the existing workforce can be evaluated, and they can be upskilled accordingly. Both learners and managers can track the L&D programs offered via HRMS as they are provided with reports. With a proper track record, managers can compare their employees with their competitors and persuade the learner to hone their skills.
It has become imperative for the HR sector to evolve in order to cater to the needs of the transformative business landscape. With the emergence of new working models like work-from-home, hybrid and gig employment post-pandemic, HR functions have become dependent on the latest technology. In the recent years, HRMS has witnessed rapid adoption in India. Also, many startups have developed HR software to assist businesses of all sizes today. There’s a plethora of options available in India today for HR software, and the features and functionalities offered by each of these software are different. Ideally, an organization’s size and requirements determine the HR software it needs.
