Changing your people management solutions has such widespread impact that often companies will choose to live with the challenges of their existing solution rather than making a change for the better. But when you find yourself and your team spending too much time on manual or low value people management tasks it is a good time to ask if your HCM solution is still a good fit for your organization.
When Is It Time For a Change?
The RBC Convention Centre in Winnipeg recently made the decision to change their HCM technology, so I asked their Human Resources Director, Warren Sawatzky when did they realize it was time to make a change.
“We knew we were going to need to make a change almost 2 years ago. With the expansion of our building – almost doubling in size by March of 2016 – we realized we needed to review our processes and systems to make sure they would keep our organization running smoothly as we grew.”
Warren Sawatzky, Director of Human Resources at the RBC Convention Centre in Winnipeg
Warren goes on to explain that with more people, the access to their employee information was going to be critical, they were no longer going to simply get along by looking in paper files for information. And their payroll solution had been in place for over 15 years, as they grew they noted that their current solution had not grown with them, they were coping with a lack of integration to other systems and glitches that they had gotten used to – but as they assessed their current solutions against their broader business objectives they realized it was time for a change.
Does Your HCM Solution Scale?
In addition to the growth Warren references there are other key triggers to look for to know if your company has outgrown your current solution.
Here are some of the elements you should be watching for:
- Your organization is growing, and processes like hiring and onboarding are not automated
- You are still using Excel for reporting and metrics
- Your employees and managers don’t have access to Self-Service or aren’t using the one you offer as it is difficult to learn
- Your current people management solutions are all in separate databases for HR, Payroll and Time & Attendance and require multiple entry points to maintain them
- You need to merge data from different areas to get the reports your management team needs
- Correcting inaccuracies or manual work around solutions in your current system are taking more and more of your time
As soon as you recognize that a change is needed, the most important tool you have is communication, as Warren explains, “When you decide to make a change, communication is critical to achieve the buy-in of everyone from the executives to managers and employees. The reality is people resist change so you need to explain to them why a change is needed, how they will benefit and what the change means to the organization.”
Your Change Journey Is Just Beginning
Once you have decided to implement a new solution and selected your vendor partner, your change journey is just beginning. The fact is that you can purchase and implement the best possible HCM software for your company, but that technology will let you down unless you take the right steps, up front, to effectively manage change.
Historically companies replaced their core HRMS solution every 5 to 7 years, but now it’s every 3 to 5 years.1
Replacing solutions that frequently not only comes with significant cost but is also disruptive to your business as the implementation of these new solutions take substantial time and effort.
In Summary
When considering a new HRMS it should be seen as an integral part of your long term people management strategy rather than a short term software solution.
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1 Towers Watson 2015 HR Service Delivery and Technology Survey referenced in August 2015 Canadian Payroll Reporter article 'Tech changes impact payroll'
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