Is your agency considering the purchase of an HR Platform?

Choosing the best HR technology platform for your business can be a complex endeavor. If you do not have a solid grasp on what you want to improve, you risk of purchasing a platform or solution that ultimately will not solve your company’s HR challenges is extremely high.

It is imperative your management staff has an in-depth understanding of your organization and its most pressing human resource struggles. To help ensure you get it right the first time, lets outline some of the questions and issues you may want to consider.

The first step is to determine your greatest frustrations. Are you spending valuable time duplicating data on separate systems that are not integrated? Has employee turnover become excessive? Does your HR department regularly exhaust their budgetary resources on activities that could be eliminated, or at least minimized?

Lastly, are you blindly assuming that all your HR processes and procedures need an overhaul? Think twice before you apply the proverbial Band-Aid to the entire department. Put simply, if it is not broken, do not fix it.

It is important your management team recognizes the top objectives you hope to accomplish with the selection of an HR Platform.

Ultimately, the technology you choose should help you overcome your greatest HR challenges. It needs to lessen your administrative burden and make your business more profitable, through increased efficiencies. Remember to keep this goal in your mind as you select the right systems for your agency. Below I have outlined some of the steps your committee should consider in selecting a platform to suite your agency’s needs and budget.

As a first step determine who will be involved in the selection of the platform. It is advisable to include inputs from all departments impacted by your choice. At the top of the agenda, you will need to determine a workable budget for this purchase. Having a clear understanding of the funds available for such a major purchase enables you to determine which vendors and platforms are within your range, and which ones are not.

Service is another key differentiator among vendors and platforms. You may be better off with a vendor who provides exceptional, personal service but can only offer your must-haves within budget, then a vendor that promises both your must-haves and nice-to-haves for a lower price but skimps on service. Partnering with a vendor who offers scalable solutions tailored to your business’s needs will usually allow you to add your nice-to-haves a la carte features once your budget permits it.

The last factor to consider in your selection process is determining a realistic timeline for implementation. Keep in mind not everyone runs on the same time schedule. The adage “if something can go wrong it probably will”. For example: Your selection of a systems may take longer than you expected, the vendor may not be able to get to you as soon as you expected, or a medical emergency occurs. I could go on with a 1000 more examples of “if”, but I am sure you get my point.

Once you have made your selection and your system is up and running, you may want to validate your choice by measuring the return on your investment (ROI). The two most common methods for valuations are direct saving to your agency and secondly, improvements to your overall operation.

Direct savings are easy to calculate, since they are based on concrete numbers. Has your revenue increased or have your expensive decreased? Are you experiencing a decrease in the number of man hours used by automating processes and data entry? Generic savings are little harder to quantify. They may involve improvements to the overall operation of your agency. For example, the morale of your staff has improved with the introduction of the HR platform or are you noticing your business running smoother than before. You may find generic saving may take longer to surface and recognize than direct savings.

The last factor to consider is determining a realistic timeline for delivery and implementation. The adage “if something can go wrong it probably will”. Your selection of a systems may take longer than expected, the vendor may not be able to get to you as soon as you expected. I am sure I could list 1000 examples of “Ifs”, but I am sure you get my point.

The growing use of HR platform in the social service and non-profits sectors is becoming more common due to the demand from state and federal agencies for more oversight in addition to Board demands. It is almost impossible in today’s world for an agency to keep up with the demand for information without assistance of some type of automation of information.

Training & eTracking, as a provider of on-line training, is currently working with several HR providers in making our training available directly from the client’s platforms. To learn more on how we can assist in optimizing your HR functions please visit us @ www.yourtrainingprovider.com

Or call to schedule an appointment today @ 1.844.756.7500