5 Keys to Human Capital Transformation Success

With over 600 different HCM vendors, it is easy to understand why people get confused when it comes to finding a solution that best addresses what they want to accomplish when it comes to human capital management. That “600” number is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to software that is promoted to support human resource management. Variations of human resource solutions for talent management, benefits administration, compensation management, time and attendance, payroll provide an exponential number of software products. Faced with a sea of choices, it is important to understand five key factors before you get serious about finding the HR solution that is going to solve all your issues.

First, and this is a fundamental place to start, understand what you want to accomplish. If you need a software solution that addresses multiple functional needs, that requires looking at vendors with products that support a broad range of HR functionality. Do you need a product or software system, or do your needs include requirements for services that include trained HR professionals? Companies who fail to clarify what they want to accomplish never realize their desired goal for one key reason – they don’t know what success looks like. Sure, it takes a little more time up front and slows down people who are anxious to fix the issues that exist in the organization today, but getting clear on objectives and gaining consensus on desired goals will provide huge rewards as progress is realized.

Second, it is essential to identify and include key stakeholders in the process of making change. Invariably there are more people with some ownership in a new human capital solution than you anticipate. Senior leadership, IT support, HR service providers, finance, procurement, supervisors and employees themselves all have some interest in changes that may impact their pay, personal information or career path in the company. Taking the time to connect and collaborate with these stakeholders will improve final deliverables and engage people with the new solution.

The third critical factor is to understand your options. There are large vendors with a poor history of customer success and small vendors with stellar reputations, so size alone does not dictate quality of services or systems. With the luxury of many choices it is possible to find vendor partners who are committed to provide support, services and solutions that do address your needs. Take the time to carefully consider options that are available in the market and ensure that your final decision is based on quality of product AND service with competitive assessments of cost, service quality, breadth of functional scope and the ability of the vendor to help you optimize service delivery and transform human capital performance.

Fourth, take enough time to evaluate and implement any new solution. Yes, it is true that Rome was not built in a day and it is also true that there has never been a true turnkey HR system that is flipped on like a light switch. Deploying human capital systems takes time through each stage of the transition. Put all potential vendors through a rigorous evaluation process that provides comparative assessment on price, functional scope, flexibility of support and on-going services to ensure you partner with the best possible organization. Once selected, give yourself and the vendor an adequate amount of time to deploy the situation in a manner that supports how you plan to use the system once it is fully implemented. Even the best system will respond like garbage if poorly designed and implemented, so trying to squeeze 9 months of effort into 9 weeks will not provide the same result. Ideally when you make the transition to any new vendor solution it is for a relatively long period of time. Doing things right the first time is the best guarantee for not having to spend time fixing what doesn’t work, or worse, having to implement a new solution. The best way to optimize the investment of time and money that is expended with any new HR solution is to utilize that system for as long as possible.

Finally, help people transition to the new solution. Increasingly most systems are adopting an employee experience that is user friendly, intuitive and similar to purchasing a gift on amazon or posting a picture on Facebook, but it never hurts to provide training, user guides, instructional videos and helpful hints. Remember that helping people adopt a new solution is the best strategy to long-term user adaption. Investments in communications, training and additional change management will pay off in quicker end-user support and a broad base of satisfied employees.