Assessing What It Takes
Digital transformation involves bringing digital apps to all areas of your business, bringing you more accuracy and efficiency in all that you do. In terms of digitally transforming a human resources (HR) department, this encompasses implementing new technology into current daily operations that can help the department succeed. It also requires a focus on people and process aspects.
Before moving forward, leaders must ensure their business is ready for HR digital transformation. Let’s look at what that takes.
Where Your Business Should Be Before HR Digital Transformation
It is important that a business is set up to host such an integration. One way to do so is by investing in HR digitalization consulting services to help assess the current state of an HR department and what their goals are for the near future. Listed below are a few other ways to help ensure your HR department is ready for digital transformation.
Be Comfortable With Data
Digitization, by nature, is centered around harnessing data — it can be difficult to handle an abundance of data if you aren’t sure how to read it. This is where the ability to understand data storytelling comes in. Data storytelling is the act of creating a tale from data and pairing it with visualizations to help explain what the data means in a way that is clear and compelling.
Humanization of big data is one way to become more comfortable with understanding it. One way to humanize big data is through data visualization — meaning using graphs, diagrams, pictures, and visual aids alike. Even with data visualization, some may find it difficult to interpret the data in question. Listed below are different strategies for reading tables and graphs associated with data visualization:
Compare tables and graphs
Connect the information in a table with what is in the passage
Make a conclusion based on evidence and reasoning
Pay attention to types of change
Read the labels and units
Have a Human Resource Information System
A human resource information system (HRIS) combines HR activities with information technology. An example of an HRIS is software that helps with payroll or a job application tracking system.
Having a preexisting HRIS solution can help with your digital transformation because it shows that you already understand how technology can play an effective role in day-to-day operations.
Create an Official IT Department
While an IT department may not be necessary, some businesses can benefit from having such a department in a variety of ways. For instance, putting together a separate department for technical issues allows for easier tech-related integration processes. Your IT department can also:
Act as an additional resource that can encourage employees to be more productive, engaged, and creative
Educate everyone within the company on how to download and operate new software, as well as how to spot signs of a harmful website and how to avoid them
Protect the company and its employees from the outside world by increasing cybersecurity measures
Building an IT department may take time, but the benefits, such as the ones listed above, make it worth the while. To build an IT department, you must:
Allocate the resources that the department will need to function properly (software, bandwidth, labor requirements, etc.)
Ensure you have the additional funds needed to purchase the hardware necessary and hire an IT professional with adequate technical knowledge and expertise
Hire the Right Number of Employees
It is important to hire enough employees prior to executing the transformation to help ensure that it will be effective. While there is no predetermined perfect number of employees a business should have, there is a way to judge the right staffing level for your own organization.
Hiring an ideal minimum number of employees can be done by “[creating] an organizational chart that clearly defines every job function required to effectively operate your company.” Essentially, in order to know how to staff your business, you must identify the number of tasks that need to be completed every day. From there, you can determine how many people it will take to effectively accomplish each task. And as your company grows you will want to make sure to hire more individuals to keep up with the expanding needs of your company.
Hiring staff can be a strenuous process if you’re doing it by yourself. Implementing intelligent automation solutions can help grow your team and take over the role that would normally be done by an HR representative — freeing up their time to accomplish other, more important tasks.
HR Digital Transformation Fundamentals
There are core elements to keep in mind when pursuing digital transformation in your HR department. Being mindful of these fundamentals can help you get a better grasp of the necessary steps for a smooth and painless technical integration.
Don’t be afraid to use technology to match the skills of your current employees. If you are able to use software to accomplish a task that an employee is currently doing, then it may be in your best interest to use it or any other technical tool to replace them in this capacity.
For example, standardize your current HR department by using automation where you’re able to. This can help reduce company costs and increase overall efficiency — as well as make it possible for employees to focus on more skilled and meaningful work.
Make sure you are doing what you can to retain your employees. Reevaluate your turnover rate do you feel as if you are constantly replacing those who have quit or been fired? If so, there may need to be changes made in the way in which your business is run.
What are the employee benefits like? Are you recruiting talented individuals who are capable of doing the job at hand? Do you have a company culture? What are you doing to ensure they feel valued at work? All of these are questions to ask if you notice an abnormally high turnover rate.
Take time to educate your employees on the transformation process and help them understand how it will positively impact them — which will also serve as motivation.
The above pre-transformation recommendations may still be out of reach for some businesses. Investing in a firm that specializes in digital transformation solutions and HCT benchmarking can help make for a smooth transition — and it may free up time for you to focus on other important aspects of running a successful business.
